PhD Studentship: Development of bioactive orthopaedic cement materials

Supervisors: Drs WM Palin, RM Shelton, PR Cooper

The widely used bone cement type, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) has many limitations including difficulty in handling, slow setting, shrinkage and heat production, which ultimately reduces the lifetime of the artificial implanted device.

This project aims to develop a novel single-paste material that is hardened on command using light energy to improve mechanical (stronger, with appropriate stiffness), physical (reduced shrinkage and heat generation on setting) and biological (bioactive components) properties compared with PMMA cements. The viscosity will be easily adjusted for numerous applications, ranging from stiff pastes for hip implants to injectable formulations for treatment of spine disorders.

To find out more about studying for a PhD at the University of Birmingham, including full details of the research undertaken in each school, the funding opportunities for each subject, and guidance on making your application, you can now order your copy of the new Doctoral Research Prospectus, at: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/students/drp.aspx

Funding Notes

We have a thriving international Researcher community and encourage applications from students of any nationality able to fund their own studies (i.e. through Government scholarship schemes, self-funding), or who wish to apply for their own funding (e.g. Commonwealth Scholarships, Islamic Development Bank International PhD Scholarships, China Scholarship Council).