Biochemistry Studentship - Integrating High-Throughput Biophysics and Structural Biology for Accelerated Molecular Discovery (2026)

What you get

Funding for: UK Students 

Funding amount: Funding will cover tuition fees for UK students (at the Home rate), a stipend at the UKRI rate (London weighting), and a consumables budget.

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

Funding type

Partnership

PhD project

This PhD project offers a unique opportunity to join a highly interdisciplinary team at the forefront of drug discovery and structural biology. The research focuses on elucidating the complex structural architecture of essential regulatory proteins, including kinases, which play critical roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis and driving cancer progression. Many of these pivotal proteins currently lack high-resolution experimental structural data, creating a significant knowledge gap that hinders the global development of targeted therapies. By filling this gap, the project aims to identify and validate promising novel chemical scaffolds to support the creation of potent, specific modulators for advanced mechanistic studies and future therapeutic applications.

As a doctoral candidate in this program, you will be fully embedded within a collaborative network involving leading experts from the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre at the University of Sussex and Diamond Light Source. This role involves spending approximately 50% of your total studentship based at the national synchrotron facility, providing a unique immersion in a world-leading research environment. You will work directly alongside structural biologists, biophysicists, and medicinal chemists to bridge the existing gap between fundamental molecular science and translational medicine.

Central to this project is the development of a novel platform for drug discovery combining Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism (SRCD) with XCHEM fragment screening. This innovative, high-throughput approach will allow for the rapid identification of small-molecule binders while simultaneously providing detailed insights into secondary and tertiary structural rearrangements and ligand-induced conformational changes. You will integrate this platform with X-ray Crystallography and Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) to determine high-resolution, atomic-level structures of protein domains and their complexes. Furthermore, you will utilize BioSAXS to study solution-state conformations, flexibility, and various oligomeric states.

Through this combination of techniques, you will gain a robust, comprehensive toolkit and interdisciplinary expertise essential for a professional career in the modern pharmaceutical industry or academic structural biology.

References

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/sussex-drug-discovery-centre/

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Instruments/Soft-Condensed-Matter/B23.html  

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Instruments/Soft-Condensed-Matter/B23/Staff/Hussain.html

Eligibility

Candidates must have obtained, or be expected to obtain, a minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology or related field. While not strictly required, an MSc degree in Structural Biology, Cancer Biology, or Biophysics is considered advantageous for this position. You may be considered for this position if you have other professional qualifications or experience of equivalent standing.

Candidates for whom English is not their first language will require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall or equivalent proficiency - English language requirements 

Applications are particularly welcomed from candidates with protected characteristics – e.g., from Black and other ethnic minorities – who are under-represented in postgraduate research at our institution.

Deadline

How to apply

Please submit a formal application using the online admissions portal attaching a CV, degree transcripts and certificates, and two academic referees. A research proposal is not required. Instead, please upload a personal statement describing your subject areas of interest, skills and previous experience, motivation for Doctoral Research, future goals, and why you are applying to this project.

On the application system select Programme of Study – PhD Biochemistry. Please select ‘funding obtained’ and state the supervisor’s name where required.

Contact us

For enquiries about the application process, please email Emma Chorley: fosem-rec@sussex.ac.uk  

For enquiries about the project, please email Erika Mancini (e.mancini@sussex.ac.uk) or John Spencer (j.spencer@sussex.ac.uk)