PREpare Overseas
Jan 3, 2024
Apply by Monday 15 January 2024.
An Industrial Cooperative Award in Science and Engineering (ICASE) biofilm PhD studentship titled, ‘Ultrasmall bacteria for oral biofilm control’ is now available through the Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
This is an exciting opportunity to undertake an iCASE PhD project aimed at characterising a novel group of ultrasmall bacteria in the oral microbiome. Microbial biofilms, known as dental plaque, continuously accumulate on the surface of teeth. These biofilms are not always harmful and can even be important for maintaining our oral health.
ultrasmall bacteria select their hosts.
This interdisciplinary project will involve cutting-edge methods in microbiology, electron and light (fluorescence) microscopy, structural biology including computational modelling and X-ray crystallography, and bioinformatics. Initially, you will develop techniques to quantify ultrasmall bacteria, which will then be employed to culture new strains from clinical samples of saliva or dental plaque. Using genome sequencing and bioinformatics, you will identify key genes encoding cell surface proteins that may be involved in adhesion. You will analyse the structure and function of these proteins by modelling and experimental analyses. Finally, transcriptomics will be employed to assess the gene regulation responses to interactions between ultrasmall bacteria and their hosts, to identify key genes involved in these interactions.
The project is a collaboration with Haleon and you will have the opportunity for a 3-month placement in the company to learn about the pathways to product development.
Apply by Monday 15 January 2024.
For more information and application follow the below link:
