JGW Patterson Foundation MRes plus PhD Studentship in Ageing and Arthritis – Investigating the role of asporin in musculoskeletal health and ageing

Value of award: 100% of UK/EU tuition fees paid and annual living expenses of £14,777 (full award).

Start date: September 2019 – the funding covers MRes in Musculoskeletal Ageing followed by a 3 year PhD

Application closing date: 10/04/19

Supervisor(s): Dr Katarzyna Piróg, Prof David Young

Overview

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful and debilitating age-related condition that currently affects 8.75 million people in the UK alone. There are many factors that contribute to OA susceptibility including age, lifestyle and trauma and understanding the disease progression is further hampered by the difficulty in obtaining non-end-stage human cartilage samples. Interestingly, there are several OA susceptibility loci that can be studied in cell culture and in animal models. Polymorphisms is ASPN, encoding asporin, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan found in perichondrium, periosteum and OA cartilage, increase the risk of OA in several populations, but its role in cartilage ageing and in OA is not fully understood. This project will investigate the role of asporin in musculoskeletal health using animal models, histology and transcriptomic techniques.

One PhD studentship is available in the Newcastle group of Dr Katarzyna Pirog, with Prof David Young as co-supervisor. Students with an interest in ageing, cartilage biology, animal models of disease, biochemistry, and transcriptomics are encouraged to apply.

Eligibility Criteria:  You must have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree in genetics, biochemistry, biosciences or a related area. The award is available to UK/EU applicants only. If English is not your first language, you must have IELTS 6.5, or equivalent.

How to apply: You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system by creating an account. To do this please select ‘How to Apply’ and choose the ‘Apply now’ button.

All relevant fields should be completed, but fields marked with a red asterisk must to be completed. The following information will help us to process your application. You will need to:

• click on programme of study
• insert 8300F in the programme code section and click search
• select Programme name ‘PhD in the Faculty of Medical Sciences (full time)’
• insert GM011 in the studentship/partnership reference field
• attach a covering letter and The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, quote reference code GM011 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project
• attach degree transcripts* and certificates and, if English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualification.

*You will not be able to submit your application until you have submitted your degree transcript/s.

You should also send your covering letter and CV to Dr Katarzyna Pirog by email to katarzyna.pirog@ncl.ac.uk

Contact: Dr Katarzyna (Kasia) Piróg, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University. Email: katarzyna.pirog@ncl.ac.uk