Biological Sciences PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships in Leeds

NIHR Leeds BRC: Utilising genetic and genomic predictors of vasculitis and disease/treatment complications for application in routine clinical practice

Supervisors: Prof A Morgan, Dr MM Iles, Dr R Mujica-Mota

There is substantial interest in using genetic biomarkers to predict those most at risk of disease and treatment complications; this is one of the focuses of Our Future Health, a national study aiming to recruit 5M participants ( https://ourfuturehealth.org.uk/ ). Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: Unravelling the pre-clinical immunology of the IL-23/1L-17 axis in axial inflammation in psoriatic arthritis towards optimal disease prevention

Supervisors: Prof D McGonagle, Dr H Marzo-Ortego, Dr T Macleod

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are key disorders within the seronegative spondylarthropathy (SpA) that was first described in… Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: The microbiome and the promotion of bowel cancer: The key to understanding causation and prevention of this important disease

Supervisors: Dr K Marks, Dr H Wood, Dr N West, Prof P Quirke

Bowel cancer is the second commonest cause of cancer death in the UK and affects 1.9 million people annually worldwide. Its cause is still unknown but recent work by Wood et al. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: Pre-clinical evaluation of novel regenerative medicine strategies for knee osteoarthritis

Supervisors: Prof H Pandit, Prof D McGonagle

Historically, articular cartilage was considered incapable of spontaneous repair. However, biomechanical correction in osteoarthritis (OA) using high tibial osteotomy or joint distraction demonstrated the remarkable joint to regeneration by “merely” correcting joint alignment. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: Multimodal predictive modelling of outcome in patients with gastrointestinal cancer

Supervisors: Dr H Grabsch, Dr N West, Dr D Magee

Worldwide, cancer of the upper (oesophagus, stomach) and lower gastrointestinal (colon and rectum) tract is newly diagnosed in 3.6 million patients every year and 2.2 million patients die from this disease every year. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: Force sensing mechanisms of haemostasis in heart failure and diabetes

Supervisors: Dr R Ariens, Prof D J Beech, Dr E Levelt

Since the original identification of the role of PIEZO1 in vascular integrity and endothelial cell biology by our group in Leeds in 2014, there have been many publications on the role of PIEZO1 in endothelial function and its role in processes such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, cell-cell junctions, vascular permeability and leukocyte diapedesis. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: Exploring the impact of 'hidden' antibiotic resistance

Supervisors: Prof A O'Neill, Dr K Davies, Dr J Sandoe

Antibiotics make possible the treatment of life-threatening infections and have added over a decade to average human lifespan. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

NIHR Leeds BRC: An interferon diagnostic to inform early detection and prevention strategies in Ana positive CTDs

Supervisors: Dr F Del Galdo, Dr R Ross

Type I interferons (IFN) play a role in a wide range of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), and strong evidence suggests that measurement of IFN activity could have clinical value, although testing has not progressed into clinical settings. Read more

26 May 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

Molecular mechanisms of pacemaker (sinus node) dysfunction in ageing, heart failure and athletes

Supervisors: Dr M Hussain, Dr C Willis, Prof MR Boyett

Research Group: Chemistry and Biosciences

The heart’s pacemaker, the sinus node, initiates the action potential that causes the heart to beat, and the atrioventricular node conducts the action potential from the atria to the ventricles, the pumping chambers of the heart. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Characterisation of adrenoceptor and muscarinic receptor subtypes coupled to potassium channels in chondrocytes from bovine cartilage

Supervisors: Dr M Hussain, Dr M Katsikogianni, Dr N Javid

Research Group: Chemistry and Biosciences

Several outward potassium currents have been identified in bovine chondrocytes (review Mobasheri et al. 2012). These include ATP-sensitive and a Calcium-activated potassium currents (Sanches & Lopez-Zapata, 2011). Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Beat-to-beat modulation of Calcium-induced Calcium release in cardiac muscle

Supervisors: Dr M Hussain, Dr J Muller, Prof MR Boyett

Research Group: Chemistry and Biosciences

Contraction in the heart is well known to be dependent on a transient rise in intracellular calcium concentration. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Therapeutic resolution of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by natural products

Supervisors: Dr T Nasim, Prof C Wright

Research Group: Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating cardiovascular disorder which, if left untreated, leads to heart failure and death. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Therapeutic resolution of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) by natural products

Supervisors: Dr T Nasim, Dr M Najafzadeh

Research Group: Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a type of blood cancer where the patients do not have enough healthy blood cells. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Therapeutic resolution of coronavirus (COVID-19) diseases by natural products

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Research Group: Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Coronavirus now labelled as Covid-19 has become a global pandemic affecting around 200 countries. Currently neither any cure nor any vaccine for Covid-19 has been established. Read more

Supervisor: Dr T Nasim