MRC/Sackler PhD Programme-2015

We are offering eight fully funded PhD studentships for projects commencing in October 2015.

Further details of the almost 50 available projects can be found by following the links below.

The studentships provide an annual stipend of £18,000 for 3.5 years, full fees and research costs.  The duration of the studentship allows for a funded period of write-up prior to thesis submission.

In addition to excellent research facilities, students will have access to a wide variety of training and researcher development activities, many of which are offered through the Graduate School of Life Sciences and the wider University.

• The closing date for applications is 9 January 2015.
• Interviews will be held on Monday 9 February and Tuesday 10 February 2015

Cambridge in Numbers

Eligibility

• Academic requirements: At least a 2:i Honours degree from a UK university or equivalent.
• English language requirements: The University requires a high level of proficiency in English. For details, click here http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international-students/competence-english/will-i-have-language-requirement
• Nationality: Eligibility for the studentships is subject to MRC nationality and residence criteria. Click here for details

How to apply

1. Applicants are encouraged to contact prospective supervisors for further information about specific projectsbefore applying.
2. Applications must be made on the University’s online application form (GradSAF). Click here for a link to the Graduate Admissions webpages (http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/how-do-i-apply).
3. The course code is MDSM22.
4. You can select up to two projects – if you do this, please rank the selected projects in order of preference. Please do this in Section A(12) of the form.

You need to upload the following documents with your application:

• Personal statement, quoting the code number of your chosen research project
• CV
• Transcripts or degree certificates
• English language score report forms (if English is not your first language

Note: The two referees you list on the application form will be contacted automatically for their references, so please ensure you provide their correct email addresses.

For general application enquiries, please email the Higher Degrees Office at

[email protected].

Available projects

Cancer (Department of Oncology and MRC Cancer Unit)

• SCM 001: Dose-toxicity analysis of rectal and salivary toxicity in patients receiving radiotherapy within the VoxTox Research Programme
• SCM 002: Modelling the relationship between subcellular structure and the Warburg effect in proliferating cells
• SCM 003: Glioblastoma oncosimulator: computational modelling of organotypic glioblastoma spheroids for assessment of response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy
• SCM 004: Transcriptional dynamics in cancer and reprogramming
• SCM 005: Data science approaches to integrate, mine, and visualize  literature derived entity-relationships with omic datasets to decipher oncogenic cellular networks
• SCM 006: Oncogene-induced remodelling of cellular networks: a systems approach using optogenetics and next-generation microscopy

Clinical Biochemistry/Institute of Metabolic Science

• SCM 007: Identification of novel regulators of adipogenesis by genome-wide epigenetic mapping of promoter-      enhancer interactions
• SCM 008: Hypothalamic programming by maternal diet-induced obesity

Clinical Neurosciences

• SCM 009: Development and application of novel PET markers of neuroinflammation
• SCM 010: Hippocampal subfield structure and function in pre-dementia Alzheimer’s disease
• SCM 011: Mechanisms underlying failure of synaptic repair in neurodegeneration
• SCM 012: Mechanisms of neuronal degeneration
• SCM 013: Modelling of diffusion weighted MRI

Haematology

• SCM 014: From GWAS hits to gene function: studies in zebrafish
• SCM 015: Inflammation driven responses in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
• SCM 016: Molecular mechanisms of ribosome assembly

Medical Genetics

• SCM 017: The epigenome in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)
• SCM 018: The identification and characterisation of novel inherited breast cancer genes

Medicine

• SCM 019: Investigating the role of novel mitochondrial regulators of HIF/hypoxia signalling in cancer
• SCM 020: Exploring adaptive metabolic responses of human granulocytes to hypoxia
• SCM 021: The Receptor-Interacting Protein  (RIP) kinase pathway as a therapeutic target for Krabbe disease: a neuro-inflammatory leukoencephalopathy
• SCM 022: Use of clinical informatics to understand the epidemiology of invasive fungal infection among renal, haematology and transplant patients
• SCM 023: Delineating the inflammatory mechanisms engaged by Paneth cells that originate Crohn’s disease-type inflammation
• SCM 024: Ischaemic succinate accumulation as a unique metabolic marker of ischaemia/reperfusion injury and a therapeutic target against myocardial infarction
• SCM 025: Structure, function and evolutionary origins of phlebovirus-like envelope proteins in endogenous retroelements from parasitic nematodes
• SCM 026: The molecular mechanism of endoglin and its role in cardiovascular diseases
• SCM 027: Genetic and functional mechanisms of primary immunodeficiencies
• SCM 028: Role of host matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in tuberculosis pathogenesis

MRC Epidemiology Unit

• SCM 029: Aetiology of type 2 diabetes, obesity and related disorders
• SCM 030: Behavioural determinants and interventions to change diet and physical activity

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

• SCM 031: Role of paraoxonase-3 in placental and embryonic development and in adult disease
• SCM 032: Uterine natural killer cells: active regulator at the maternal–fetal interface

Paediatrics

• SCM 033: Early life phenotypes of Type 1 Diabetes risk
• SCM 034: The fetal imprinted genome and epigenome, and their influence on maternal physiology and post-natal growth
• SCM 035: Role of epigenetic mechanisms during gastro-intestinal development and paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Psychiatry

• SCM 036: The role of sex steroid hormones in autism
• SCM 037: Using physiological methods to examine the role of anxiety in the difficulties of people with severe/profound intellectual disabilities
• SCM 038: Neurobiological mechanisms of addiction vulnerability
• SCM 039: Neural networks associated with addiction vulnerability and resilience

Public Health and Primary Care

• SCM 040: Modelling the genetic susceptibility to common cancers
• SCM 041: Bereavement care in Primary Care
• SCM 042: Research mapping of dementia, gap analysis and development of an online evidence resource for dementia
• SCM 043: The genetic epidemiology of ovarian cancer
• SCM 044: Mobile phone apps for behaviour change
• SCM 045: "Big data" to advance population health and mechanistic understanding of disease

Radiology

• SCM 046: PET MR in the assessment of tumour microenvironment
• SCM 047: Combination of MRI and real-time mechanical analysis for carotid atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability assessment

Surgery

• SCM 048: Human intestinal follicular helper T cells
• SCM 049: Function and immunogenicity of hepatocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells

Read More/Apply Online