ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology
Value
$37000 per year (RTP Stipend rate, indexed annually); additional funds ($7.5k) during the course of the PhD for travel and other PhD-related expenses.
Duration
3.5 years
Status
Open
Opens
03/05/2023Overview
The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology (QUBIC) will be established in 2023, as the first nation-spanning research Centre at the nexus of quantum and biotechnology globally. Our mission is to lead the world in applying quantum physics to biotechnology, driving fundamental understanding and applications across biomedical imaging, chemical design and clean energy. Our research program aims to develop quantum technologies that go far beyond what is possible today, from portable brain imagers to super-fast single protein sensors, and to use them to unravel key problems including how enzymes catalyse reactions and how higher brain function emerges from networks of neurons. The Centre aims to build Australia’s quantum economy and train a future quantum workforce in close partnership with industry and government. QUBIC will be administered by The University of Queensland (UQ) and has nodes at the University of Melbourne (UoM), the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of Wollongong (UoW) and Flinders University (FLD). We have 12 industry and governmental partners, including IBM, Olympus, Protein Evolution and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). We are partnered with 14 leading international universities, including MIT, Johns Hopkins, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. The membership of our advisory bodies includes two Nobel Laureates and Australia’s past Chief Scientist.
PhD positions at UTS
The UTS node is offering four PhD positions. The positions are grouped based on the three Centre research themes, with short descriptions provided below. Projects have been assigned a primary supervisor that can be contacted for further details.
Who is eligible?
Applicants must be a domestic student - either Australian permanent residents or New Zealand citizens. To be eligible for this applicantion, applicants must have completed a UTS recognised degree in
- MSc Research or MSc Coursework with a research thesis of at least 6 months,
- or Bachelor Honours degree with 1st Class, or 2nd Class Division 1, or division 1 honours, or an equivalent or higher qualification,
- or submitted other evidence of general and professional qualifications that demonstrates potential to pursue graduate research studies.
Selection process
This project is multidisciplinary, with candidates needing to show expertise in one or more of the following fields:
- atomistic simulations of proteins or other large biochemical systems
- atomistic simulations of dynamics and/or structure of chemical devices (eg, catalysis, nanoparticles)
- nanoparticle photonics
- understanding of directed, non-equilibrium, energy transfer in chemical and/or biochemical systems
- understanding of quantum technologies (qubit design and operation) including diamond NV and analogous devices
- understanding of quantum dynamics or semiclassical dynamics applied to chemical and/or biological systems
How to apply
Applicants should send their CV, list of publications, and selection criteria to Jiajia Zhou (jiajia.zhou@uts.edu.au), Irina Kabakova (irina.kabakova@uts.edu.au), Dayong Jin(dayong.jin@uts.edu.au) , Jeffrey Reimers (jeffrey.reimers@uts.edu.au) by the closing date. Shortlisted candidates will be advised with further details.
Need more information? Contact...
Please contact Jiajia Zhou (jiajia.zhou@uts.edu.au), Irina Kabakova (irina.kabakova@uts.edu.au), Dayong Jin(dayong.jin@uts.edu.au) , Jeffrey Reimers (jeffrey.reimers@uts.edu.au)for further information.
Other information
This project is part of the Australian Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology to commence at the end of 2023. This Centre involves cooperation of UTS with the University of Queensland, Wollongong University, Melbourne University, and Flinders University during 2023-2029. The Centre aims to develop new technologies for medical diagnosis and treatment through providing fundamentally improved knowledge of biochemical function. Mostly, quantum systems are used as biological probes, but intrinsic quantum biological effects will also be investigated.
This PhD Project will be based at UTS but will involve continuous collaboration with Prof. Alan Mark from UQ, and hence involve significant travel to Brisbane. Indeed, the first stage of the project will involve learning learning molecular modelling techniques at UQ.
Then specific projects will be developed that require:
1) Conceptual understanding of the experiments being performed by CoE investigators (at UQ, UTS, Wollongong, and/or Melbourne)
2) Development of a protein (etc) model for the system of interest
3) Implement the (internal or external) relevant quantum features into the model
4) Run classical simulations that embrace the quantum features to determine overall structure and dynamics
5) Run quantum simulations that embrace full device functionality (eg, concerning quantum coherence/decoherence, entanglement, qubit operation)
6) Make recommendations to the involved experimentalists as to how the biotechnology can be improved
This project will also involve continuous engagement with the wide-ranging activities of the CoE, through regular centre meetings, annual conferences, and focused workshops. Extensive computational facilities will be available from national facilities such as NCI.
Research Themes and Project Details:
Theme 1. Emerging phenomena in biology: Discovering how cell-scale behaviours emerge from molecular scale interactions.
- Developing novel techniques to accelerate the imaging speed of Brillouin microscopes, with the focus on multiplexing and quantum metrology (A/Prof Irina Kabakova).
- Developing high speed super resolution microscope imaging strategies to map the intercellular organelles (Prof Dayong Jin).
Theme 2. Neural imaging: Achieving real-time imaging of whole-brain fields at sub-cellular resolution.
- Quantum enhanced upconversion nanoprobes for neural imaging, as well as super-resolution temperature sensing technology (A/Prof Jiajia Zhou).
- Lattice light-sheet microscopy and data analytics for photon-efficient volumetric imaging of multicellular networks of brain organoids (Prof Dayong Jin).
Theme 3. Quantum effects in biology: Determining the role of quantum physics in biological processes.
- Computational investigations of electronic and nuclear structure related to understanding the practical consequences of quantum entanglement and quantum coherence in biological processes (Prof Jeffrey Reimers).
