PhD position – Immunovirology: The role of sub-populations of antigen-specific CD8 T cells during primary infection

The Viral Immunology Systems Program (VISP) at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia is looking for a PhD student to undertake research characterising antigen-specific T cell responses in human infections, specifically hepatitis C (HCV) and influenza virus.

The specific aim of this project is to understand the role of sub-populations of antigen-specific CD8 T cells during the course of primary infection, and to link the surface phenotypes to transcriptomic profiles at the single cell level. The outcome of this project will define new gene and surface protein signatures of T cell sub-populations associated with successful establishment of long-term immunological protection. The project involves multi-parameter flow cytometry, single cell transcriptomics, and high-throughput analysis techniques, such as next-generation sequencing and associated bioinformatics. The group has recently established single cell genomics assays and bioinformatics analysis pipelines to study antigen-specific T cell responses and their evolution during acute infections.

The project is suited to students with a background or interest in molecular immunology and virology, as well as computational biology. Successful applicants will join a team of researchers at the Kirby Institute and the School of Medical Sciences, which hosts > 140 PhD and Masters students and researchers in various fields of biomedical research.

Applicants must meet the PhD entry requirements of UNSW Australia, be enrolling full-time and must hold an Honours degree (1st Class or 2nd Class upper) or a research Masters degree.

Post-graduate scholarships are available to support tuition and living expenses for Australian domestic students (Australian Postgraduate Award APA). More information is available at:
http://research.unsw.edu.au/domestic-research-candidate-scholarships

Post-graduate scholarships are also available to support tuition and living expenses for international students to study in Australia. More information is available at:
http://research.unsw.edu.au/international-research-candidate-scholarships

Top-up scholarships are available from the VISP for $5-10K per annum.

Additional information on the VISP research interests is available at:
http://kirby.unsw.edu.au/research-programs/viral-immunology-systems-program/about-program

https://kirby.unsw.edu.au/people/professor-andrew-lloyd
https://kirby.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-fabio-luciani
https://kirby.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-rowena-bull

Interested applicants should contact Dr Fabio Luciani: [Email Address Removed].