EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Chemical Biology - Innovation for the Life Sciences

化学生物学研究引领了研究分子相互作用和应对生命科学挑战的新分子工具和技术的发展。这些技术及其带来的理解的影响是变革性的，支持了整个英国经济的创新，涉及医疗保健、个人护理、农业科学和生物技术等行业，年营业额总计1000亿英镑。它通过启动新一轮颠覆性中小企业浪潮，进一步支持英国的知识经济。随着世界人口数量和年龄的增长，人们对英国公司提出了迫切的要求。这导致了生命科学的工业化，以化学生物学为主导的分子工具和技术与添加剂制造、机器学习和自动化方面的“工业4.0”进步相吻合。因此，化学生物学将在创新研发管道中发挥关键作用，使生物和生物医学研究能够更快地向产品开发和最终用户应用迈进，例如，用于治疗疾病的新诊断和药物；用于作物保护的传感器和农用化学品/技术；个人护理部门的改进配方；以及通过分子测量技术的进步，进一步了解营养对长期健康的影响。同时，这些进展将使英国仪器科学部门受益。因此，迫切需要一种新型的博士毕业生，能够拥抱这场生命科学的工业革命，将下一代分子工具和技术的创造与工业4.0技术相结合。化学生物学博士培训中心(CDT)：生命科学的创新将直接解决这一技能短缺的问题，通过培训约80名博士生，为他们提供在物理/数学科学和生命科学之间无缝操作的技能，并利用和推动人机界面的突破。毕业生将通过多学科翻译研究和早期商业化的第一手经验，对产品开发渠道有深入的了解。这将使他们成为学术界、工业界和医疗卫生领域技术创新的领导者。为了实现这一目标，CDT正在与工业界和中小企业密切合作，在一个以队列为基础的方案中为培训、协作和翻译制定新的框架，在这个方案中，没有学生是一个孤岛，所有级别都促进多样性和平等。这些博士生将得到世界上最大的化学生物学社区之一--伦敦帝国理工学院化学生物学研究所的支持，该研究所汇集了超过135个研究小组和行业合作伙伴。他们还将受益于旨在释放学生创造力的新创新栖息地，促进新的精益和开放的创新模式，刺激知识转移和行业合作伙伴参与，并启动自己的公司。这个培训和研究生态系统将成为新技术发展的催化剂，每个研究项目在物理/数学和生命科学界面上都将推动新分子技术的发展，解决生命科学瓶颈，并将生命科学的道路转变为工业4.0。新的定制创新培训计划将令人兴奋的专业/可转移技能课程与世界级的翻译研究相结合，例如微型MBA、英国广播公司的科学传播培训、行业实习、思维和商业化比赛、动手制作原型，并将为负责任的研究提供一个框架，让学生接受关于其项目的伦理、社会、生态和经济方面的培训。这将通过一个为期一年的硕士课程进行，该课程与一个为期三年的博士研究项目无缝衔接。

Chemical biology research spearheads the development of novel molecular tools and technologies to study molecular interactions and address life sciences challenges. The impact of these technologies and understanding they unlock is transformative, supporting innovation across the UK economy, in sectors such as healthcare & med-tech, personal care, agri-science, and bio-tech; with a combined annual turnover > £100bn. It further supports the UK knowledge economy by kick-starting a new wave of disruptive SMEs. With the world population predicted to increase in both number and age, pressing demands are being made upon UK plc. This is leading to the industrialisation of the life sciences with Chemical Biology led molecular tools and technologies being dovetailed with "Industry 4.0" advances in additive manufacturing, machine learning and automation. Chemical Biology will therefore play a pivotal role in innovation R&D pipelines, enabling biological and biomedical research to advance more rapidly towards product development and end-user application, e.g. novel diagnostics and drugs to tackle disease; sensors and agro-chemicals/technologies for crop protection; improved formulations in the personal care sector; and increased understanding of nutrient impact on long-term health through advances in molecular measurement technologies. In parallel these advances will benefit the UK instrumentation science sector.There is a therefore a pressing need for a new type of PhD graduate able to embrace this industrial revolution of the life sciences, combining the creation of the next generation of molecular tools and technologies with industry 4.0 technologies. The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Chemical Biology: Innovation for the Life Sciences will directly address this skills shortage, by training ~80 PhD students, providing them with the skills to operate seamlessly across the physical/mathematical sciences and life sciences and capitalize upon and drive breakthroughs at the human-machine interface. Graduates will emerge armed with an in-depth understanding of product development pipelines acquired through first-hand experience of multi-disciplinary translational research and early stage commercialisation. This will enable them to become leaders of technology innovation in academia, industry and healthcare.To achieve this the CDT is working closely with industry and SMEs to develop new frameworks for training, collaboration and translation within a cohort-based programme, where no student is an island and diversity and equality are promoted at all levels. The PhD students will be supported by one of the largest Chemical Biology communities in the world, the Institute of Chemical Biology at Imperial College London, which brings together over >135 research groups and industry partners. They will also benefit from new innovation habitats designed to unlock student creativity, promote new lean and open innovation models, stimulating knowledge transfer and industry partner engagement, and kick-start their own companies.This training and research ecosystem will be a catalyst for new state of the art technology development, with each research project at the physical/mathematical and life sciences interface driving the development of new molecular technologies, addressing life science bottlenecks and transforming the path of the life sciences towards industry 4.0. The new bespoke innovative training programme will fuse exciting professional/transferable skills courses with world-class translational research, e.g. including a micro-MBA, science communication training at the BBC, industry placements, ideation and commercialisation competitions, hands-on prototyping, and will also provide a framework for responsible research with students being trained on ethical, societal, ecological and economical aspects of their projects. This will take place through a 1-year master course that seamlessly connects with a 3-year PhD research project.