Structural Biology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

University of Dundee School of Science and Engineering

Modelling blood motion in deformable vessels

This project aims to introduce a novel approach in studying blood flow in deformable vessels by simultaneously considering both the fluid (blood) and the structure (vessel) through analytical and numerical approaches. Read more

Supervisors: Dr M Hayatdavoodi, Prof P Lin

30 June 2024 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Regulation and mechanics in polarity

Supervisor: Dr D H Murray

Membranes and their protein organization are a frontier in our understanding of cell biology. We focus on polarized trafficking as a model to uncover fundamental mechanisms in the organization of structures at membranes. Read more

30 June 2024 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Newcastle University Biosciences Institute

PhD studentship – Investigating the molecular mechanisms behind iron and siderophore uptake in pathogenic bacteria

Award summary. 100% of home tuition fees paid and an annual stipend (living expenses) of £18,622. Overview. Read more

Supervisor: Dr KJ Josts

16 May 2024 PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

Kingston University Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education

Structural and functional characterisation of bacterial virulence factors

In the current era of growing antibiotic resistance, the world needs new therapeutics against bacterial infections as well as new vaccines. Read more

Supervisor: Dr E Lamber

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

University of Liverpool Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology

Exploiting Deep Learning-based protein structure prediction for function annotation and structural biology

Applications will be reviewed until a suitable candidate is appointed. Protein structural information is crucial for an understanding of protein function and evolution. Read more

Supervisors: Prof D J Rigden, Dr R Keegan

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Chemical Engineering

Protein self assembly induced by multivalent biological metabolites

In addition to being an energy source in biological reactions, recent discoveries suggest adenosine triphosphate (ATP) also plays a critical role in maintaining cell stability and preventing deleterious cellular processes through modulating biomacromolecular self assembly. Read more

Supervisor: Dr R Curtis

31 December 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

University of Liverpool Department of Physics

A 3D-Printed Blood-Brain-Barrier-on-a-Chip for Agrochemical Permeability Studies – CASE Studentship

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) tightly regulates the flow of material between the bloodstream and the brain. One of the big problems faced by a range of sectors, from pharmaceuticals to agrochemicals, is understanding how compounds interact with and cross this barrier. Read more

Supervisors: Dr J Forth, Dr D Dickens

1 June 2024 PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

University of Nottingham School of Pharmacy

Structure and function of enzyme complexes involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation

Many proteins in human cells function as part of high molecular weight multi-subunit assemblies. The structure and function of such large molecular machines is often difficult to characterise due to their complexity, low abundance and structural dynamics. Read more

Supervisor: Dr G S Winkler

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Funded PhD Programme (Students Worldwide) Social Sciences Research Programme

Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University

Masaryk University

The Biomedical Sciences doctoral degree programme has been created through the merging Medical Biology, Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, and Molecular Medicine, which has been designed in the CEITEC MU research centre to be a robust singular study programme consisting of three disciplines (Cell and Tissue Morphology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Molecular Medicine). Read more

University of York York Biomedical Research Institute

Exploring Viral Nucleic Acid Machinery via Cryo Electron Microscopy to Advance Biomedicine

Viruses, these tiny but potent life forms, are all around us, infecting various organisms and directly affecting human health. Although in most cases, viral infection is not life threatening, in the minority of cases it leads to long-term disorders including cancer. Read more

Supervisors: Prof F Antson, Dr J Gordeeva, Dr P Bardy

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Structural and functional characterisation of MALT1 ubiquitination to aid in the development of novel anti-cancer therapies

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) is a family of transcription factors that play a crucial role in regulating various cellular processes; primarily related to immune responses, inflammation, and cell survival. Read more

Supervisor: Dr G Hall

University of Sheffield School of Biosciences

The identification of allosteric inhibitors of high value therapeutic targets

This study will develop a novel approach to identify allosteric inhibitor sites on a wide variety of high-value therapeutic targets, including protein kinases, protein phosphatases and small G-proteins. Read more

Supervisor: Prof J P Waltho

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Max Planck Society International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) "From Molecules to Organisms"

International Max Planck Research School "From Molecules to Organisms"

The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) “From Molecules to Organisms” provides excellent interdisciplinary training across the disciplines of structural, molecular, cellular and developmental biology as well as bioinformatics, genomics and evolutionary biology. Read more

Funded PhD Programme (Students Worldwide) Max Planck Research Programme

Funded PhD Programme (Students Worldwide) Max Planck Research Programme

International Max Planck Research School "From Molecules to Organisms"

University of Tübingen

The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) “From Molecules to Organisms” provides excellent interdisciplinary training across the disciplines of structural, molecular, cellular and developmental biology as well as bioinformatics, genomics and evolutionary biology. Read more

Structural insights into genome control by cohesin

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Our basic goal is to understand how chromatin structure influences gene regulation. Chromatin is generally repressive in nature but its structure is manipulated by cells in a regulated way to determine which genes are potentially transcriptionally active and which genes remain repressed in a given cell type. Read more

Supervisor: Prof D Panne

MSc by Research: Targeted protein degradation in plants – developing “Green PROTACs” for functional analysis of lethal genes

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to global food production, leading to unpredictable weather patterns and geographical migration of pathogens. Read more

Supervisor: Dr P Hemsley

MSc by Research: Feel the tension – how does S-acylation of OSCA ion channels regulate responses to environmental change in plants?

Supervisors: Dr P Hemsley, Prof U Zachariae, Prof M Knight

Plants, being sessile organisms, must sense and respond to environmental change, such as temperature or drought, without being able to move. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

MSc by Research: ADP-ribosylation in dementia and motor neuron disease

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

ADP-ribosylation is a fundamental posttranslational modification where ADP-ribose is linked on to target proteins by ADP-ribose transferases and removed by the ADP-ribose hydrolases. Read more

Supervisor: Dr L McGurk

MSc by Research: Deciphering the ubiquitin codes that regulate protein degradation

Supervisor: Prof Y Kulathu

Ubiquitin signalling, which involves the posttranslational modification (PTM) of proteins with ubiquitin, regulates almost every aspect of eukaryotic biology. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

MSc by Research: How are SUMO substrates selected for modification ?

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

SUMO has diverse roles in cellular physiology that in most cases are mediated by its ability to interact non-covalently with hydrophobic patches of low sequence complexity known as SUMO Interaction Motifs (SIMs). Read more

Supervisor: Prof R Hay

MSc by Research: Regulation and mechanics in polarized trafficking

Supervisor: Dr D H Murray

Membranes and their protein organization are a frontier in our understanding of cell biology. We focus on polarized trafficking as a model to uncover fundamental mechanisms in the organization of structures at membranes. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

MSc by Research: Glueing proteins together with small molecules

Supervisor: Prof A Ciulli

Recent advances from the Ciulli Lab and others have contributed to the establishment of a game-changing new modality of chemical intervention into biological system – one that moves beyond the state-of-the-art. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Structural and functional analysis of the protein complexes which regulate cell fate decisions to identify novel cancer therapies

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Whether a cell dies or not has profound consequences on health and disease. In healthy tissue, cells that acquire high levels of genetic damage are safely removed via a process of programmed cell death. Read more

Supervisor: Dr JF Fox

Epigenetics of early human development: From molecular mechanisms to regenerative medicine

Supervisors: Dr Y Markaki, Prof J Schwabe, Dr JH Hodgkinson

The 46th chromosome in XX female mammals, the second X, has to be switched off. That way females equalize gene dosage of X-linked genes with XY males. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Join Our Quest to Unravel the Secrets of Eukaryotic Genomes!

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

We're on the lookout for passionate PhD students who are eager to delve deep into the mysteries of our DNA. Our quest? To understand the subtle changes that determine how our genes function, both in sickness and in health. Read more

Supervisor: Dr T Schalch

Funded PhD Programme (Students Worldwide) 4 Year PhD Programme

Fully Funded 4-Year Cheney Scholarship PhD Programme in In Situ Structural Biology

University of Leeds

Exciting new developments in imaging and structural methods, known as “in situ structural biology”, can reveal the structure and behaviour of biological macromolecules inside healthy and diseased cells and tissues. Read more

University of Birmingham School of Biosciences

mRNA epigenetics: Charaterization of a novel layer of gene regulation for essential brain functions

For over 40 years we know about modified nucleotides in mRNA, but the functions for these essential modifications are largely elusive. Read more

Supervisor: Dr M Soller

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

University of York York Biomedical Research Institute

Chemical modification of proteins via metal-mediated processes

Chemically modified proteins can be used to understand, treat, and diagnose disease. However, relatively few chemical reactions can be used to modify proteins, severely limiting the diversity and applications of new technologies. Read more

Supervisors: Dr C Spicer, Dr M Plevin

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

University of Bristol Bristol Veterinary School

4-year PhD Studentship: Combatting bacterial zoonoses through multi-disciplinary studies of virulence factors

Vector-borne diseases, including bacterial zoonoses, pose a significant threat to human and animal health and to livestock industries, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Read more

Supervisor: Dr T Cogan

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only