Ph.D. 1: understanding the gut microbiome and its role in psoriatic arthritis.

Two Ph.D. studentships are available, funded by ARUK, as part of a larger programme grant which is investigating psoriatic arthritis and the host’s gut microbiome:

Ph.D. 1: understanding the gut microbiome and its role in psoriatic arthritis. This studentship will undertake metataxonomic (16S rRNA gene profiling), full metagenomics and classical microbiology to determine the microbial biomarkers and functions which link to psoriatic arthritis. The successful student will be expected to work with the other students who are looking at the immunology and metabolic profiles of this patient cohort. The supervisors for this Ph.D. will be Professors Julian Marchesi, at the St Mary’s Hospital site Imperial College London and Trevor Lawley, who is at the Wellcome trust Sanger Institute.

These studentships will leverage the world-leading analytical capacity of the 2 Divisions and advance its informatics to provide a multi-window view into the microbe-host relationship and its contribution to this disease. In addition the students will work closely with the already appointed immunology PhD at Bath University, who is also funded as part of this project. Applicants must be EU nationals OR have permanent leave to remain in the UK, and should hold or expect to obtain a Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline, ESPECIALLY biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or computational/mathematical sciences, as well as a first or upper-second class honours science degree or equivalent. All Imperial College PhD entry requirements must be met (see http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/entryrequirements/graduate).

To apply, please send a covering letter stating your project preference, full CV and contact details of two referees, one of whom must be academic, to Prof. Julian Marchesi ([Email Address Removed]).

The deadline for applications is TBC.