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PhD Research Project: Chemically modified aptamers for the detection of cancer biomarkers

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Mar 31, 2017

Job Details

Details

There is now overwhelming evidence that glycosylation, the process by which sugars are attached to proteins, changes during the development and progression of various malignancies. Altered glycosylation has been implicated in cancer, immune deficiencies, neurodegenerative diseases, hereditary disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Glycoproteomics is rapidly emerging as an important technique for biomarker discovery, and glycoproteins are expected to become increasingly important to the diagnosis and management of human diseases.

Currently, antibodies play a central role in enabling the detection of glycoprotein biomarkers for disease diagnosis. However, antibodies do have their own set of drawbacks that limit the commercialization of antibody sensing technology. They suffer from poor stability, need special handling and require a complicated, costly production procedure. More importantly, they lack specificity and are not able to discriminate among different glycosylated proteins. This project will focus on the development of aptamers (DNA molecules) as viable alternatives to antibodies for detecting glycoproteins with high specificity. The project will involve synthesising compounds that are known to bind sugar groups (e.g. boronic acids) that can be functionalized appropriately for incorporation into DNA strands. New aptamers containing these sugar-binding groups will then be made and studied in collaboration with international partners. The successful applicant will be willing to partake in multi-disciplinary research and will learn and utilize a range of skills, including synthetic chemistry (e.g. ligand and DNA synthesis) and various spectroscopic techniques for characterization, analysis and biomarker sensing in solution and at surfaces.

Funding Notes

This PhD is fully funded and due to funding restrictions open to EU/UK applicants only. Students must have a minimum of a good (>65%) upper second-class or higher integrated masters (MSci/MChem) UK degree (or an equivalent EU qualification) in Chemistry or a closely related subject. Potential applicants should contact Professor Paula Mendes (p.m.mendes@bham.ac.uk) and Professor Jim Tucker (J.Tucker@bham.ac.uk) in the first instance and include a CV.

 

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Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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