Role of protein quality control mechanisms in the regulation of cancer cell metabolism

Please note: Start date for this project must be on or before 4 January 2022

This PhD project will focus on how cellular metabolism is regulated by “quality control” mechanisms that promote the degradation of specific membrane proteins in cells. Specifically, it aims to elucidate how the cellular metabolic machinery is rewired during cancer, to allow the growth, spread or adaptation of cancer cells to hostile conditions found within tumours.

This PhD project will focus on how metabolic homeostasis is regulated by protein quality control mechanisms that promote the removal and/or degradation of specific proteins. This can have an impact on communication between organelles including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria or ER and lipid droplets, processes that are often rewired during cancer, to allow the growth, spread or adaptation of cancer cells to hostile conditions found within tumours. The PhD project will involve fundamental discovery research, but will have implications for our understanding of metabolic regulation, including during cancer development and progression. The aim is to understand the role played by the ‘molecular segregase’ complex of a protein called p97 and its adaptor protein, Ubxd8, on protein degradation at organelles, with a view to understand how this impacts on cellular metabolism. It will also seek to determine how the pathway is regulated by signals that are relevant for cancer cell biology.