Dr D Shanley
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Cellular maintenance of the extracellular matrix (ECM) involves the capacity for regulated synthesis and degradation of components such as collagen. Ageing is associated with aberrant and unbalanced regulation and several genes involved feature prominently as biomarker signatures of ageing. The project will take an integrative systems biology approach to study the dynamics of interactions between miRs and their target mRNA involved in the synthesis and degradation of collagen. The outcome will be a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of mir-RNA interactome involved in collagen turnover and an identification of potential interventions to ameliorate age-related changes.
The student will receive training in experimental techniques, bioinformatics and computational modelling.
In Newcastle, the student will have the opportunity follow the BBSRC-funded Sysmic course at Newcastle and attend lectures and workshops in Systems Biology. Specific training in modelling software and methodologies is available through regularly run workshops e.g. COPASI and COMBINE. The Bioinformatics Support Unit offers a wide range of training courses which will complement skills learnt at Liverpool.
Laboratory skills training at Liverpool will involve both low and high-throughput (e.g. qPCR, Western blotting, radiolabelling, RNA-seq) techniques together with light and electron microscopy imaging approaches to measure collagen synthesis.
Bioinformatics training will be carried out at both Newcastle and Liverpool. This will include workflows to analyse time series big data and data from integrated databases (e.g. HAGR), and use of tools such as the “Perl Ageing Research Computational Tools (ARCT)” for the biology and genetics of ageing.
Funding Notes
Funded by the MRC/Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA). Students should have home or EU student status and have been 'ordinarily resident' in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the studentship to be eligible for the full award (tuition fees, research support costs and a tax-free stipend at the Research Council rate). Please see RCUK terms and conditions.
Candidates should have or expect to hold a first or upper second class honours degree in Biological Sciences or an equivalent degree.
To apply, please download application form from the CIMA website (http://www.cimauk.org/training)
Continue with Facebook
