Updated 20/03/23: DTP applications for this year are now closed, but the LEC project below is open until March 31st. Details below
We have 2 PhD positions open to application, based wholly or partly at Lancaster!
These are both led by Doug, with different collaborators and program specifics. Some details are below but please carefully read the linked pages for scheme details as they are quite different.
As part of the BBSRC NorthWestBio DTP a project is available on understanding more about the possibilities for biotechnology using bacterial microcompartments as inspiration. This project is co-supervised by Leighton Pritchard (Strathclyde) who is a computational biologist and Mark McLaughlin (Belfast, chemistry). The project is Lancaster based but will involve some time spent at Strathclyde. The student will get to experience an interdisciplinary project by combining in vitro molecular biology and biochemical analyses with in silico approaches to expand our understanding of the potential to use modified BMCs for biotechnology. It would suit a candidate with interests in molecular biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, and computational approaches.
Full details including the application process and eligibility for the DTP can be found here: https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvls/graduateschool/northwestbio/projects/bioscience/engineeringbacterialmicrocompartmentsforbiotechnology/
Within the Lancaster Environment Centre another PhD project is available on carboxysome engineering, which is aiming to build upon our previous work towards assembling a cyanobacterial carboxysome in plant chloroplasts. This is the central part of attempts to build a cyanobacterial CCM within plants to boost photosynthetic efficiency. This project will involve in vitro and in planta analysis of existing transgenics lines, generation of new lines and work to optimise the synthesis and assembly of carboxysomes within plants. This project is co-supervised by Marj Lundgren and is based entirely in Lancaster, though with possibilities to visit national and international collaborators for some aspects of the work. This project would suit a student interested in plant synthetic biology and who has or would like to develop skills in molecular biology, biochemistry, and plant engineering.
Full details including the application process can be found at this link, please note that due to funding this project is only available to students who qualify as UK ‘home’ students: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/graduate-school/phd/phd-opportunities/#building-a-plantbased-carboxysome-to-improve-photosynthesis-371066-1
Informal enquiries from students are welcome, but for each project, applications must be submitted using the instructions linked above.