De Novo Design of Antimicrobial and Anticancer Peptides

The use of classical antibiotics has resulted in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that has become an increasing threat to human health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising alternatives which not only have a broad-spectrum efficacy against bacteria, fungi, viruses and also tumour cells, but also make it difficult for them to build AMR/MDR. This PhD project will design a series of short peptides that can act as antimicrobial and anticancer agents, study how the designed peptides bind with model lipid membranes, investigate their secondary structure and self-assembly using several state-of-the-art tools such as Langmuir trough, CD spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, AFM, and TEM. Their toxicity and selectivity to bacterial and different cell lines will be studied to evaluate their antimicrobial and anticancer effects. 

Please see this link for information on how to apply: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cbe/postgraduate/phd/how-apply. Please include the name of your proposed supervisor and the title of the PhD project within your application.

Candidates should have a 1st class or 2.1 degree or MSc (merit or distinction) in chemistry, materials, pharmacy, biotechnology, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering or a related discipline. If English is not your first language then you must have an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) average of 6.5 or above with at least 6.0 in each component, or equivalent. Please see this link for further information: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/english-language.