Identification, Validation and Exploitation of New Drug Targets in Leishmania

PhD Studentship available in Chemical Biology - October 2017
Leishmaniasis is a protoazoan parasitic infection that is one the Worlds most Neglected Tropical Diseases. With over 350 million people world-wide considered at risk, 12 million people currently infected, the mortality and morbidity caused by leishmaniasis is only surpassed amongst parasitic diseases by malaria and lymphatic filariasis. Treatment of leishmaniasis is difficult requiring a long, costly course of drug treatment and is compromised by the fact that the few efficacious drugs currently available commonly exhibit serious, potentially fatal, side-effects. This situation renders the identification and validation of therapeutic targets and agents a priority. These multidisciplinary four year projects seek to address this need and will provide training in synthetic chemistry, chemical biology, assay development and aspects of modern molecular biology and parasitology. This latter part of the project will be undertaken in collaboration with Dr Paul Denny (School of Biosciences) and whilst prior experience of this is not required, a willingness to learn and apply new skills in this area is essential.

This project is a collaboration with Professor Bartira Rossi-Bergmann, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, and is funded by the Royal Societv. The successful applicants will be expected to spend time working in labs in UFRJ. This position is only open to applicants from the UK, EU or Brazil.

Applications are invited from enthusiastic and motivated chemistry graduates with demonstrated experience in synthetic organic/biological/medicianl chemistry and who have (or expect to obtain) at least the equivalent of a UK 2.i honours masters level degree in chemistry (or a related subject).

Interested applicants should complete the University application forms found at https://www.dur.ac.uk/chemistry/postgraduate/how_to_apply/. Potential applicants are also encouraged to contact Prof. Patrick Steel ([Email Address Removed]) or Dr Paul Denny ([Email Address Removed]) with informal enquiries.

Early applications are strongly encouraged. The positions will be filled as soon as suitable candidates are identified.