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Dr Paul Curnow
Applications accepted all year round
About the Project
Marine natural products are an untapped reserve of potent antibacterial agents. We are offering a 3.5-year PhD position at the University of Bristol that will identify and characterise new antibiotics from the microbial biota of deep ocean sponges.This is an exciting interdisciplinary opportunity involving the groups of Paul Curnow (School of Biochemistry), Kate Hendry (Earth Sciences), Jim Spencer (Cellular and Molecular Medicine) and Paul Race (Biochemistry).
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health issue of immediate concern. The UK strategy for overcoming this growing threat includes the discovery and development of new antibiotics.
The microbial consortia associated with marine sponges are a fertile source of therapeutic natural products. The types of natural products that these consortia produce are directly related to their environment. Historically, bioprospecting has been focused upon sponges from warm and shallow waters and these niches have been thoroughly sampled. In contrast, the supervisory team have now amassed a unique collection of over 100 sponges from the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean, representing remote, deep and cold waters that to our knowledge have never been sampled before. This novel resource holds the exciting prospect of discovering a variety of small molecules with therapeutic potential.
The student will begin by defining the culturable microbiota of representative sponge samples in order to establish a marine bacterial culture collection. They will then screen these cultures for the presence of antimicrobial compounds. Any ‘hits’ from this screen will be isolated and characterised, and validated as potential lead targets for new antibiotics.
The expected outcomes from this challenging project are new insights into the microbes associated with deep-sea sponges; the discovery and initial testing of natural products with antibiotic activity; and to establish the Bristol Sponge Collection as a resource for drug discovery.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health issue of immediate concern. The UK strategy for overcoming this growing threat includes the discovery and development of new antibiotics.
The microbial consortia associated with marine sponges are a fertile source of therapeutic natural products. The types of natural products that these consortia produce are directly related to their environment. Historically, bioprospecting has been focused upon sponges from warm and shallow waters and these niches have been thoroughly sampled. In contrast, the supervisory team have now amassed a unique collection of over 100 sponges from the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean, representing remote, deep and cold waters that to our knowledge have never been sampled before. This novel resource holds the exciting prospect of discovering a variety of small molecules with therapeutic potential.
The student will begin by defining the culturable microbiota of representative sponge samples in order to establish a marine bacterial culture collection. They will then screen these cultures for the presence of antimicrobial compounds. Any ‘hits’ from this screen will be isolated and characterised, and validated as potential lead targets for new antibiotics.
The expected outcomes from this challenging project are new insights into the microbes associated with deep-sea sponges; the discovery and initial testing of natural products with antibiotic activity; and to establish the Bristol Sponge Collection as a resource for drug discovery.
Funding Notes
This project is fully funded, and is offered through the MRC GW4 BioMed Doctoral Training Centre. Further information, including how to apply, can be found at http://www.gw4biomed.ac.uk and by emailing Dr Paul Curnow: [Email Address Removed]
