Glial cells in nervous system development and regeneration in the fruit-fly Drosophila

Looking for keen PhD students to search for the molecular mechanisms underlying glial function in repair and regeneration in the nervous system using the fruit-fly Drosophila as a model organism. The involvement and functions of glial cells in normal brain development, upon genetic alterations and injury, and in repair and regeneration will be investigated. We have discovered a gene network that promotes glial regeneration and central nervous system repair upon injury in the fly (Kato et al 2011 PLoS Biology 9, e1001133; Kato & Hidalgo 2013 JoVE; Losada-Perez et al 2016 J Cell Bilogy; Hidalgo and Logan 2017 Current Opinion in Neurobiology). Using these discoveries as starting point, the project will search for molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying interactions between neurons and glial cells, repair and regeneration in the central nervous system of Drosophila. We use the fruit-fly because of its powerful genetics and the opportunity to investigate regeneration and repair, whilst manipulating neuronal activity using modern optogenetic tools. This research project falls within the areas of genetics, developmental biology and neuroscience. The techniques that you will use will include cutting edge genetics, molecular biology, cell culture, in vivo confocal microscopy in fixed specimens and in time-lapse, imaging, optogenetics and behavioural assays.

Please visit my websites:
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/biosciences/hidalgo-alicia.aspx
http://www.biosciences-labs.bham.ac.uk/hidalgo/Alicia_Hidalgo_Lab_Home.html

Please find additional funding text below. For further funding details, please see the ‘Funding’ section.
The School of Biosciences offers a number of UK Research Council (e.g. BBSRC, NERC) PhD studentships each year. Each year we also have a number of fully funded Darwin Trust Scholarships.