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Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology to start 1st January 2019.
Project: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common form of young-onset dementia after Alzheimer’s disease representing 10-20% of all dementias worldwide.
Causative, risk or modifying variants are found in several FTD-Mendelian genes including MAPT, GRN, CHMP2B, and C9orf72. These genes are functionally linked to several cellular processes based on their function as proteins, yet a focused study of FTD-risk-processes is needed to better understand the cellular mechanisms that lead to neuronal death.
Here we wish to train a student in data mining and gene-co-expression & protein-protein interaction network analyses to identify FTD-specific risk processes, use a large FTD-genetic dataset (directly available to us) to isolate pathogenic or risk variants in candidate genes within the FTD-specific risk processes, and functionally validate top-10 candidate genes using transcriptomics and ad-hoc cell-biology methods.
By the end of this project the PhD candidate will have learned key bioinformatics and cell biology techniques to expand on the molecular underpinning of FTD pathogenesis
Funding: The studentship is funded by Alzheimer’s Society for 3 years and will cover UK/EU university tuition fees and an annual stipend of £17,000 rising to £18,000 in years 2 and 3.
Entry requirements: Candidates must meet the UCL graduate entry requirements, which include holding at least an upper second class degree or equivalent qualifications, in biomedical sciences and some previous wet-laboratory based experience (from Sanger sequencing to RNA extraction and basic cell-biology work) is required. A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline could be an advantage, but not essential.
Eligibility
The funding covers an annual stipend and tuition fees at the rate for UK nationals and EEA migrant workers. All PhD students at UCL are initially registered for an MPhil degree and this is converted to a PhD registration upon successful completion of an upgrade report and transfer viva. Funding is available for 36 months.
Candidates short-listed for interview will be required to give a short research presentation. The closing date is Wednesday 12th December 2018 with interviews on Monday 17th December 2018.
Informal enquiries: Please email Dr Raffaele Ferrari for further information about the project (r.ferrari@ucl.ac.uk)
Application procedures: Application is by CV and covering letter emailed to: r.baverstock-west@ucl.ac.uk
Please put FTD/Functional-Dissection studentship in the subject line.