Dr L Reynard
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
We hypothesise that these age-related methylation changes affect gene expression and contribute to the decline of musculoskeletal tissue observed with age and disease. The aim of this project is to investigate if these enhancer methylation changes occur in other musculoskeletal tissues with age and how they affect gene expression to contribute to musculoskeletal disease risk.
EXPERIMENTAL PLAN
The student will assess if these age-CpGs are present in other musculoskeletal tissues and pathologies using targeted pyrosequencing analysis. Age-CpGs present in several tissues/diseases will then be subjected to CRISPR-Cas9 mediated activation or repression in human mesenchymal stem cells and cell lines to assess their effect on target gene expression, cell differentiation and homeostasis. Concurrently, the temporal and spatial activity of the enhancer regions containing age-CpGs will be examined during development, ageing and OA pathogenesis using LacZ transgenic reporter mice.
Newcastle University is committed to high quality research training for postgraduate students through the Graduate Schools statement of standards in the Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes. Students sign a Learning Agreement, which confirming a commitment by all parties to their training. Student training and support will be supplemented by graduate school courses, student mentors and a postgraduate tutor. Satisfactory progress is on recommendations from the supervisory team and a 2-member progress panel that meet annually.
The student will learn the necessary techniques and skills required for their MRes and PhD projects from the supervisory team and other members of the applicants’ labs. For example, the student will learn functional analysis of methylation with the Reynard lab, CRISPR-Cas9 editing of human cells with the Young group and generation and analysis of transgenic mice models the Bou-Gharios lab (Liverpool)
In addition to regular visits between the applicants throughout the project, the student will meet with their Newcastle supervisors once a week in person and with all three supervisors once a month via Skype.
Funding Notes
To apply, please download application form from http://www.cimauk.org/training
Funded by the MRC/Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA). Students should have home or EU student status: studentships for UK applicants comprise tuition fees, research support costs and a tax-free stipend at the Research Council rate, while EU applicants may be eligible for a fee only award if they have been ordinarily resident in the UK for 3 years preceding the date of application.