British Heart Foundation and National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI)
4-year MRes/PhD Studentship, within the BHF doctoral training programme at Imperial College London
Applications are invited for a BHF 4-year MRes/PhD studentship starting in October 2023 at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) in partnership with the Bioengineering Department at Imperial College. There are four BHF DTP MRes/PhD studentship places (3 studentships funded by the BHF and 1 matched Departmental studentship).
The Cardiovascular Sections of the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, are located within the Main Campus at South Kensington, the Brompton Campus and Hammersmith/White City Campus. Bioengineering is also located at Main Campus at South Kensington and at White City. Students will have the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art facilities within a highly developed research environment where our ambition is to translate research findings to help those with cardiovascular diseases. All students benefit from a full programme of training in research and transferable skills organised through the Graduate School, the quality of which has been recognised several times at the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards.
Studentship outline:
The BHF 4-year MRes/PhD studentships typically comprises a 1-year MRes in Biomedical Research, followed by a 3-year PhD. During the MRes year, students undertake two laboratory projects which will prepare them for the PhD. The Student will join a well-established doctoral training program with bespoke teaching activities, seminars, mentors and workshops.
Project summary:
In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight, of which over 650 million were obese. Excess body weight is associated with greater risks of arrhythmias. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is in direct contact with the underlying myocardium, covering up to 80% of the epicardial surface and facilitating paracrine cross-talk between these neighbouring tissues. There is now compelling evidence, including our own preliminary work, implicating EAT as a key mediator of arrhythmias in obesity, owing to its intimate relationship with the underlying myocardium.
This 4-year program will investigate the role of EAT and its secretome on arrhythmogenesis using state-of-the-art experimental and informatic methods. Working in a vibrant and supportive environment the student will: i. model the effects of infiltrative fat in different patient groups using direct co-cultures of EAT, harvested from patients undergoing cardiac surgery, and ventricular myocytes; ii. characterise the EAT secretome (all proteins, metabolites, lipids) to identify signalling molecules underlying the effects of EAT on arrhythmia; iii. use single cell RNA sequencing to explore which EAT cell types and molecular pathways are responsible for the adverse changes to the EAT secretome; iv. verify the impact of specific components of the EAT-secretome on cardiac arrhythmogenesis, and investigate the underlying mechanisms.
The results from this 4-year program will significantly enhance our understanding of the role of EAT in arrhythmogenesis and may reveal potential therapeutic targets through systematic study of its secretome.
Research training:
The student will receive excellent research training in a range of inter-disciplinary skills, including:
(1) Neonatal rat ventricular myocyte cell culture
(2) Adipose tissue culture
(3) Multi-electrode array recordings
(4) Cardiac optical mapping
(5) Molecular biology including immunohistochemistry and Western blotting
(6) High-throughput proteomic, metabolomics, lipidomic assays
(7) Single cell genomics
(8) Multimodal data analysis and bioinformatics
There are excellent opportunities for professional development – taking full advantage of courses, collaborations, facilities, and the wide-ranging research expertise across Imperial College and the MRC LMS. We will provide training and mentoring to support your career aspirations.
Supervisors: Dr Fu Siong Ng (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/f.ng), Dr William Scott (https://lms.mrc.ac.uk/research-group/genomics-of-obesity/) are Prof Prakash Punjabi (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/p.punjabi) are all clinician scientists located on the Hammersmith Hospital Campus. Dr Ng is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Electrophysiology at the National Heart & Lung Institute (NHLI) and a Consultant Cardiologist. Dr Ng leads a bench-to-bedside programme of research into arrhythmogenic mechanisms alongside performing invasive ablation procedures and implanting pacemakers and defibrillators in patients with heart rhythm disorders. He currently holds a 5-year BHF Programme Grant as PI (2022-2027) and leads a multi-disciplinary team of 3 post-doctoral research associates (PDRA) and 7 PhD students. Dr Scott is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow (Institute of Clinical Sciences, and MRC LMS) and Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Medicine. Dr Scott leads a program of research investigating the impact of genetic/environmental risk factors, and therapeutic interventions, on human obesity and its cardiovascular and metabolic complications (2 PDRAs, 3 PhD students). Prof Punjabi is a Professor of Practice (Cardiothoracic Surgery) at NHLI and a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon.
Applicant Requirements:
Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain, a first or upper second-class honours degree or equivalent in an appropriate subject from a recognised academic institution. Candidates must fulfil College admissions criteria.
This PhD would be most suited to a candidate with dual interest in data science and laboratory experimentation.
How to Apply:
To apply, please email Jaya Rajamanie ([Email Address Removed]) with the following documents.
- Your CV
- The names and addresses of at least two academic referees.
- A personal statement of no more than 1,000 words explaining your interest in the project and ensure that you specify your degree classification for your undergraduate and postgraduate degrees (and attach scanned copies of the certificates if possible).
Selected candidates will get a tour of the relevant campus. Please assume that your application has not been successful if you have not heard from us within a month of the closing date.
Closing date for all applications: 20th February 2023
Interviews will be held online mid/end of March.
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