BBSRC Yorkshire Bioscience DLA Programme: Nuclear Myosin VI supports DNA repair and is a potential therapeutic target

This fully funded PhD project offers the opportunity to investigate how the molecular motor myosin VI (MVI) contributes to DNA repair processes and cancer therapy. Transcription and DNA repair both require dynamic reorganisation of chromatin. Our recent discoveries show that MVI stabilises nuclear structures essential for transcription and may play a similar role at DNA double-strand breaks. Understanding how MVI functions in repair could open up new strategies to sensitise cancer cells to chemotherapy, reduce resistance, and improve patient outcomes.

You will use an interdisciplinary toolkit spanning cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and cancer biology. Techniques include single-molecule localisation microscopy, CRISPR genome editing, and protein biochemistry. The project also involves in vivo tumour xenografts, providing direct translational relevance. By combining state-of-the-art imaging with molecular and in vivo approaches, this project offers unique training in both mechanistic science and applied cancer research.

Toseland lab website