Enzymes of endocannabinoid turnover in inflammatory responses

Over recent years, we have generated, developed and established a wide range of assays for different enzyme activities. In particular, we have enzyme assays for metabolism of the endocannabinoids (anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol), nucleosides and nucleotides (adenosine and ATP), gasotransmitters (nitric oxide and hydrogen sulphide), adenylyl and guanylyl cyclases and phospholipase C. The assays differ dependent on application. Some assays are targetted at investigating biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms of activity; some are used to quantify activities ex vivo and some are used to generate high-throughput screening assays.

This project will explore the use of fluorescently-tagged irreversible enzyme inhibitors to quantify multiple enzyme activities in a complex mixture to correlate enzyme function with disease and/or pharmacological/therapeutic intervention. The potential application of this technique for novel drug discovery will also be evaluated.

The University of Nottingham is one of the world’s most respected research-intensive universities, ranked 8th in the UK for research power (REF 2014). Students studying in the School of Life Sciences will have the opportunity to thrive in a vibrant, multidisciplinary environment, with expert supervision from leaders in their field, state-of-the-art facilities and strong links with industry. Students are closely monitored in terms of their personal and professional progression throughout their study period and are assigned academic mentors in addition to their supervisory team. The School provides structured training as a fundamental part of postgraduate personal development and our training programme enables students to develop skills across the four domains of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF). During their studies, students will also have the opportunity to attend and present at conferences around the world. The School puts strong emphasis on the promotion of postgraduate research with a 2-day annual PhD research symposium attended by all students, plus academic staff and invited speakers.