Applications for standard studentships to start in October 2023 are now closed. However our Diverse Talent Scholarship applications remain open to relevant candidates until 4th March 2023 for studentships to start in October 2023.
October 2023 standard studentship projects are listed below. Not all projects listed will be funded; studentships will be competitively allocated to the best students, with 7 projects receiving funding at each institution.
Projects in Leeds (2023)
- Structural basis of local Ca2+ ion-mediated signalling in the mammalian brain
- The shape of sustainable crop production: re-engineering plant architecture for sustainable food production
- Engineered Affimers for cryo-EM studies of unsolved protein structures
- Probing Aurora-A binding sites to understand the molecular mechanisms that determine biological function
- Delivery and misdelivery of outer membrane proteins to the BAM complex using cryoEM
- Assessing the role of plant membrane proteins in harnessing solar energy with video-speed electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy
- Filming photosynthesis: using molecular dynamics simulations and fluorescence to assess the dynamics of the Light Harvesting Complex II protein
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms of periplasmic chaperones to underpin the discovery of novel antimicrobial targets in gram-negative pathogens
- Simultaneous screening for protein expression and binding to facilitate protein target and lead drug validation in the biopharmaceutical industry
- Life in the freezer – how do proteins function in the cold?
- Pollinator fertility in a warming world
- Mapping cellular interactions of cardiovascular ion channels by chemical proteomics
- The dynamics of liquid organelle re-modelling in response to virus infection
- Dissecting the mechanism of RNA regulation by Held out wings (HOW) and impact on spermatogenesis
- Muscle mechanical function during running – validating computational biomechanical models
- Revealing the transport mechanism of P-glycoprotein using synthetic membrane mimetics
- How do environmental cues affect reproduction?
- Understanding comparative aspects of implantation in placental mammals
- Understanding the molecular basis for zoonosis of hepatitis E virus
- Exploring the roles of endosomal potassium ion channels in viral infection and cellular physiology
- Neural circuit changes underpinning olfactory learning
- Understanding compartmentalized intracellular signaling in somatosensory neurons
- Development of super-selective probes to target perineuronal nets for understanding the plasticity of neurons
- Molecular targets of analgesic natural compounds in the sensory system
- Using a novel anal epithelial 3D cell culture model to understand human papillomavirus induced transcriptional programming
- Unravelling the mechanisms behind inherited heart disease through time-resolved microscopy
- How does myosin 10 contribute to filopodia formation and stability?
- Investigating the conformational landscape of mechanosensitive ion channels by Molecular Dynamics, PELDOR and CryoEM
- Design and Folding of beta barrel membrane proteins
- Barrier functions of the sugary cell coat – Understanding how toxic protein species traverse the glycocalyx
- How does skeletal muscle communicate across organs, tissues and cell types to induce the beneficial metabolic effects of exercise?
- Molecular-level understanding of thioesterase domains in natural product biosynthesis
- Molecular basis of mechanobiology: The pressure-sensitive Piezo channels
- Comparative virology – how picornaviruses replicate in cells
- Aerodynamic force production and efficiency during flight
- Understanding protein autoactivation in molecular detail
- Elucidating the role of a novel virus-induced nuclear condensate in non-coding RNA biogenesis
- Modulating Protein-Protein Interactions of Intrinsically Disordered Regions using a Chemical Biology Approach
- Development of covalent peptidomimetics targeting protein-protein interactions in cell division and cancer
- Structural regulation of SMC5/6 complex in response to cellular DNA damage and invaded viral DNA
- Dissecting viral lectin receptors DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR-glycan multivalent interactions by PELDOR spectroscopy and glycan-nanoprobes
- Breaking the Chaperone Code: How do post-translational modifications regulate Hsp70 stress response?
Projects in Sheffield (2023)
- Matrix, mechanics and morphogenesis: Investigating the biomechanical properties of extracellular matrix which shape the developing heart
- Synthesising the pigments of life: Structure, function and regulation of metal chelatases in phototrophic bacteria
- Plant Traumatic Stress Syndrome: exploring the internal and external drivers of plant stress memory against pests and diseases
- A mechanistic understanding of phosphoinositide regulation during phagosome maturation
- Using cryo-electron microscopy to unravel conformational changes in photosynthetic complexes
- Using novel technologies to probe the resilience of crop heritage varieties to abiotic stress
- Is regeneration of an organ simply a recapitulation of its initial development?
- Linking microscale and macroscale changes in brain activity under the influence of psychedelics
- Unravelling the structural features and repair pathways of alcohol and fatty acid-derived DNA interstrand crosslinks
- Understanding tissue patterning in a fluctuating environment
- Investigating functional conservation of Specialized ribosomes in eukaryotes
- Influence, and buffering, of genetic variation on miRNA regulation
- Using AlphaFold structure predictions to accelerate molecular and genetic dissection of protein-protein interactions in intracellular polarity signalling
- Beyond the boundaries of plant sex: the role of the cell wall in fertilisation
- In vivo investigation of spontaneous activity in the prehearing mammalian auditory system
- Compartmentalised synaptic plasticity underlying associative memory
- Combining synthetic and evolutionary biology to develop novel ‘Infectious inoculants’ for agricultural sustainability
- Living Under Pressure. How Guard cells cope with high inflation
- Unraveling the mechanics of lateral gene transfer between grasses
- Structure and function of bacterial GTPases – emerging new targets for antimicrobial drug design
Projects in York (2023)
- Understanding the mechanisms of stress responses in eukaryotic cells
- Structural and functional dissection of the molecular machinery responsible for singular antigen expression and immune evasion in African trypanosomes
- Probing and manipulating the bacterial cell wall using chemically modified sugars
- Characterization of novel bacteria membrane stress response system
- Deciphering how insulin signalling controls the cytoskeleton during neuronal development and ageing
- Multiple entry points: Detecting and characterising substrate promiscuity in bacterial sugar transporters
- Understanding the mechanism of how PspA protects mycobacterial bioenergetics in response to antibiotic and environmental stressors
- Mechanistic dissection of intra-Golgi vesicle targeting
- Targeting antibiotic resistance: the importance of genome segregation
- Contact dependent inhibition (Type V secretion) in bacterial populations: a stealth contributor to antibiotic tolerance?
- Proteolytic control of intracellular bacterial infections
- Exploring the role of RuBisCo binding domains in algal carbon fixation
- A mechanistic role for Cip1-interacting zinc finger protein 1 (CIZ1) variants during urothelial differentiation and regeneration
- At the interface of injury, age and nutrition: characterising a novel protein regulating neuronal activity, survival and starvation responses.
- LPS and LTA: sticking, binding and anchoring? Using cutting-edge glycobiology to address molecular interactions of bacteria cell-wall biomarker with host cells
- Understanding the regulation of apoptosis by autophagy
- Perception of evening coolness in bread wheat: a key role for phytochrome in heading date
- Elucidating the Mechanism of Hypoxic Reprogramming of the Estrogen Response.
- Identifying the common biological properties of parasite vaccine targets
- Modelling microbial metabolic islands in the (waste) stream
- Magnetic spectroscopy and magnetometry studies of metalloenzymes for biomass utilisation
- Cryo-electron microscopy study of the molecular mechanism of genome packaging by dsDNA viruses
- Uncovering the biological roles of recently discovered carbohydrate-active enzymes in green microalgae
- The oncogenic mechanism and potential of the emergent retrovirus ALV-K in global poultry
- Developing novel enzymatic cascades for carbon-carbon bond formation
- How did opium poppy evolve to make morphine?