Funded Opportunities at NDCN
Mabel Churn Scholarship in Ophthalmology
Every three years, St Cross College plans to invite applications for the Mabel Churn Scholarship from successful applicants normally resident in the UK who have an offer to begin studying at the University of Oxford for a DPhil research degree in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN) in any area of retinal research.
Applications are now invited for funding from applicants due to begin studying in October 2025
The Scholarship will cover the full cost of the annual course fee for both Home/Republic of Ireland and overseas students plus an annual maintenance stipend at the standard UKRI rate together with a grant of up to £500 per annum for travel and research expenses, and is tenable for three years coterminous with full fee liability.
To be considered for this Scholarship, applicants must have applied to study for a Clinical Neurosciences DPhil by Friday, 16 May, 2025. No separate application is required and all eligible offer-holders will be considered for this award.
MRC CORE THERAPEUTIC GENOMICS PROGRAMME
Peptide-mediated delivery of CRISPR-Cas genome editors in the eye.
Delivery of CRISPR editing systems in vivo is a major challenge for clinical translation and therapy development. Specific to the eye, adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors have limited cargo capacity, induce long-term expression of the editor, which is undesirable, and can be associated with inflammatory adverse effects. Therefore, there is a great need for an improved CRISPR delivery system for the neurons of the retina where most inherited retinal degenerations occur.
Recently our collaborators from the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), have developed a new technology based on cell-penetrating peptides coupled with ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex and demonstrated efficient gene editing in lymphocytes and central nervous system neurons with low toxicity (see Foss et al. Nat Biomed Eng 2023 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-023-01032-2 and He et al. Chem Sci 2020 https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/sc/d0sc00929f). In this DPhil project, we aim to explore novel delivery methods for therapeutic gene editing and specifically test this approach in retinal organoids and mouse models of retinal degeneration.
Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Jasmina Cehajic-Kapetanovic, Assoc. Prof. Kanmin Xue, Prof. Robert E MacLaren.
NDCN scholarships
NDCN offers a number of fully-funded scholarships for students, funded from a variety of sources including Department funding, the Wellcome Trust, MRC, and the Clarendon Fund. If you apply to the December deadline then your application will be automatically included for consideration for one of these awards. Most scholarships are awarded between February and June.
iCASE 2025/26
Please follow this link for information on the MRC Enterprise studentship programme 2025 (Industrial case Awards) and for information on how to apply please follow this link.