ion channel PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Ion channels are proteins which sit in the membrane of every cell in the body and control the flow of positively charged ions such as sodium and potassium into and out of the cell.

Ion channel signalling in cancer cells

University of York
Department of Biology

Dr W Brackenbury

Application Deadline: 30 June 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Our cells constantly sense and transport ions present in their environment. From embryonic development to epilepsy to heart disease to cancer, our cells’ ability to respond to changes in the ionic microenvironment is essential for healthy ageing.

Development and characterisation of synthetic ion channel binding proteins.

University of Leeds
Faculty of Biological Sciences

Research Group: School of Biomedical Sciences

Dr J D Lippiat, Dr D Tomlinson

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

We are developing methods to identify novel proteins, Affimers, that recognise extracellular domains of ion channels. These have applications in various aspects of biology, from tools to visualise the location and distribution of ion channels in native tissue, to novel modulators of ion channel function.

Ion channel regulation in models of neurodegeneration

University of Reading
School of Pharmacy

Dr M Dallas, Prof G J Stephens, Dr A Bithell

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Ion channels are important regulators of cellular physiology. There is now growing awareness that these proteins are invovled in pathological states, with relation to neurodegeneration voltage-gated potassium and voltage-gated calicum channels have been implicated.

Ion channel clustering in neuronal membranes

The University of Manchester
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Dr S M Prince, Prof R Ford

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

The aim of the study is to investigate the organization of ion channels in the membranes of excitable cells by scaffold proteins, and to discover how the properties of the channels are modified by these interactions.

Tissue Engineering of Functional Cardiac Tissue using a Newly Characterised Cardiac Stem Cell Population

University of Liverpool
Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease

Dr R Oldershaw, Dr R Barrett-Jolley, Dr A P Meeson

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

We will develop a novel route to create and test stem cell-derived engineered cardiac tissue for use in heart infarct repair or in vitro drug screening.

Development of a treatment for drug-resistant childhood epilepsy caused by potassium channel dysfunction.

University of Leeds
Faculty of Biological Sciences

Dr J D Lippiat, Dr S Clapcote, Dr S Muench

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Gain-of-function mutations in the human gene KCNT1, which encodes the KNa1.1 sodium-activated potassium channel, cause severe childhood epilepsy that cannot be controlled by current medication.

The mechanism of gating and transport of pentameric Magnesium ion channels

The University of Manchester
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Dr S M Prince, Prof R Ford

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Magnesium ions are a co-factor in many important biological processes particularly because of the requirement for Mg2+ in the hydrolysis of Adenosine tri-phosphate, the ubiquitous cellular energy source.

Electrophysiological changes in ion channels in human haploid and diploid (spermatozoa and lymphocytes) after nanoparticle exposure

University of Bradford
Faculty of Life Sciences

Research Group: Chemistry and Biosciences

Dr L Shang, Dr M H Brinkworth, Prof D Anderson

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Nanomaterial-mediated delivery represents a promising technique for repro- and geno- toxicology with a potential to improve the safety and efficacy of existing methodologies, including experimental gene therapy and sperm-mediated gene transfer.

Supra-molecular architecture of neurotransmitter receptor complexes

Medical Research Council (Cambridge)
Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Dr R Aricescu

Application Deadline: 3 December 2019

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but potential funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Chemical synapses are cellular connectors that define the organization and function of neuronal circuits and, as a result, the fundamental ability of the brain to acquire and store information.