Enabling Drug Discovery In Genome Stability Targets To Target Cancer

A funded studentship is available within the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre (www.sussex.ac.uk/sddc) at the University of Sussex to develop selective probe inhibitors of proteins implicated in genome instability as potential drug agents against individual cancers. These proteins are under active investigation within the world-leading Genome Damage and Stability Centre (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/gdsc/) at the University of Sussex within projects focussed on understanding their underlying molecular biology and clinical relevance. Exploiting the underlying genetic and epigenetic differences in various cancer states is rapidly developing into a powerful means to produce the next generation of personalised medicines.
Projects within the SDDC targeting DNA damage repair and genome stability are run as multi-disciplinary project teams comprising within Sussex medicinal, synthetic and computational chemistry, molecular pharmacology – biochemical, biophysical and cellular screening, bioinformatics, cell biology and strong links to external partners at the Institute of Cancer Research and AstraZeneca for tumour biology and wider hit finding and compound profiling.
This studentship will focus on a novel protein identified within the Genome Damage and Stability Centre, working closely with the scientists involved. The student will develop biochemical and biophysical screening techniques and design and synthesise potential tool lead inhibitors. The student will develop or acquire skills in chemo informatics, biochemical screening and synthetic chemistry. The student will work in academic labs and receive training in state-of-the-art computational, screening and synthetic techniques, and will also benefit from close interactions with clinical and structural & discovery biology collaborators.

Please make formal application using http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/applying/2016entry
Mention name of supervisor (Simon Ward and Lewis Pennicott) in “suggested supervisor” section. In funding mention sponsored or seeking funding. In Award details mention MRC funded studentship. Include brief statement of interest (upto 2 pages), CV, two academic references, UG/PG transcripts, IELTS/TOEFL results if residing in EU. The studentship is for 3.5 years (full fee waiver, stipend Research Council equivalent rate). Only full time students will be accepted. Applicants must have or expect to obtain a BSc Hons degree (2.1 or higher) and a strong background in synthetic organic chemistry is required.