Wessex One Health BBSRC scholarship: Deciphering mutational pressures in bacterial and viral pathogens using mutation signatures (2026)

What you get

PhD studentships cover four years of UK or International PhD fees and a tax free maintenance allowance (currently £20,780  in 2024-5) plus some research and travel costs.

Type of award

PhD scholarship

PhD project

Deciphering mutational pressures in bacterial and viral pathogens using mutation signatures

Theme(s): Microbial Evolution and Drug Resistance

Lead partner: University of Sussex 
Supervisor: Dr Frances Pearl: f.pearl@sussex.ac.uk

Joint partner: The Pirbright Institute
Supervisor: Tim Downing, Tim.Downing@pirbright.ac.uk

Project Summary

Mutational signatures are unique patterns of DNA base substitutions that reflect the specific mutagenic processes responsible for them. In cancer research, identifying these signatures within a tumour can reveal valuable information about the biological mechanisms driving its development. In this project, you will analyse the mutational signatures found in viral and bacterial pathogens and investigate the underlying causes of these mutation patterns.

DNA molecules tend to accumulate certain types of base changes called transitions (four options: C to T, T to C, A to G, G to A) more often than transversions (eight options: C to A, A to C, C to G, G to C, T to A, A to T, T to C, C to T). Transversions occur less often and may indicate adaptive evolution or reduced sequence conservation. The surrounding nucleotide context also influences these changes. For instance, many hosts recognise CpG dinucleotides as foreign, leading some pathogens to evolve AT-rich genomes as an immune evasion strategy.

This project will explore how these mutational patterns vary across pathogens that infect different hosts. In particular, you will investigate the role of host-driven processes such as APOBEC-mediated deamination, which shaped viral genomes during events like the recent mpox outbreak. By comparing mutation profiles across RNA and DNA viruses from livestock and birds including those with zoonotic potential, you will assess how nucleotide changes are linked to host switching and pathogen adaptation. These insights can improve our understanding of pathogen evolution and help inform risk assessments for future outbreaks and pandemics.

You will receive training in bioinformatics, molecular biology, genome analysis, and phylogenetics. The project will develop your skills in data interpretation, scientific communication, and critical analysis, while contributing to a novel and growing area of pathogen genomics. This research provides a new perspective on how host and environmental factors shape mutational signatures across diverse microbial genomes.

Eligibility

Who we are looking for

You will have the ambition, motivation and scientific curiosity to research new approaches to combatting infectious diseases in the themes of:

• Detection, prevention and intervention
• Microbial evolution and drug resistance
• Understanding disease spread
• Infection and cellular biology. 

You will have or expect to have an MSc, and/or a first or upper second honours degree in a relevant subject. We welcome applications from graduates of all universities, and from candidates already in work, or returning after a career break.

Note: Lab experience is desirable but not essential as all successful applicants will be trained in basic lab skills where applicable.

The Scholarships are open to both UK and International applicants.  However, international places are limited as 70% of each cohort must be Home students.  In addition, some of the partner laboratories have further nationality or residency requirements due to security clearance checks on their researchers.  Please contact the supervisors for details of any further requirements for this project.

Number of scholarships available

One for this project but 17 PhD studentships are available for October 2026  across the programme. 

Deadline

How to apply

Please apply by submitting an application form for a Wessex One Health scholarship and completing our EDI survey

You will find this project listed in Section 14 of the application form.

If you are invited for interview, you should contact the supervisors ahead of the interview, but you are welcome to contact them before applying to find out more about the project.

Contact us

For Sussex-specific enquiries contact pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk

For information on this project, contact the Sussex supervisor:   Dr Frances Pearl: f.pearl@sussex.ac.uk

For further information on the programme or application process, email WOH@surrey.ac.uk.

You might also be interested in

You can find out more about the Wessex One Health Programme here,

Timetable

The timetable is as follows:

Submission deadline: Midnight Friday 23 January 2026

Shortlisting: by 13 February 2026

Online interviews: Online, week beginning 3 March 2026