Molecular Biology PhD Research Projects PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships in Leeds

Supervisors: Dr M Stacey, Dr J N Barr

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25 in the area of molecular virology. Read more

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

Epigenetics and Cancer: Determining how Mistakes in V(D)J Recombination Trigger Leukaemias and Lymphomas

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

V(D)J recombination is essential to produce an effective adaptive immune system but since the reaction involves breakage and rejoining of DNA, it is highly dangerous and errors have long been thought to lead to leukaemias and lymphomas. Read more

Supervisor: Dr J Boyes

Exploring Synthetic Lethality Interactions through Targeting the SUMO Pathway for Therapeutic Insights

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

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

Supervisor: Dr C Bassi

Employing molecular virology to investigate hepatitis E virus replication

Supervisors: Dr M.R. Herod, Prof M Harris

This project is available to self funded candidates only. The Herod lab has a broad interest in virus replication, with a particular interest in studying single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses important for human and animal health. Read more

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

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of intrinsic antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens

Supervisor: Prof A O'Neill

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

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

Control and inhibition of virus replication

Supervisor: Dr A.K Tuplin

The Tuplin laboratory utilises a range of cutting-edge approaches to investigate how arboviruses - specifically Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika viruses - control replication and translation of their genomes through interactions between RNA structures, host cell proteins and non-coding RNA, and the potential of such RNA elements/interactions as novel therapeutic targets. Read more

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

Towards new antibacterial drugs to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria: identification and characterization of novel natural product antibiotics

Supervisor: Prof A O'Neill

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

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

Disrupted SUMO signalling in epithelial cancers, implications for genome stability and response to therapy.

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

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

Supervisor: Dr A Garvin

Uncovering the links between the environmental sensor, AHR, and the development of breast cancer

Supervisors: Dr C Gorrini, Dr A Zhuravleva

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Broadening the spectrum of antibacterial drugs to tackle multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens

Supervisors: Prof A O'Neill, Dr M McPhillie, Prof C Fishwick

Research Group: Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology

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

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

Haematology: Oncogenic mechanisms causing malignant transformation of B cells and plasma cells

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

Cancers of B cells and plasma cells, lymphomas and multiple myeloma, can be very aggressive, and often the cancer rapidly reoccurs after standard therapy. Read more

Supervisor: Prof U Klein

Haematology: Oncogenic reprogramming of immune cells; novel mechanism for drug resistance in leukaemia

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

Under pathogenic challenges, cells of the haematopoietic system become epigenetically reprogrammed and establish immune memory. Read more

Supervisor: Dr P Laslo

Alpha-synuclein amyloid in Parkinson's disease: using Nanoinjection as a tool to study alpha-synuclein amyloid toxicity inside neurons

Supervisors: Dr E W Hewitt, Prof S E Radford, Dr P Actis

Intraneuronal inclusions known as Lewy bodies are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. Amyloid fibrils formed by the misfolding of alpha-synuclein are the principal component of Lewy Bodies. Read more

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

How does the E5 oncoprotein contribute to human papillomavirus replication and disease?

Supervisors: Dr A Macdonald, Prof A Whitehouse

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Cancer: Understanding the immunosuppressive role of fibroblast and macrophages in Breast cancer

Supervisors: Dr F Errington-Mais, Dr V Jennings

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) preferentially infect and kill cancer cells, and their clinical efficacy has been demonstrated against a number of different cancers. The most clinically advanced OV is a genetically engineered herpes simplex virus (T-VEC) which expresses GMCSF to aid the development of anti-tumour immune responses; T-VEC is approved for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Read more

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

Design and Folding of beta barrel membrane proteins

Supervisors: Prof S E Radford, Prof D B Brockwell

The cell walls of Gram negative bacteria are packed with b-barrel outer membrane proteins (OMPs) whose function are essential for bacterial growth and virulence. Read more

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

Engineering Developable Biopharmaceuticals

Supervisors: Prof D B Brockwell, Prof S E Radford

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Uncovering the viral and cellular components that dictate the neurological outcome of tick-borne encephalitis virus infection

Supervisor: Dr NG Goonawardane

The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Neuron-glia communication in peripheral somatosensory system and its role in nociception and pain

Supervisors: Prof N Gamper, Dr J. Johnston

The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Delivery and misdelivery of outer membrane proteins to the BAM complex using cryoEM

Supervisors: Prof N A Ranson, Prof S E Radford

The BAM complex folds membrane proteins into the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, proteins whose functions are essential for bacterial viability, pathogenicity and virulence. Read more

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

Cardiac and skeletal muscle progenitor cells - driving regeneration ability by tryptophan metabolites

Supervisors: Dr A.J. Smith, Dr T.S. Bowen

The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Pharmacology of ion channels in human genetic disorders

Supervisors: Dr J D Lippiat, Dr S Clapcote, Dr K Simmons, Dr S Muench

The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Targeting protein acetylation to reduce microglia activation in neurodegenerative disorders

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

The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

Supervisor: Prof I Wood

Plant Nematology

Supervisors: Prof P E Urwin, Dr C Bell, Dr C Lilley

Introduction. The Plant Nematology Laboratory is an internationally recognised group working to understand the interactions between parasitic nematodes and their plant hosts. Read more

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

How do environmental cues affect reproduction?

Supervisors: Assoc Prof E.J. Duncan, Prof A Bretman

This project is available to self funded candidates only. The School of Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2024/25. Read more

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

Manipulation of neuroimmune responses and behaviour by infectious agents

Supervisors: Dr G Mcconkey, Dr S Clapcote

This project is available exclusively to self-funded students who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2023/24. The project focuses on how infectious agents modify the individuals that they infect and how neuroimmune responses to infection moderate behaviour changes in warm-blooded animals and humans. Read more

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

Ageing to Arrhythmias

Supervisors: Dr M K Lancaster, Dr M.A. Colman

Cardiac arrhythmias are a leading cause of sudden death and morbidity. This project aims to identify why they occur in the elderly and novel routes to therapies. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD 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)