PhD position in genomics analysis with Dr Lucy Crooks at Sheffield Hallam University, Department of Biosciences and Chemistry.
I have a funding for a UK/EU PhD student that would start on October 2nd.
My interest is in using Next Generation Sequencing technologies to understand the genetic basis of disease. Next generation sequencing enables us to detect nearly all the genetic variants in an individual but the difficulty is that there are hundreds of thousands of these. The project will develop and apply an approach to identify variants contributing to a specific disease from moderate-sized patient groups. The idea is to have two methodological stages. Firstly, filtering variants in one patient using combined biological data and predictions from databases, to a shortlist that are most likely to contribute to disease. Secondly, looking for a common process from the aggregated variants across patients, with the assumption that each may have a different variant.
The disease focus will be on schizophrenia. The lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is 0.5-1% and it is ranked as the 12th highest worldwide cause of disability. You will work with variants calls from existing exome sequences and with publically available gene expression data. The results should be of broad interest for other diseases and relevant to interpreting results from the NHS 100,000 genomes project.
You would join the Sheffield Bioinformatics Hub, which includes several researchers from the University of Sheffield and their PhD students. The Hub provides support, opportunities for seminars and discussion and to learn from other members. Sheffield is a lovely city, there are plenty of green spaces and the Peak District is nearby. Living costs are reasonable and many students like the city so much that they stay on here.
You should have a strong interest in genetics and at least a 2.1 Honours degree in either a biological subject with a maths or statistics component, physics, or computer science. If you have experience in large-scale data analysis or programming in a language such as Perl, I particularly encourage you to apply. However no previous computing experience is necessary.
The closing date for applying is 30th June.
For further details, including how to apply please go to http://www.findaphd.com?pj=86852
If you are interested in the studentship and would like to discuss it with me, please contact me at [log in to unmask]
Departmental website https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/lucy-crooks
Sheffield Bioinformatics Hub website http://bioinformatics.group.shef.ac.uk/
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