Dr David Bolam, Prof David Fernig
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Cell surface glycans play key roles in many signalling and recognition processes. Inter-individual variations in glycan composition are large, and these differences associate with disease risk, disease course and the response to therapy. In addition, cancer cells often express altered surface glycan profiles to avoid the immune system and enhance malignancy. A key part of the personalised medicine revolution is to be able to identify specific disease biomarkers quickly and accurately to enable the medication to be tailored to the patient. Glycan active enzymes (glycanases) are often used to analyse and identify discrete glycan structures as biomarkers, but there is a growing need for new enzyme activities to improve specificity for the structures targeted and provide enhanced biomarker detection. This CASE studentship is a collaboration between Dr David Bolam’s lab at Newcastle University Medical School and Ludger Ltd (Oxford) to exploit the huge untapped resource of potential novel human-glycan active enzymes encoded by the human gut microbiota for use in glycoprofiling and other glycobiology applications. The project will involve identifying and characterising novel glycanases, both biochemically and structurally, whilst working with Ludger to identify the highest priority enzyme activities relevant for use in glycoprofiling. The student will express targeted glycanases and define their activity against a range of N- and O-glycan structures supplied by Ludger using analytical techniques including TLC, HPLC and MS in the Bolam lab. Interesting enzyme targets will be advanced for structural studies to define the molecular basis for substrate specificity in the Marles-Wright lab in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle. This project will provide the student with extensive industrially relevant experience in glycoanalytics as well as training in state of the art glycobiology and structural techniques.
For further information see the website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/camb/
To apply:
Please complete the online application form and attach a full CV and covering letter - https://forms.ncl.ac.uk/view.php?id=553440. Informal enquiries may be made to [Email Address Removed]
Funding Notes
This is a 4 year BBSRC CASE studentship under the Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham DTP. The successful applicant will receive research costs, tuition fees and stipend (£14,553 for 2017-18). The PhD will start in October 2018. Applicants should have, or be expecting to receive, a 2.1 Hons degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. EU candidates must have been resident in the UK for 3 years in order to receive full support. There are 2 stages to the application process.
References
Cartmell A, Lowe AC, Baslé A, Firbank SJ, Ndeh DA, Murray H, Terrapon N, Lombard V, Henrissat B, Turnbull JE, Czjzek M, Gilbert HJ, Bolam DN. How members of the human gut microbiota overcome the sulfation problem posed by glycosaminoglycans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. (2017) 114:7037-7042.
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