Biological Sciences (MSc by Research)

Cannabinoids have an established role in the exertion of palliative effects in cancer patients. They have been used in cancer patients to relieve nausea, vomiting, pain, and to help stimulate appetite. Standard treatment strategies for cancer patients may involve surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Unfortunately, patients experience many adverse effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Some patients also show resistance to the treatments. Therefore, novel treatment methods are unmet clinical needs. We and others have shown that cannabinoids can also induce cytotoxicity in various cancers such as gynaecological and gastrointestinal cancers. The aim of the project is to continue the investigation and test non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as CBD (cannabidiol) and CBG (cannabigerol) on human carcinoma cells. In our projects, we are interested in investigating the mechanism of action of cannabinoids to induce cytotoxicity in tumours and whether treatment with cannabinoids can increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The results of the pre-clinical project will inform clinical colleagues in designing clinical trials. Our ultimate aim will be: (1) whether cannabinoids can be used as adjunct treatment with the current treatment regimens for cancer patients to reduce the side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, (2) whether the life expectancy of cancer patients can be increased if cannabinoids are added to the treatment strategy, (3) whether patients’ quality of life can be improved.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £7-£10,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Farideh Javid

In the last 5 years, we have accumulated probably the largest collection of Apodemus whole-genome genotypes in the world. With about 1400 samples, we inadvertently also sequenced various biological contaminants present in or on the samples, which we could use to gain additional insights into Apodemus biology. Particularly interesting are the various parasites associated with the yellow-necked and wood mice, such as ticks and the Borrelia bacteria they carry, but also hantaviruses - all important for human health.

In this computational-only project, you will develop and apply a computational approach to filtering the sequences we have for the non-rodent species and characterise their content and quantities. Once validated, this approach will be used to characterise other publicly available sequences from Apodemus and other species.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Jarek Bryk

We have recently developed a RAD-seq pull-down protocol to facilitate extraction of a common set of loci from samples with degraded DNA. The protocol employs biotinylated RNA baits, based on high-quality genomics DNA, which are used to pull down a similar set of loci from a large number of degraded DNA samples. We have run a proof-of-principle experiment and obtained a set of sequences from 20 samples of yellow-necked mice at different stages of DNA degradation. In this computational-only project, you will analyse these samples and construct a metric that would help us determine the effectiveness of the protocol and characterise success of its future applications.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Jarek Bryk

Pillwort (Pilularia globulifera) is an aquatic fern that lives on pond edge habitats in the UK and Western Europe. Throughout its range pillwort is undergoing a rapid decline and, despite the UK harbouring a substantial proportion of the species total population, it is considered to be a Priority Species in the 2007 UK Biodiversity Action Plan. It has been recognised that conservation planning for pillwort would be greatly aided with knowledge of genetic diversity, both across the whole UK population and within localised populations. In particular, the identification of gene flow levels between populations will provide an insight into the capacity of pillwort for re-colonising suitable habitats or show if translocation is required to establish new colonies. Genotyping of plants to be used in translocations will be of importance to minimise in-breeding and maximise genetic diversity in newly established colonies. This project aims to sequence the genomes of pillwort from multiple local sites in order to determine gene flow between populations, as well as to identify genetic markers suitable for population studies across the species’ known range.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Martin Carr

This project will explore the effect of man-made phenolic chemicals on the terminal step of haem catabolism that can lead to brain death in animals. This will be achieved by in vitro spectrophotometric and HPLC assays with a variety of environmental pollutants to determine if they are antagonists of Phase II bilirubin glucuronidation. Computer based analysis using 3D modelling will also be used to predict interactions.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Douglas Clarke

Superwarfarins such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone and flocoumafen are a class of compounds like the anticoagulant drug warfarin that are used as pesticides worldwide. Unfortunately poisoning of humans and non-target animals by these compounds is an escalating problem in many countries since the 1970s. This project will explore the toxicological impact of superwarfarins in both terrestrial and aquatic organisms using in vitro and in vivo systems.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Douglas Clarke

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. Studies in multicellular organisms have shown that codon choice in TEs has not evolved in order to facilitate efficient protein translation. A surprising recent study however has shown that codon choice in some unicellular eukaryotes has been optimised to increase both translational efficiency and accuracy. This project aims to investigate codon choice in bacteria and archaea in order to determine if natural selection or mutational pressure act to influence codon bias in their TE genes.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Martin Carr

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. To date TEs have mainly been studied in the multicellular animals, plants and fungi, however a small number of studies in unicellular eukaryotes indicate that TEs evolve under different evolutionary pressures in single celled organisms. This project aims to uncover evolutionary traits in TEs from choanoflagellates and other eukaryotic groups related to animals. There will be a focus of the horizontal transfer of TEs between species, as well as the role of codon choice in the translation of TE proteins.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Martin Carr

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. To date TEs have mainly been studied in the multicellular animals, plants and fungi, however a small number of studies in unicellular eukaryotes indicate that TEs evolve under different evolutionary pressures in single celled organisms. This project aims to uncover evolutionary traits in TEs from unicellular eukaryotes. There will be a focus of the horizontal transfer of TEs between species, as well as the role of codon choice in the translation of TE proteins.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Martin Carr

The project will explore the evolution of vitamin K epoxide reductases (VKORs) and vitamin K dependent proteins that are involved in coagulation and bone development in higher animals in evolutionary diverse organisms. It will involve HPLC and spectrophotometric assays of VKORs in different organisms using various substrates and effect of antagonists (pharmaceuticals and pesticides) on organisms. Bioinformatic investigation will be carried out on VKOR and vitamin K dependent proteins.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Douglas Clarke

The choanoflagellates are a group of unicellular eukaryotes known to be the closest relative of animals. Gene sequences from RNA-Seq transcriptome data are over-turning our views on how different groups of choanoflagellate species are related to each other. Through comparative genomics we can also gain a better understanding on the evolution of important traits such as multicellularity, protein translation, RNAi and virus-like genetic parasites. This project aims to generate robust and reliable evolutionary trees to test current ideas on choanoflagellate evolution. The use of reliable trees will allow a more accurate reconstruction of trait evolution in choanoflagellates and in the last common ancestor of choanoflagellates and animals.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Martin Carr

The focus of this PhD is the pre-clinical screening and evaluation of different classes of novel compounds for potential anti-cancer activity. These compounds are available to test as part of a number of continuing and new collaborations with international chemistry research groups (in the UK and overseas). Key objectives are:- 1) phenotypic screening for toxicity against a range of cancer cell lines 2) analysis of selectivity towards cancer cells versus non-cancer cells and selection of lead compounds for further investigation. 3) analysis of activity against hypoxic cancer cells and other typically resistant cancer cells that are priority targets. 3) mechanism of action studies and target deconvolution of lead compounds.

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

• Dr Simon Allison

This MSc by Research is focused on the phenotypic approach to anti-cancer drug discovery. Key objectives are:- 1) phenotypic screening of novel compounds for activity against cancer cells, 2) analysis of selectivity towards cancer cells versus non-cancer cells, 3) analysis of activity against hypoxic cancer cells that are typically chemoresistant and a priority clinical target, 4) mechanism of action and target deconvolution studies. Depending on progress and interests, there is also the possibility of in ovo studies of ‘leads’ for ‘proof of concept’ in vivo evaluation.

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of £5000 per annum are required for this project.

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

• Dr Simon Allison

The focus of this PhD is on the metabolic re-wiring of cancer cells which is now recognised as one of the hallmarks of cancer and is a potential rich source of new therapeutic targets. Specific aims are:- 1) to investigate cancer cell response to targeting specific molecular targets associated with metabolic re-wiring 2) to investigate heterogeneity in cellular response and potential biomarkers of response 3) to perform metabolic profiling of cancer and non-cancer cells and analyse how they respond to specific molecular targeting to provide insight into metabolic adaptability and dependency.

The project is for self-funding students from home or overseas. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of £8,000 per annum are required.

Home/EU -June 30th/October 31st and Overseas May 31st/September 30th

• Dr Simon Allison