EASTBIO: How cells build the intestine at the University of Edinburgh

Supervisors:  Denis Headon, Mike McGrew

Organs generate their own shapes during embryonic development through the production and precise placement of cells. The intestine, uniquely, takes the shape of a long tube, crucial for nutrient absorption by ensuring that a high surface area is attained before birth. If this process fails then poor early life growth, with lifelong consequences, results. This project will employ newly available technologies to uncover how the intestine grows as a tube with multitudes of projecting villi, with implications for human and animal health, animal productivity, and delivering a deep understanding of embryonic organ development.

The project will use state of the art live cell imaging and cell transplantation techniques, gene editing, and single cell RNA sequencing to build a model for understanding and controlling the development of the intestine. The work will be done using chicken embryos at early developmental stages, taking advantage of new genetically altered lines generated at the Roslin Institute that allow unprecedented views of cells and their behaviours within developing tissues. Introduction of cells with specific genetic modifications into developing embryos will be used to understand how cell-to-cell signalling and cell-to-matrix adhesion govern the formation of the intestine and other organs.

Training in microscopy & fluorescent time-lapse imaging, cell & organ culture, gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9, and analysis of single cell sequencing will provide the successful candidate with opportunities for an academic career in genetics, developmental or cell biology, or in industry.

The Roslin Institute is an outstanding location for this project, being fully equipped for live imaging of cells and organs, animal studies and gene editing. The institute is part of the University of Edinburgh and is situated just to the south of the city.

• This 4 year PhD project is part of a competition funded by EASTBIO BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/how-apply-0

• EASTBIO Application and Reference Forms can be downloaded via www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/how-apply-0

• Please send your completed EASTBIO Application Form along with a copy of your academic transcripts to [email protected]

• You should also ensure that two references have been send to [email protected]  by the deadline using the EASTBIO Reference Form

This opportunity is open to UK and international students and provides funding covering stipend and UK level tuition fees.  The University of Edinburgh covers the difference between home and international fees meaning that the EASTBIO DTP offers fully-funded studentships to all appointees.  There is a cap on the number of international students the DTP recruits.  It is therefore important for us to know from the outset which fees status category applicants will fall under when applying to our university.

Please refer to UKRI websiteand Annex B of the UKRI Training Grant Terms and Conditionsfor full eligibility criteria.

Closing Date:  16th December 2021