Dr D Doupé
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
The epithelia that cover and line our organs are constantly turned over throughout adult life, as cells are lost from the surface and replaced by the proliferation of stem cells. These adult tissue stem cells must be tightly regulated by signals from their local microenvironment, or niche, as loss of homeostasis can lead to tissue failure and diseases such as cancer. While many of the signalling pathways involved in this regulation have been identified, their temporal dynamics and crosstalk have not been explored at high resolution. In addition, studies from a range of systems have shown that the temporal dynamics of individual pathways can encode information that alters cell fate.
This project will use the relatively simple genetic model of the Drosophila intestinal stem cells to profile the dynamics of signaling pathway activity by live confocal imaging and assess the effects of manipulating dynamics on stem cell fate. This will allow the student to test the hypothesis that signalling dynamics are critical for stem cell regulation in epithelial homeostasis.
Funding Notes
Durham Doctoral Studentship (3.5 years). This project is in competition with others for funding. Success will depend on the quality of applications received, relative to those for competing projects. If you are interested in applying, in the first instance contact the supervisor, with a CV and covering letter, detailing your reasons for applying for the project.
References
Doupé D. P., Marshall O. J., Dayton H., Brand A. H., and Perrimon, N. (2018) Drosophila intestinal stem and progenitor cells are major sources and regulators of homeostatic niche signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115: 12218-12223
Doupé D. P. and Perrimon, N. (2014) Visualizing and manipulating temporal signaling dynamics with fluorescence-based tools Sci Signal 7: re1.
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