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President’s Research Scholarships

 

 PhD in Bioimaging

This is a prestigious scheme aligned to a new push in Imaging at Cardiff University, with fully-funded doctoral training scholarships designed to produce the next generation of researchers at the life sciences-physical sciences interface. It is a cross-School scheme that spans the Schools of Biosciences, Physics and Astronomy, Optometry and Vision Sciences. Research topics include Fluorescence Microscopy, Multidimensional Imaging, Coherent Multiphoton Microscopy, X-ray Tissue Imaging, Quantum Dots and Nano-imaging, Optical Coherence Tomography.

For more information please contact BorriP@cf.ac.uk

see also http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/presidents/bioimaging/index.html

 

Cardiff University Climate Change Network

An exciting new collaborative research project has been established between Cardiff University Schools of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Biosciences and Psychology focussed on interdisciplinary climate change research.  The ‘Cardiff University Climate Change Network (CU-CCN)’ is inviting applications for six post-graduate researchers leading to the degree of PhD starting in September 2010

Proposed projects are:

  1. Quantification of past ice sheet stability during global warming events
     Supervisors: Dr C. Lear, Prof. P. Pearson and Prof. I. Hall
    External Advisor: Prof. R. DeConto (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
  2. Response of anaerobic prokaryotic processes and communities in Severn Estuary sediments to environmental change
     Supervisors: Prof. R J. Parkes, Prof. A. J. Weightman and Dr H Saas
  3. Climate change and dynamic sediment controls on stream organisms: a case study in the Severn Catchment
     Supervisors: Dr J. Constantine, Prof. S. J. Ormerod and Dr T. H. Jones
  4. The dynamic interaction between microbial biodiversity, biogeochemical activity and sedimentary geomorphology within the Severn Estuary
     Supervisors: Prof. A. J. Weightman and Prof. R J. Parkes and Dr J. Constantine
  5. The consequences of increasing atmospheric CO2 for litter quality, processing and detritivory in soils and waters
     Supervisor:s Dr T. H. Jones, Dr R. Perkins and Prof. S. J. Ormerod
  6. Public responses to the risks of future sea level rise in the Severn Estuary
     Supervisors: Prof. N. Pidgeon, Dr R. Ballinger and Dr L. Whitmarsh

We seek highly motivated, well-organised students capable of developing and fostering collaborative research. The successful candidates should possess or expect to obtain, a first-class honours degree, or upper second class honours degree plus a postgraduate Masters degree at Distinction level (or their equivalents) in a relevant subject area. Good Excellent literacy, numeracy and IT skills are required, in addition to good English language skills. Applicants from the UK or EU are eligible for a full award of stipend and tuition fees.

For further information, interested candidates should contact Prof. Ian Hall of the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University by e-mail at Hall@cardiff.ac.uk (or see http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/earth/). To apply please send a CV and Covering Letter in the first instance to Ms. Liesbeth Diaz (Diaz@cardiff.ac.uk), School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3YE. Tel: 029 2087 5772. Fax: 029 2087 4326. The deadline for applications is 04 February 2010.

 

Designing and Testing a Novel Therapeutic for Breast Cancer

Richard W.E. Clarkson1, Andrea Brancale2 and Andrew D. Westwell2
 1School of Biosciences and 2Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University with EMRIC

Summary

  • An innovative and focused project aimed at generating a new therapeutic agent in breast cancer.
  • Provides a truly interdisciplinary training opportunity in pre-clinical cancer research; that spans computational drug design and virtual drug screening (Brancale, PHRM), medicinal chemistry/cancer drug design  (Westwell, PHRM), cancer cell biology (including target validation) and in vivo mouse modelling of breast cancer therapy (Clarkson, BIOSI).

ERBB (Her2)-positive breast cancers, which constitute around one third of all breast tumours, have a particularly poor prognosis, exhibiting resistance to first line anti-cancer drugs, and frequently developing metastatic disease – the most common cause of patient death [1]. NF-kB transcription factors lie downstream of the ERBB signalling pathway and are aberrantly activated in the majority of these breast tumours [2]. We have found that suppression of Bcl3, an NF-kB co-factor that modifies ERBB signalling, profoundly inhibits metastasis of these aggressive tumours in vivo and in vitro.  Critically, inhibition of Bcl3 does not affect normal mammary function. These observations support the notion that targeted suppression of Bcl3 in the adjuvant or neoadjuvant setting would be a promising therapeutic approach to prevent metastatic disease in patients with aggressive forms of breast cancer.

This collaborative study aims to develop novel inhibitors of Bcl3 function and to test these in pre-clinical mouse models of metastatic breast cancer. There are currently no reported inhibitors of Bcl3 function; our drug design approach will be based on the reported crystal structure of human Pirin (Bcl3 binding partner) and model interactions with Bcl3 and p50 homodimer [3]. This model structure will provide the starting point for defining a pharmacophore model of the critical Bcl3 ankyrin repeat domain residues that interact with Pirin. Virtual screening of the pharmacophore model against appropriate drug-like databases using a state-of-the-art 3D computational imaging suite within the School of Pharmacy will generate virtual “hit” compounds for synthesis and antitumour evaluation. First-line compounds will be sythesised in-house and tested on panels of human breast cancer cell lines in vitro and subsequently tested in orthotopic xenograft models of ERBB+ve breast cancer within a pre-clinical modelling facility in the School of Biosciences. Compounds will be administered systemically whereupon tumour growth/regression kinetics and metastatic progression will be monitored using small bore Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) within Biosciences.

This project offers a unique opportunity for training in research techniques that span the pre-clinical disciplines of drug design and in vivo drug validation that are essential for the translation of new drugs to the clinic.  Due to the broad scope of the project we expect applicants to have undergraduate qualifications relevant to one, but not necessarily all of the subject areas covered by the study.  Full training will be provided in all aspects of the work, by highly experienced researchers in their respective fields.  For further information on this project and on other projects under the same scheme please see http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/presidents/drugdiscovery/index.html  If you have further questions or wish to obtain more information on this project, please contact the project supervisor Richard Clarkson at ClarksonR@cf.ac.uk.

References

[1] Dean-Colomb, W.; Esteva, F.J. (2008). Her2-positive breast cancer: herceptin and beyond. Eur. J. Cancer 44(18), 2806-12.  

[2] Biswas, D.K.; Iglehart, J.D. (2006). Linkage between EGFR family receptors and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) signalling in breast cancer. J. Cell. Physiol. 209(3), 645-52.  

[3] Pang, H. et al. (2004). Crystal structure of human pirin: an iron-binding nuclear protein and transcription cofactor. J. Biol. Chem. 279(2), 1491-8.

Cardiff Research into Advanced Neuroimaging Methods (CRANIUM)

CRANIUM’s aim is to stimulate the next phase of development of neuroimaging methodology for translational neuroscience applications in human health and disease. The hub of CRANIUM is the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) with its human brain imaging techniques all under one roof:  Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Electroencophalography (EEG) and Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

CRANIUM addresses three themes:

   * Integration of multiple neuroimaging modalities
   * Experimentally informed mathematical modelling of brain structure and function
   * Enhanced image quantitation

The doctoral research projects will be experimentally focussed with a strong bias towards physical science methodology applied to biological systems. Two projects will be available per year. Students will be jointly supervised by one supervisor in Psychology and one supervisor either in Biosciences or Medicine or Mathematics.

The programme will prepare postgraduates for a research career in biomedical imaging and neuroscience, with the flexibility to take on new techniques as they develop.  Beyond academic research, there is increasing demand for experts who understand the measurement techniques applied to biological systems in the biotech, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

More information can be found under:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/presidents/neuroimaging/index.html

President's Research Scholarships