PhD Biochemistry

Life Sciences PhD Biochemistry: Investigation of the molecular mechanisms governing the RNA landscape during cellular stress (2023)

What you get

This School-funded position covers Home tuition fees and a stipend at standard UKRI rates for 3.5 years. Applicants with overseas fee status will need to fund the difference between Home and International tuition fees (approx. £18k per year).

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

Throughout life our cells experience a variety of chemical and environmental stressors and must activate adaptive cellular signalling pathways and molecular mechanisms to survive. A functional stress response is important during aging whilst a dysregulated response to stress, including nutrient deprivation, oxidative stress and viral attack, can result in an array of diseases including various cancers and neurodegeneration. Together with driving disease, cancer cells often manipulate the stress response to acquire therapeutic resistance and facilitate their survival. Targeting stress pathways has become a therapeutic approach for cancers such as colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and triple negative breast cancer therefore increasing our understanding of these molecular pathways is crucial to continue therapeutic advances.

Recent developments have shown that the regulation of RNA biology is a tightly controlled and critical process to maintain cellular homeostasis. A myriad of molecular processes co-operate to control the level of each RNA within the cell with loss of control over these processes also implicated in human disease. Despite the fundamental role for these processes, the effects of the adaptive stress-specific mechanisms on the fate of specific RNA molecules, and the role these play in aiding cell survival, is less well understood. Our recent work using state-of-the-art transcriptomics has revealed widespread changes in RNA dynamics in response to stress and unveiled the RNA decay enzymes play vital role in remodelling the transcriptome in stressed cells.

This project will build upon these findings and use a combination RNA- and small RNA-sequencing, bioinformatic, molecular and genetic approaches to begin to unlock the molecular mechanisms that allow RNA degradation to shape both the coding and non-coding transcriptome during cellular stress in human cells.

Eligibility

Ideal candidates will have a strong background in biochemistry and RNA biology with bioinformatic or programming experience desirable. Eligible applicants will hold a 2:1 BSc in a relevant subject. Candidates for whom English is not their first language will require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall, with not less than 6.0 in any section.

Deadline

How to apply

How to apply:

Please submit a formal application using the online system at www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply attaching a CV, degree transcripts and certificates, statement of interest and two academic references.

On the application system select Programme of Study – PhD Biochemistry. Please ensure you state the project title under funding and include the proposed supervisor’s name where required.

Contact us

For enquiries about the application process, contact Emma Chorley: lifesci-rec@sussex.ac.uk

For enquiries about the project, contact Dr Ben Towler: b.towler@sussex.ac.uk