From an academic continuity point of view, changing your first name may be more problematic than your surname. If you say "I've published papers as Jane Satchi and Jane Blanc" people will understand but if it's "Jane Satchi and Jo Blanc" that's going to seem a bit weird.

So you might want to just retain your existing first name and surname for publications and then do whatever else suits in your personal life. Or choose a totally new first name that has the same initial so that you can just sign off papers at J Satchi (or whatever)

Age is not a barrier. Lack of experience may be, but can be rectified. TreeofLife's suggestion of doing an MSc is a good one. For one thing it would help you make connections and get your foot back in the door. For another it would help you get up to speed. Even 5 years is a long time in biosciences in terms of what changes, and bear in mind you will be competing with fresh graduates for PhD places.

You should, however, do some homework as to the likelihood of getting a job at the other end of a PhD. There is a shortage of postdoc jobs compared to the number of PhD graduates, and even fewer opportunities further on from that. It might be advisable to do an MSc in something where there is likely to be growing demand in the future such as bioinformatics etc. So although a PhD may pass the time, there is no guarantee it would improve your employment prospects. In some cases, an MSc alone may actually be a better bet.

You need to check your own university's policy.

At my uni, if you write a traditional format thesis, reusing paragraphs from your own papers is considered self-plagiarism. However, if you write an 'alternative format' journal article style thesis it is acceptable. It's acknowledged that this is a bit of an odd policy, but it is what it is at present.

Are you just applying for academic jobs, or non academic ones as well?

Not my field, but if you're applying to Manchester then you might find some useful resources/contacts here:

Have you already been accepted for a PhD at the university? If so, you will have plenty of time to get to know the people and facilities during your first year.

If you haven't yet applied there but want to get to know them before committing yourself, I could understand that. That said, I've never heard of internships for such purposes. You might be able to spend a day or week there voluntarily.

Some journals can take ages, particularly if reviewers are busy. Check the journal's website to see if there are any stats on average turnaround time. If not, perhaps contact the editor who is handling your case, though it's likely that it is in hand.

This guide might point you in the direction of some organisations/charities that could help:

Hi suburbanhippy. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

A couple of questions that might affect where the ownership lies. Firstly, did you agree with your supervisors that you were going to get a full time job before you did so? Secondly, does your funding body have restrictions on employment whilst being funded?

It sounds as though perhaps they consider your actions to be a termination of your studentship arrangement, and any data ownership rights you had under that. Legally I have no idea what is right in this scenario, but it sounds like you may have put yourself in a difficult situation by effectively 'moving on' before completion of the studentship.

Ok, so if you're clear in your head what went wrong previously, and how it was that you ran out of time, you can think of ways to mitigate the risk of that happening again so as to communicate that to potential new supervisors for their reassurance.

Some other things to consider:
1. What were your original motivations for doing a PhD in the first place? Do they still apply?
2. Is it worth putting yourself through the process again? Will it help you get a job at the end of it?
3. Would it be worth you doing something else for a little while before trying again? Partly to recover from this experience (if need be), partly to get a new reference, partly to get some detachment from the situation.

One more thing to add - in my case PhD #2 was actually in another field (hence the masters in between). There is another forum member who had two goes at a PhD for a very different reason, but again, in different fields. If you're trying to stay in the same field, just a different topic, you may have to make a stronger case.

Hope this helps.