Wessex One Health BBSRC scholarship: Investigating how virial infection impacts RNA degradation and mitochondrial biology (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

Investigating how virial infection impacts RNA degradation and mitochondrial biology

Theme(s): Infection and Cellular Biology

Lead partner: University of Sussex 
Supervisor: Dr Ben Towler:   b.towler@sussex.ac.uk

Joint partner: The Pirbright Institute
Supervisor: Nicolas Locker, nicolas.locker@pirbright.ac.uk

Project Summary

Viral infection and RNA biology are intimately linked with viruses exploiting post-transcriptional and translational regulatory mechanisms to create an environment that favours replication. RNA degradation is a key component of post-transcriptional control, with RNA decay processes implicated in various diseases including cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. Previous work has highlighted a role for RNA decay during viral infection, including both stimulatory and inhibitory effects of the ribonuclease XRN1 on viral biology. Another key player in RNA degradation is DIS3L2, which degrades RNA marked for destruction with a non-templated 3’ uridylated tail. Interestingly, 3’ uridylation has been implicated in viral RNA decay, however, how DIS3L2 activity impacts viral infection remains unexplored. 

We uncovered that cellular stress impacts DIS3L2 activity and that DIS3L2-deficient cells have defects in mitochondrial biology including differential decay of metabolic transcripts, increased oxygen consumption rate and an altered unfolded protein response. Mitochondria have been demonstrated to play both anti- and pro-viral roles with many, including the Locker laboratory, revealing viral rewiring of mitochondrial systems. Therefore, given the importance of mitochondrial function during viral infection and metabolic sensitivity to DIS3L2 activity, we hypothesise that DIS3L2 may play a direct and/or indirect role during viral infection through degrading both viral and metabolic RNAs, contributing to mitochondrial adaptation during infection. To address this, this project aims to:

1. Investigate the impact of flaviviruses on DIS3L2 activity
2. Establish the influence of DIS3L2 deficiency and altered mitochondrial function on viral replication
3. Characterise the mechanisms promoting increased oxygen consumption in DIS3L2-deficient cells

This is an exciting collaborative project at the interface of RNA and viral biology. Using advanced transcriptomic, molecular and bioinformatic approaches together with viral and metabolic assays we aim to improve understanding of RNA decay and mitochondrial function during viral infection which may uncover novel therapeutic avenues. 

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 Ben Towler:   b.towler@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