Systems Biology of Cellular Stress Response

Our cells are exposed to a large number of chemicals such as food additives, water contaminants and pollution in the air etc. Exposure to many of these leads to toxic effect and in some cases cancer and other diseases. The project will study the cellular response to such exposures at the level of transcriptome and chromatin using state-of-the-art single-cell genomics approaches.

The project will involve performing experiments to generate high-quality data using human organoids and then building computational models to analyze data. There will be an industry placement at Unilever during the studentship and the opportunity to receive advanced computational training.

Please see some of our recent papers to get additional insights on our website: https://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/research-groups/sawarkar-group

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit is a leading International Research Institute within the School of Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge. The Unit delivers mechanistic toxicology research, pursuing hypothesis-driven toxicological questions with a particular focus on the study of the causal links between exposure to endogenous and exogenous toxicants, molecular initiating events and adverse outcome pathways. The Unit's overall aims are to carry out pioneering research which leads to improved health and to train and mentor the next generation of toxicologists.

The Unit provides a supportive learning environment designed to meet the scientific and transferable skills required for an internationally competitive career. Our PhD Programme aims to train the scientific leaders of the future, giving them rewarding research projects with access to world-class facilities and expertise. Students receive toxicology-specific training in the Unit and through the Integrated Toxicology Training Partnership (ITTP).

Students are registered for their PhD with the Graduate School of Life Sciences at the University of Cambridge and have membership of a University of Cambridge College. 

Candidates must expect to obtain qualifications at the level of first-class or good 2.1 Honours Degree in a related discipline and must be enthusiastic to collaborate closely with other members of the team. In addition to an excellent academic record we are also looking for candidates with hands-on experience in the following areas: programming, bioinformatics, computational biology, basic molecular cell biology such as cell culture, RNA extraction and PCR.

To apply please visit the Toxicology Unit website and follow the instructions provided: Applications | MRC Toxicology Unit (cam.ac.uk)