Dear All,

I would be very grateful if you would kindly circulate the PhD opportunity
(below) to any promising students in your depts/schools/institutes.

Interested candidates must apply directly through the website
(http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/apply/pg-applicationform.aspx quoting
reference number GS16-017). Funding covers EU/UK home fees. Closing date is
15th April.

With appreciation,
Kim Watson

PhD Studentship in Biological Sciences
-------------------------------------- Project title: Protein engineering
enzymes for industry: production and assessment of bile acid products

Department/School: School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, UK

Supervisory Team: Dr. Kimberly Watson (Biological Sciences), Dr. Dimitris
Charalampapolous (Food Biosciences), Professor Helen Osborn (Pharmacy) and
Dr. Alex Weymouth-Wilson (Dextra Laboratories)

Project Overview: Bile acids (BAs) facilitate digestion, absorb lipids and
regulate cholesterol. Recently, it has been shown that BAs, like hormones,
regulate various metabolic pathways, such as glucose and energy
homeostasis. There is an urgent need to develop more effective, longer-term
sustainable routes for the synthesis of BA products. The primary aim of
this project is to identify and to alter the properties of specific enzymes
toward optimal production of BA products, using modern bioinformatics and
protein engineering techniques. Further interest in BAs are as natural
ligands that play an important role in lipid metabolism and glucose
homeostasis and in the modulation of a group of metabolic hormones that
stimulate a decrease in blood glucose levels. The role of BA in these
processes is becoming apparent but important mechanistic details remain
unclear. The secondary aim of this project is toward elucidation of the
precise mechanism of action of BA ligands in glucose homeostasis, as an
essential first step toward structure-based drug design. With an ever
increasing obese and diabetic population, this research will contribute to
our knowledge of BA physiology and their use as therapeutic agents in the
treatment of diabetes and, other metabolic and liver disorders. We are
seeking an excellent PhD candidate to join our multi-disciplinary team. The
candidate will be based in the School of Biological Sciences and will work
closely with the wider team members, gaining a breath of generic and
scientific skills. Over the course of the project, the candidate will
develop expertise in a range of methodologies including molecular biology,
protein engineering, protein expression, fermentation, purification,
chromatography and structural/computational biology. The wider
collaborative network, offers the candidate the opportunity to access
facilities at Diamond Light Source, the Research Complex at Harwell and
Dextra Laboratories to achieve their project objectives. The applicants
should ideally have experience in molecular biology, protein expression
and/or protein structure.

Eligibility: Applications for this studentship are encouraged from highly
motivated candidates with an interest in multi-disciplinary approaches.
Applicants should hold or expect to gain a minimum of a (UK equivalent) 2:i
Bachelors Degree in a relevant discipline. Due to restrictions on the
funding, this studentship is only open to candidates from the UK/EU.

Funding Details: The studentship will cover Home/EU Fees and pay a tax-free
stipend of £14,296 per year for a period of 3 years. The studentship will
begin in October 2016.

How to apply: To apply for this studentship please submit an application
for a PhD in Biological Sciences to the University - see
http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/apply/pg-applicationform.aspx When prompted
as part of your online application, you should provide details of the
funding you are applying for, quoting the reference GS16-017.

Application Deadline: Friday 15th April 2016

Further Enquiries: Please contact Dr. Kimberly Watson (email:
[log in to unmask])