British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence

3-year Interdisciplinary PhD Studentship

Call for Applications for 2 PhD studentships with King’s College London commencing October 2022.

The King’s College London British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre of Research Excellence offers an outstanding environment for cardiovascular interdisciplinary research and training. It includes a large number of internationally rated investigators whose expertise encompasses a broad range of cardiac and vascular biomedicine. Students will experience the latest advancement in cardiovascular research via our international seminar series, technology workshops on cutting edge techniques, and they will be based in state of the art laboratories and facilities.

Our research features in Nature, Circulation and other high impact factor journals. Clinical and pre-clinical research is at the heart of King’s College London priorities. The College was ranked 12th worldwide in Times Higher Education 2022 in this field.

This exciting basic and translational science project integrates immunology, inflammation biology and cardiovascular biology, and will provide cross-disciplinary training in cellular and molecular immunology; bioinformatic analysis; multi-parameter flow cytometry; cytokine detection; in vitro monocyte assays; and in vivo models. You will investigate whether targeted modulation of monocytes by specific T cell subsets could be a relevant approach for the treatment of early atherosclerosis. You will identify genes and pathways relevant to atherosclerosis/cardiovascular disease in T cell-modulated monocytes and validate and functionally test these molecules in both the healthy and peripheral vascular disease setting. The in vivo relevance and potential clinical application of your findings will be explored using experimental models of atherosclerosis.

Professor Elisabeth Ehler and Dr Julien Bergeron – ‘M-protein - a novel cardiomyopathy-causing gene’

We study the molecular basis for heart disease. The project focusses on M-protein, a protein that is characteristic for mature high efficiency myofibrils. Several mutations in M-protein are suspected to lead to heart disease and we will characterise wildtype and mutant variants for their interaction behaviour, overall molecular stability and any effect on their structure and the cellular function. This project will combine cutting edge technology such as iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, high end light microscopy as well as cryo-electron microscopy and molecular biophysics and offer the student an unequalled opportunity to gain fundamental insight into heart research.

ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must possess, or be expected to achieve, a 1st or good upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. A 2:2 degree may be considered only where applicants offer a Master’s degree with Merit or above.

FUNDING: Studentships cover tuition fees at Home rate, offer a stipend at BHF rates (currently starting at £22,278 pa) for all three years and research expenses.

ENQUIRIES: Contact the relevant supervisors or the BHF Centre manager (silvia.pedroni@kcl.ac.uk).

For information please visit our website.

TO APPLY: Visit the King’s Apply website following the steps outlined below:

• Register a new account and login.
• Open a new application.
• Select the correct programme:
  • For Prof Leonie Taams and Dr Ashish Patel project:
    − Select: ‘Immunology and Microbial Science Research MPhil/PhD (Full-time)’
  • For Prof Elisabeth Ehler and Dr Julien Bergeron project:
    − Select: ‘Cardiovascular Medicine and Science Research MPhil/PhD (Full-time)’
• Select programme start date: June or October 2022
• Complete and submit your application noting the following:
  • 2 References
  • CV
  • Funding – select drop-down ‘4. Grant Awarding Body’. For the award status, select 'Advertised Scholarship' and in the box marked ‘Ref No.:’, please enter: ‘BHFIM22’ for Immunology and ‘BHFID22’ for Cardiovascular

The closing date for applications is 20^th February 2022. Interviews are expected to be week commencing 14^th March. The programme will commence in June or October 2022.