PhD Studentship - Combinatorial Discovery of Peptide Materials as Ice Binding Protein Mimics

Department: Chemistry
Title: Combinatorial Discovery of Peptide Materials as Ice Binding Protein Mimics
Application deadline: All year round
Research theme: Chemical Biology, Materials Chemistry, Cryobiology

How to apply: https://uom.link/pgr-apply-fap

This 3.5 year PhD is fully funded for home students. Tuition fees will be paid and a tax free annual stipend will be paid. The stipend is set at the UKRI rate (£19,237 for 2024/25).

Ice Binding Proteins (IBPs) help extremophiles survive in the worlds coldest environments, but are also used by microorganisms to damage hosts by promoting ice formation. We have a leading programme of research into creating synthetic mimics of IBPs, understanding their function, and deploying them in healthcare and biotechnology - for example storing cells and tissue for transplantation or mitigating crop-damage.

This PhD will use high-throughput methods to create libraries of small peptides as simplified mimics of IBPS. This will involve synthetic organic chemistry and also some polymer chemistry. You will be trained in cryobiological technologies and analytical methods.

The GibsonGroup has world-class facilities based in both the Department of Chemistry (where this role is primarily based) and also in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB). The Chemistry laboratories are brand new (2023) featuring dedicated write up space, fume hoods, and analytical equipment including UV-Vis, FTIR (and in 2024) NMR spectrometers, microscopes and liquid handling systems. For polymer analysis we have a multidetector SEC suite, as well as the departments core NMR and Mass Spec facilities. We access the UKs National Materials Institute, the Royce, which is in an adjacent building. In the MIB we have dedicated tissue culture and microbiology laboratories and a bioanalytical suite including biolayer interferometry, flow cytometry, high-content live cell microscopy and (in 2024) confocal microscopy. From 2025 the team will host a UK unique automated glycan synthesis platform.

The GibsonGroup is a positive research environment, and the successful candidate is expected to contribute to the groups research culture, focussed on team work.

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.

Please contact the supervisor, Prof Matt Gibson (matt.gibson@manchester.ac.uk), for this project before you apply. You should include a 2-page (max) CV in your email, including grades, details of subjects studied and research projects undertaken.

Advert information