**PLEASE NOTE – the deadline for requesting a funding pack from Darwin Trust has now passed and completed funding applications must be submitted to Darwin Trust by 19th January. We can still accept applications for this project from self-funding students.
We are studying the molecular mechanisms that ensure the accurate segregation of chromosomes during cell division. Errors in chromosome segregation produce cells with too few or too many chromosomes, a condition known as aneuploidy, which in humans is associated with cancer and causes infertility and birth defects, such as Down’s syndrome. Mitosis is the cell division that makes gives rise to daughter cells with the same number of chromosomes the parental cell. Meiosis is a modified cell division, which produces gametes with half the genetic content of the parental cell through two consecutive chromosome segregation events. Our research programme aims to understand specializations to the chromosome segregation machinery during meiosis that ensure the production of gametes with the correct chromosome number.
The student will work on a project to understand meiosis-specific regulation of chromosome organisation, segregation and/or cell cycle regulation. Several potential projects are available and the exact project will be designed according to the student’s interests. The student will have the opportunity to gain experience in a wide range of skills including proteomics/mass spectrometry, genomic methods (ChIP-Seq and Hi-C), sophisticated genetic engineering (including CRISPR-Cas9), microscopy (live cell and super-resolution), biochemical techniques (protein purification and analysis, immunoprecipitation).
https://marston.bio.ed.ac.uk/
Twitter: @Marston_lab
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