Promoting creative, curiosity-driven frontier bioscience to address fundamental questions in biology
*CASE: These are CASE DTP studentships. As part of the programme, you will be required to undertake a placement with the CASE partner for a minimum of 3 months.
*AP: These are Standard DTP studentships with an associate partner where you will be required to spend approximately a total of 50% of your time with each of the partners. You will be registered at one of the partner universities of the lead supervisors.
| Project title | Main / Rothamsted supervisor | Host institution | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activation of the plant cell cycle by sugars; pathways involved in stimulation of CYCD expression by carbohydrates | Dr Walter Dewitte | Cardiff University | Forward genetic screen, CYCLIN D2, Arabidopsis thaliana, next generation sequencing |
| ADDomer: Synthetic multiepitope virus-like particle for next-Generation vaccines | Prof Imre Berger | University of Bristol | Infectious disease, next-generation vaccines, synthetic biology, cryo-electron microscopy, bench-to-bedside |
| Advancing homology-directed repair driven CRISPR technologies in zebrafish | Dr Rebecca Richardson | University of Bristol | CRISPR, zebrafish, genome editing, technology development, in vivo |
| Amyloid transcription block survival – Deriving functionally active peptide inhibitors of amyloidosis and toxicity | Prof Jody Mason | University of Bath | Parkinson’s disease, amyloid, alpha-synuclein, protein-protein interactions, peptide inhibitors |
| An exploration of the links between mitochondrial function and splicing regulation | Prof Lorna Harries | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Mitochondria, alternative splicing, molecular genetics, bioinformatics |
| Analysis of gene interactions in neurodegeneration | Dr Michael Taylor | Cardiff University | Neuroscience, gene function, molecular genetics, cell death, cell differentiation |
| Ancestral functions of genes regulated by imprinting in mammals | Prof Andrew Ward | University of Bath | Developmental biology, epigenetics, evolution, growth, imprinting |
| Automated T-cell expansion in an integrated bioelectronics microfluidic chip: paving the way for personalised T-cell therapies for blood cancer | Dr Mirella Di Lorenzo | University of Bath | Biosciences, personalised therapeutics, mathematical biology, microfluidics, control algorithms |
| Combining theory and experiment to explain the evolution of antibiotic resistance | Dr James Spencer | University of Bristol | Antibiotic resistance, structural biology, computational chemistry, enzymes |
| Constrained evolution – possibilities and impediments in pigment patterning | Prof Robert Kelsh | University of Bath | Evolution, pattern formation, zebrafish, mathematical modelling, pigmentation |
| Correlation of imaging and impedimetric data to predict cell state and changes in bioreactors *AP | Prof Paul Verkade / Prof Richard Luxton | University of Bristol (apply here) / University of the West of England; UWE | Bioimaging, optical microscopy, sensing, Correlative Imaging, Impedance spectroscopy |
| Developing a new bio-imaging method based on correlative light electron microscopy with gold nanoparticles | Prof Paola Borri | Cardiff University | Bioimaging, biophysics, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, nanoparticles |
| Developing and applying methods of molecular clock calibration to date then assembly of metabolisms and the deep species divergences in the tree of life | Prof Philip Donoghue | University of Bristol | Evolution, metabolisms, phylogeny, molecular clock, genome, tree of life |
| Development of peptide-based delivery systems to improve biotherapeutic efficacy within tumour models | Dr Peter Watson | Cardiff University | Bioimaging, microscopy, cell biology, drug discovery, biotherapeutics |
| Dissecting the function of Wnt signalling in zebrafish neural crest development | Prof Steffen Scholpp | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Cell biology, genetics, high-resolution imaging, in vivo |
| Effects of clustering and phosphorylation on nanoscale receptor signalling | Prof Christian Soeller | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Biophysics, molecular biology, super-resolution, microscopy, mathematics, heart |
| Enzyme mechanisms studied by single molecule optical sensing | Prof Frank Vollmer | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Biochemistry, biophysics, nanophotonics, post-translational modification, ubiquitin ligase |
| Epigenetic Interplay: How Maternal and Paternal Effects Interact in Australian Crickets | Dr Bram Kuijper | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Epigenetics, mathematical modeling, gene expression, gene regulatory network, systems biology |
| Evaluating the contribution of transposons to agricultural domestication | Dr Alex Hayward | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Genomics, domestication, transposon, agriculture, bioinformatics |
| Extremophilic enzymes: investigating structural adaptation through rapid physics-based geometric simulation | Prof Alison Walker | University of Bath | Biophysics, Structural biology, biomolecular simulation, enzyme, software development |
| Functional roles of cholinergic signalling in the retrosplenial cortex | Dr Jonathan Witton | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Acetylcholine, neuromodulation, learning and memory, electrophysiology, imaging |
| Horizontal transfer of antiviral defences between bacterial species | Dr Tiffany Taylor | University of Bath | Evolution, CRISPR, antimicrobial resistance, bacteria, phage |
| Investigating conserved long non-coding RNA functions during melanocyte development in zebrafish and human melanoma | Dr Keith Vance | University of Bath | Long non-coding RNA, melanocyte, CRISPR, gene regulation, stem cells |
| Investigating how imprinted Grb10 influences brain growth | Prof Anthony Isles | Cardiff University | Epigenetics, systems neuroscience, functional genomics, bioinformatics, neuroimaging |
| Investigating how novel long non-coding RNAs modulate signalling pathways and neuronal cell fate | Dr Karim Malik | University of Bristol | Cell-fate, epigenetics, lncRNA, neuronal, differentiation |
| Investigating the Post-Antibiotic Effect at a single-cell resolution | Dr Tobias Bergmiller | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Antibiotic resistance, microbiology, microfluidics, single cell |
| Local control of synaptic protein synthesis in neurons by microRNAs | Prof Jonathan Hanley | University of Bristol | Neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, cell imaging, computational neuroscience |
| Mathematical modelling of actin in animals and plants | Dr David Richards | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Cytoskeleton, actin, cross-kingdom biology, mathematical modelling, Image analysis |
| New probes to elucidate and capitalize on nature’s biosynthetic machinery | Prof Chris Willis | University of Bristol | Antibiotics, biocatalysts, isotopes, molecular biology, polyketides |
| Pollen-pistil communication in flowering plants: a role for pollen endocytosis? | Dr Barend H. J. de Graaf | Cardiff University | Plant reproduction, pollen, signalling, endocytosis, membrane trafficking |
| Precision genome editing using modulators of dsDNA break repair pathways | Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel | University of Bristol | CRISPR/Cas9, DNA Repair, ribosome Display, nanobodies, TRIM-Away |
| Re-engineering the building blocks of bacterial natural product assembly lines | Prof Matthew Crump | University of Bristol | Antibiotics, anti-MRSA, kalimantacin, structural biology, Cryo EM |
| Regulation of membrane contact sites in mammalian cells | Dr Joseph Costello | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Molecular cell biology, mammalian cells, organelles, membrane contact sites |
| Regulation of neuronal energy production by SUMOylation *AP | Prof Jeremy Henley / Dr Tim Craig | University of Bristol (apply here) / University of the West of England; UWE | Neurones, SUMOylation, metabolism, mitochondria, bioenergetics |
| Regulation of stem cell biology by RNA-binding proteins during fly development | Dr Sonia Lopez de Quinto | Cardiff University | Stem cell biology, gene expression regulation, RNA-binding proteins, developmental biology, Drosophila |
| RNA binding proteins and mRNA localisation in Drosophila | Prof Helen White-Cooper | Cardiff University | RNA localisation, reproduction, developmental biology, imaging, Drosophila |
| Role of microRNAs in regulating sex differences in stress responsive neurocircuitry across the lifespan | Prof Mark Lindsay | University of Bath | Bioinformatics, neuroscience, molecular biology, neurobiology |
| Simulation-led redesign to generate enantioselective biocatalysts | Dr Marc van der Kamp | University of Bristol | Structural biology, biomolecular simulation, enzymology, biosynthesis, synthetic biology |
| Single-molecule analysis of the CRISPR-associated transposons (CAST) | Prof Mark Szcelkun | University of Bristol | Genome engineering, biophysics, CRISPR, transposons, single-molecule microscopy |
| Structural analysis of the inter-membrane bacterial secretosome | Prof Ian Collinson | University of Bristol | Bacterial secretion, Membrane biogenesis, Biochemistry, Cryo-EM, Antibiotic targeting |
| Taking de novo protein design and assembly into bacterial cells | Prof Dek Woolfson | University of Bristol | de novo protein design, E. coli, imaging, proteome, synthetic biology |
| The impact of change and the ability to deal with it on an individual’s affective state and welfare | Prof Mike Mendl | University of Bristol | Animal welfare, affective state, learning, prediction error, individual differences |
| The role of VTA GABA neurons in reward learning | Dr Paul Dodson | University of Bristol | Dopamine, Reward, GABA, computational modelling, neuroscience |
| To fight or to flourish: Do plants decide in the heat of the moment? Understanding the coordination of growth and immunity | Dr Vinod Kumar | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Climate resilience, environmental signalling, temperature sensing, disease resistance |
| Understanding how interneurons in medial prefrontal cortex control associative recognition memory | Prof Zafar Bashir | University of Bristol | Learning and memory, prefrontal cortex, inhibitory interneurons, cortical circuits, dementia |
| Unravelling the function of the unusual antioxidant ergothioneine in plants and photosynthetic protists | Prof Nicholas Smirnoff | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Algal biology, plant metabolism, metabolomics, reactive oxygen species, Antioxidants |