About the Project
Human cryptosporidiosis is the leading protozoan cause of diarrhoeal mortality worldwide, and most infection is caused by either person to person transmitted Cryptosporidium hominis or the presumptively zoonotic C. parvum. However, C. parvum actually splits into two subclades. One, which we have newly identified as C. parvum anthroponosum is also predominantly spread person to person and shares a subset of loci with C. hominis that are undergoing rapid convergent evolution driven by positive selection. This subspecies predominates in lower-income countries with poor sanitation and in HIV positive individuals, in contrast to higher-income countries where it is rarely evident. In the course of their studies the student will characterize this new subspecies of parasite providing an annotated reference genome, will evaluate whether its virulence is greater than the zoonotic form, propagating the parasite and genetically transforming it to evaluate the role of the shared loci in adaptation to the human digestive tract. The student will further develop diagnostic tools to discriminate this group of parasites. The student will be supported by Earlham institute for the genomic aspects of the project and will be affiliated with the EU interreg program H4DC on cryptosporidium which is concerned with production of new drugs and diagnostics for cryptosporidium.
More information on the supervisor for this project: https://people.uea.ac.uk/k_tyler
Type of programme: PhD
Start date: October 2020
Mode of study: Full-time
Studentship length: 3 years
Entry requirements;
Acceptable first degree in Any Biological, Biochemical or Biomedical degree, Medicine or Vet Medicine., the standard minimum entry requirement is 2:1
Funding Notes
This PhD project is in a Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences competition for funded studentships. These studentships are funded for 3 years and comprise of Home/EU fees, a stipend of £15,009 and £1000 per annum to support research training. Overseas applicants may apply but are required to fund the difference between home/EU and overseas tuition fees (in 2020-21 the international fee is £19,100 for lab based projects and £15,700 for non-lab based projects but fees are subject to an annual increase).
References
i) Evolutionary genomics of anthroponosis in Cryptosporidium
Nader, J., Mathers, T. C., Ward, B. J., Pachebat, J., Swain, M., Robinson, G., Chalmers, R. M., Hunter, P., Van Oosterhout, C. & Tyler, K. 4 Mar 2019 In : Nature Microbiology.
ii) Anthroponotic transmission of Cryptosporidium parvum predominates in countries with poorer sanitation - a systematic review and meta-analysis
King, P., Tyler, K. M. & Hunter, P. R. 8 Jan 2019 In : Parasites & Vectors. 12, 16
iii) Prevalence and epidemiology of human Cryptosporidium parvum IIc infections in England and Wales
King, P., Robinson, G., Elwin, K., Tyler, K. M., Hunter, P. R. & Chalmers, R. M. 23 Feb 2017 In : The Lancet. 389, Supplement 1, p. S56 1 p.
iv) Novel real-time PCR assays for the specific detection of human infective Cryptosporidium species
Bouzid, M., Elwin, K., Nader, J., Chalmers, R., Hunter, P. & Tyler, K. 2016 In : Virulence. 7, 4, p. 395-399 5 p.
v) Cryptosporidium pathogenicity and virulence
Bouzid, M., Hunter, P., Chalmers, R. M. & Tyler, K. 1 Jan 2013 In : Clinical Microbiology Reviews. 26, 1, p. 115-134
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