Dr B Wulff
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
The wild ancestors of domesticated wheat represent an extraordinarily diverse source of genetic variation for improving disease resistance in wheat. Identification and manipulation of key genes underpinning this variation will help to sustainably increase yields and secure global food security.
In recent years the Septoria fungus has emerged as a major pathogen of wheat in many wheat growing regions across the world. Septoria is controlled by a combination of genetic resistance and fungicides. However, the fungus has evolved insensitivity to all three major classes of fungicide, and, as a result, some countries are on the verge of abandoning bread wheat cultivation altogether.
This PhD project will employ laboratory pathology experiments, field trials, molecular genetics and bioinformatics to characterise a suite of wheat lines containing whole chromosomes transferred from wild relatives of wheat into domesticated wheat, imparting (near-)complete immunity to Septoria. State-of-the-art enabling tools, including mutational genomics and high-throughput sequence-complexity reduction [1], will be used to clone a key Septoria resistance gene. Our overarching long-term objective is to understand the genetic basis of Septoria immunity in wild wheat and engineer this resistance into cultivated bread wheat.
The PhD project will be jointly supervised by Brande Wulff and James Brown at the John Innes Centre on the Norwich Research Park.
[1] Steuernagel […] & Wulff (2016). Rapid cloning of disease-resistance genes in plants using mutagenesis and sequence capture, Nature Biotechnology 34:652-5.
This project has been shortlisted for funding by the Norwich Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NRPDTP). Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed as part of the studentship competition. Candidates will be interviewed on either the 10th, 11th or 12th January 2017.
The Norwich Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NRPDTP) offers postgraduates the opportunity to undertake a 4 year research project whilst enhancing professional development and research skills through a comprehensive training programme. You will join a vibrant community of world-leading researchers. All NRPDTP students undertake a three month professional internship (PIPS) during their study. The internship offers exciting and invaluable work experience designed to enhance professional development. Full support and advice will be provided by our Professional Internship team. Students with, or expecting to attain, at least an upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, are invited to apply.
For further information and to apply, please visit our website: www.biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
Funding Notes
Full Studentships cover a stipend (RCUK rate: £14,296pa – 2016/7), research costs and tuition fees at UK/EU rate, and are available to UK and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements.
Students from EU countries who do not meet the UK residency requirements may be eligible for a fees-only award. Students in receipt of a fees-only award will be eligible for a maintenance stipend awarded by the NRPDTP Bioscience Doctoral Scholarships, which when combined will equal a full studentship. To be eligible students must meet the EU residency requirements. Details on eligibility for funding on the BBSRC website: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/documents/studentship-eligibility-pdf/
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