PhD studentship: How do cells coordinate nutrient scavenging pathways?

About the BBSRC Yorkshire Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (YBDTP):

The YBDTP brings together world-class bioscience research and innovation, as well as excellence in doctoral supervision, across the Yorkshire and Teesside region. The YBDTP will fund postgraduate researchers at the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, York, Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds Beckett, Sheffield Hallam and Teesside forming a strong regional training partnership. In YBDTP you’ll benefit from a regional doctoral training programme that has interdisciplinary collaboration at its core. The aim is to enable you to develop a range of research skills in biological, biotechnology and biochemical areas as well as equip you with core data analysis and professional skills that are necessary for bioscience research and related non-academic careers.

https://www.yorkshirebiosciencedtp.ac.uk

Project Description:

All cells need mechanisms to survive periods of nutrient scarcity and starvation. Central to this is autophagy, which allows cells to engulf and digest their own cytosolic components to liberate and recycle nutrients to maintain viability at the expense of cell mass. Much less well understood is macropinocytosis, whereby cells engulf extracellular fluid or matrix, allowing them to access extracellular proteins as a nutrient source. Both pathways are conserved across evolution but are perhaps best known in the context of cancers, where both autophagy or macropinocytosis can sustain growth and survival in nutrient-poor tumours. Both also contribute to the metabolism of healthy cells, most notably immune cells.

This project will investigate how cells coordinate these parallel nutrient scavenging approaches. The aim is to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which they talk to each other, to ensure the cell adapts appropriately to its specific nutrient environment.

The PhD student will learn and apply a number of cutting-edge techniques including: CRISPR gene editing, genetic screens, 4D live-cell microscopy, flow cytometry, proteomics and metabolomics as well as the bioinformatic and computational skills required to analysis and make sense of the data. They will be embedded in a thriving scientific community, across two well-funded, highly productive and supportive research groups looking for an enthusiastic student with genuine curiosity about how cells work.

For informal enquiries about the project, please contact Prof Jason King.

Link to website: https://sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/academic-staff/jason-king