Prof M Isalan, Dr J W Murray
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Without artificial nitrogen fixation for fertilisers, the world could only support 3.5 billion people. However, fertilisers cause great environmental damage. In this project, we propose to combine our expertise on nitrogenase systems and directed evolution to develop a synthetic solution. We will clone a minimal nif regulon from Paenibacillus in E. coli (a 10kb region has ~10% WT activity in E. coli) and we will evolve it for improved activity (and potentially oxygen tolerance). The project has three parts to provide contigencies and to mitigate risk:
1. We will rationally engineer designs to improve efficiency (e.g. faster NifH (Seefeldt, 1993)) or to improve O2 protection on heterologous nitrogenase (e.g. adding FeSII or NifH-SOD fusions).
2. We will directly evolve E. coli from 1. for ammonia production and diazotrophy on a chemostat, using a mutagenesis system we have developed for part 3.
3. We have developed a functional directed evolution robot as part of a 3-year EC grant (EVOPROG [1]). Our evolution platform allows tunable selection pressures and phage mutation rates, which is an advantage over other directed evolution systems. We will apply this platform to an important worldwide problem - how to engineer biological nitrogen fixation. We will use the activity of an ammonium sensitive promoter (e.g. nac) to drive the selection system). We will select for phage-driven nif regulon evolution in nitrogen-poor microaerobic conditions.
How to apply
Initial applications should include a full CV, names, addresses and contact details of two academic referees, a personal statement (500 words max) and a covering letter.
Completed applications should be submitted to the DTP Team via email ([Email Address Removed]) by 5pm on the 10th February 2017.
Please note only shortlisted applicants will be contacted by the project supervisors.
Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be sent to Dr Mark Isalan [Email Address Removed]
Funding Notes
Applicants are expected to hold, or to be awarded a first class or a good upper second class BSc Degree, or an equivalent qualification, by October 2017.
The studentships are offered on a 1+3 basis (1 Year of Masters study followed by 3 years of PhD Research). In every case, the Masters Course will commence in October 2017 followed by the commencement of the PhD in October 2018. Only UK and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements are eligible to apply (minimum of three years of continuous residency in the UK immediately prior to the start of the PhD). Non-EU nationals are not eligible.
The studentships cover: (i) an annual tax-free stipend at the standard Research Council rate, (ii) contribution towards research costs, and (iii) tuition fees at the UK/EU rate.
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