Understanding the interactions of the lung microbiome and its relationship with differential protein, transcriptomic and cellular data

Understanding the interactions of the lung microbiome and its relationship with differential protein, transcriptomic and cellular data

Developing methods for multi-omic data integration and utilisation in pharmaco-genetic and –genomic analysis of drug responders and non-responders

Applications are invited from candidates with a BSc or Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Biological Sciences or a related discipline, for a 4 year PhD studentship to investigate the “Understanding of how the lung microbiome is associated with severe asthma omic data” and in “Developing methods for multi-omic data integration of drug responders and non-responders in severe asthma” carried out in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Experience in bioinformatic analysis would be an advantage but not essential.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that mostly responds to topical corticosteroids. However, 5-10% of patients have severe disease that fails to respond well to treatment. These bioinformatic projects utilise multi-omic data obtained from the pan-European U-BIOPRED severe asthma cohort to investigate the role of the microbiome in directing biological processes associated with subtypes of severe asthma whilst the second project uses network fusion and other approaches to merge different omics datasets and investigate drug responses. The projects will involve state-of-the-art bioinformatics approaches to analyse metagenomic, genetic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomics data stored within the TransMart KM system.

The student will work within the groups of Ian Adcock, Fan Chung and Yike Kuo which are based within the Airways Disease section of the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, at the Royal Brompton Campus and the Data Science Institute at the South Kensington Campus, with approximately 3-6 months spent at GSK’s site in Stevenage with the Industrial PI Dr John Riley.

The National Heart and Lung Institute provides an exciting environment, with state of the art facilities and excellent opportunities for PhD student training including research seminars and journal clubs. In addition, the institute provides extensive collaborative opportunities with other research groups.

How to Apply
Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain, a first or upper second-class undergraduate degree or UK equivalent, along with a Masters, both in an appropriate subject from a recognised academic institution, and must fulfil the College’s admissions criteria. To apply please send a CV, a one page personal statement, and the names and addresses of at least two academic referees to [Email Address Removed]

Please note that candidates must fulfil College admissions criteria.

Application deadline: Sunday 27th August midday

Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/f.chung

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