We are looking to recruit an outstanding physicist or computer scientist to develop new hardware-software microscopy tools for single molecule imaging inside live bacteria.
We seek to understand how nanoscale proteins build a precisely shaped microscale bacterial cell envelope. To achieve this, we use single molecule tracking microscopy to watch individual protein molecules directly inside living cells as they remodel the cell wall. Imaging tiny proteins inside living cells is an intense technical challenge, requiring sophisticated image data science and biophysical analysis methods to translate single molecule trajectories into quantitative models of how proteins work as biological nanomachines.
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING FOR YOUR PHD RESEARCH?
During this PhD you will develop a fully automated, open source, high throughput hardware-software method for single molecule tracking of individual proteins in live bacteria. This broadly accessible tool will be useful to many biophysicists and bacteriologists across the world. Alongside this, you will develop a computational model of cell wall protein dynamics, to quantitatively test models of cell wall remodelling by comparison to observed single molecule data.
You will join the Holden lab at Newcastle University (https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/holdenlab/). We are an interdisciplinary lab that works across biophysics, advanced microscopy and bacteriology. We are located at the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University, a world leading centre for bacteriology research. This work will be performed in collaboration with computational and optical biophysics experts at the Ricardo Henriques lab in IGC Portugal (https://henriqueslab.github.io/), and molecular microbiology experts at the Gary Sharples lab in Durham University. Collaborative visits and knowledge exchange with both labs are planned during the PhD.
In the longer term this work will help fight antimicrobial resistance by contributing to understanding how antibiotics stop bacterial growth and division.
IS THIS PROJECT RIGHT FOR YOU?
We are seeking a scientist with a good degree (BSc/MSci 2(1) or above, or MSc) in a relevant field, e.g. Physics, Computer Science.
In the Holden lab we welcome and celebrate diversity in all its forms. We particularly encourage applications from women and BAME individuals, as these groups are systematically underrepresented within the physical sciences.
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Séamus Holden ([Email Address Removed]).
HOW TO APPLY
Applications should be made by emailing [Email Address Removed] with a CV and a covering letter, including whatever additional information you feel is pertinent to your application; you may wish to indicate, for example, why you are particularly interested in the selected project/s and at the selected University. Applications not meeting these criteria will be rejected. We will also require electronic copies of your degree certificates and transcripts.
In addition to the CV and covering letter, please email a completed copy of the Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham (NLD) BBSRC DTP Studentship Application Details Form (Word document) to [Email Address Removed], noting the additional details that are required for your application which are listed in this form. A blank copy of this form can be found at: https://www.nld-dtp.org.uk/how-apply.
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