Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to human and animal health. The problem is multifactorial, spans across many disciplines and involves stakeholders from right across society's spectrum. Our belief is that by engaging researchers from different disciplines, we can ask new questions and develop new solutions to the AMR challenge. Scientists engaged in EPS can bring novel insights and innovative technologies to many aspects of the AMR challenge but there are barriers to their engagement with goal-orientated, inter-disciplinary research. We have identified the conditions that lead to successful inter-disciplinary research outcomes; receptiveness, understanding, communication, resources and networks. We have put together a programme of activities that will create the time and space for researchers from EPS to engage in thinking about the AMR challenge in such a way that they will be able to identify tractable problems that they can solve. To start with we will focus on areas of research excellence currently being conducted at the University of York that have not to date been applied to AMR research, but promise to provide new insights and innovative solutions. These areas are 'Novel tools for understanding and controlling bacterial behaviour' and 'Novel biosensors and diagnostics'. We recognize that a successful 'Bridging the Gap' programme will bring together collaborations between researchers not yet engaged with the AMR agenda and we have incorporated into our activities strategies to reach these people. The outcome will be an exciting community of inter-disciplinary researchers working on the challenges of AMR that are communicating, sparking ideas, writing papers and applying for further funding.

Definition: A rapidly developing area at the interfaces of engineering/physical sciences, life sciences and medicine. Includes:- cell therapies (including stem cells), three dimensional cell/ matrix constructs, bioactive scaffolds, regenerative devices, in vitro tissue models for drug discovery and pre-clinical research.Social and economic needs include:Increased longevity of the ageing population with expectations of an active lifestyle and government requirements for a longer working life.Need to reduce healthcare costs, shorten hospital stays and achieve more rapid rehabilitationAn emergent disruptive industrial sector at the interface between pharmaceutical and medical devicesRequirement for relevant laboratory biological systems for screening and selection of drugs at theearly development stage, coupled with Reduction, Refinement, Replacement of in vivo testing. Translational barriers and industry needs: The tissue engineering/ regenerative medicine industry needs an increase in the number of trained multidisciplinary personnel to translate basic research, deliver new product developments, enhance manufacturing and processing capacity, to develop preclinical test methodologies and to develop standards and work within a dynamic regulatory environment. Evidence from N8 industry workshop on regenerative medicine.Academic needs: A rapidly emerging internationally competitive interdisciplinary area requiring new blood ---------------------

We aim to create the first "inks" that can be used in additive manufacturing (vat based stereolithography) to produce complex architectures with stiffness and compositions gradients without any joins or internal interfaces. While this technology will have a wide range of applications, we will first use it to fulfil an unmet clinical need in orthopaedic surgery: devices that can heal damaged cartilage. Currently, there are very few, if any, materials that exist that have a true continuous composition or stiffness gradients. There are certainly none that have good mechanical properties. Sol-gel hybrid materials are assembled of intimately mixed co-networks of organic and inorganic components, but above the nanoscale they appear as single materials, distinguishing them from composite materials. Importantly, we have shown in our pilot studies that we can layer sol-gel materials as viscous liquids, just before they gel, so forming single materials with no internal joins or interfaces. We have 3D printed them, but only as grid-like architectures. Here, we will develop new hybrid inks that can be used to make complex pore architectures in vat based stereolithography (SLA), for the first time. Damage to articular cartilage due to sports injuries, trauma or age-related wear are increasingly likely as an active population ages. Current best practice for regeneration of small defects in knee cartialge is microfracture, which involves making small holes into the underlying bone to liberate the marrow, which fills the defect with weak fibrous cartilage. The cartilage only lasts 2-5 years before the procedure must be repeated. Eventually, total joint replacements are needed, which are major operations that involve removing a lot of tissue, and only last 15-25 years. Alternative medical devices are needed, e.g. using advanced materials with specifically designed chemistry and architecture. If successful, we can then apply the technology to help combat arthritis, something that effects everyone as they age. Our current 3D printed hybrid material shows great potential for regenerating cartilage because it provokes stem cells to produce articular cartilage-like matrix, rather than functionally inferior fibrocartilage. Importantly its mechanical properties can match that of the cartilage and transfer mechanical cues to the cells growing within it, which is critical for generation of high-quality cartilage. However, our previous 3D printing technique could only produce log-pile structures. The architecture of the device needs to be more complex. As cartilage is thin, most defects penetrate deep into the underlying bone, so we have designed a device that we hypothesise can regenerate the bone and the cartilage in appropriate locations. The part that goes into the bone will also be important for ensuring the implant stays in place during healing. Novelty of the research includes: the architectural design of the implant; the materials used to make it (new sol-gel hybrids that can be used in SLA) and the fact that sol-gel hybrids will be 3D printed in complex architectures (using SLA) for the first time. Following cell studies to show appropriate stimulus is provided to stem cells to send them down the required route (bone or cartilage), and ensuring potential for vascularized bone ingrowth, preclinical studies will be carried out. Our project partners will assist in technology transfer: Evonik and Makevale will produce the polymeric raw materials and Smith and Nephew will assess market potential, identify translation milestones and test our optimised device in their arthritis sheep model. This proposal will benefit medical device companies, patients, orthopaedic surgeons, and health services (e.g. the NHS) in a 10-20 year timeframe. As a third of workers are now over 50, it is critical that health services have access to technology that can allow patients to return to work quickly and reduce numbers of revision surgery.

The development of new materials and new devices / products based upon these materials is absolutely critical to the economic development of our society. One critical aspect of the development of new materials is the ability to analyse the materials and thus determine their properties. Indeed at the very heart of the philosophy of the materials discipline is the relationship between the microstructure and the properties of the materials. The core idea is that through processing one can control the microstructure and thus the properties. Materials characterisation tells us how succesful we have been at changing the microstructure and so is essential in process development. It also tells us what has gone wrong when materials or devices based upon them fail, i.e. it is used in troubleshooting. There are a vast array of advanced materials characterisation techniques available these days and it is very challenging to know the best technique or combination of techniques to use to answer specific research problems. There is a need, therefore, to train research scientists who are expert in the use of certain techniques but also have a broader in-depth understanding of the plethora of techniques that potentially could be used. At the moment there is a skills gap in this area and we will plug that gap with this CDT in advanced characterisation of materials that brings together experts in advanced materials characterisation from two of the worlds top universities. The students will also spend some time (at least 12 weeks) in industry or at an overseas univeristy receiving context specific training. The unique vision brought by this research training programme, therefore, is that our students will have a knowledge of materials characterisation that goes beyond narrow expertise in one or two experimental techniques, or a general overview of many, and instead cuts to the heart of what it means to be a leading experimentalist; with an inherent understanding of the nature of a scientific problem, the fundamental principles and intellectual tools required to address the problem, the technical knowledge and craft to apply the most appropriate experimental technique to obtain the necessary information and the critical and analytical skill to extract the solution from the data. The vision will be realised by exploiting the unique experimental infrastructure provided by UCL and ICL. The first year will be an MRes structure with the entire cohort receiving laboratory based practical training in techniques ubiquitous to modern day materials characterisation such as vacuum technology, scanning probe microscopy, optical characterisation techniques and clean-room processing. Key analytical skills will be taught such as data handling, manipulation and interpretation, practiced on real data, exploiting facilities such as Imperials ToF-SIMS analysis suite and UCL chemistry's material modelling user interface. We will engage with industry to generate genuine problem-based characterisation case studies so that elements of the course will be founded on problem based learning. Visiting professors such as Mark Dowsett (Warwick University) and Hidde Brongersma(Calipso BV) will contribute to the training experience and some external courses will be used for specialist training, for example at ISIS. Traditional lectures will be limited in number with every sub-topic leading into an interactive problem class run by one of our extensive number of industry partners. In our CDT ACM the thrill of solving class problems together and of competing in team-based experimental challenges will produce a highly engaged, critically minded, close-knit team of students.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.