MRC DTP 4 Year PhD Programme: Structural and developmental mechanics in polarized membrane trafficking

This project is part of our exciting and challenging University of Dundee 4-year MRC DTP Programme in Quantitative and Interdisciplinary approaches to biomedical science. This PhD programme brings together leading experts from the School of Life Sciences (SLS), the School of Medicine (SoM) and the School of Science and Engineering (SSE) to train the next generation of scientists at the forefront of international science. Further information on the programme structure and training can be found at https://www.dundee.ac.uk/study/pg/phds/dtp/mrc-dtp/

Membranes and their protein organization are a frontier in our understanding of cell biology. We will focus on polarized trafficking and asymmetric cell division as a model to uncover fundamental mechanisms in biology. This project aims to answer mechanistic questions in 1) the regulation of protein structural mechanics in polarized trafficking, 2) and the consequences and fundamental differences in this pathway’s organization between distinct tissues in development. Our philosophy is to address big-picture questions of challenging biology in a hypothesis-driven research project.

We take a reconstitution, synthetic biology approach in combination with the powerful tools available for fly genetic and microscopy-based manipulation. This strategy will require combining recombinant protein techniques and biophysical membrane methods with experimental cell biology. The project will take advantage of the excellent microscopy and screening pipelines available within the University of Dundee.

We are excited to introduce this interdisciplinary research to a highly motivated and ambitious student. The student will emerge a master in state-of-the-art membrane and protein methods, with strong training in developmental cell biology and live-cell microscopy.