Have a look at it here! https://www.change-msca.eu/
We will be recruiting our PhD student soon – watch this space…
Our CHANGE project has a shiny new website
It’s the NEPG this Friday!
The NEPG conference (https://ne-pg.co.uk/) is the largest student-led annual biomedical conference in the UK, offering postgraduate students valuable presentation and networking opportunities with their peers. This year, Jack Roberts from the SRG is in the organising committee, and the SRG students Abby Brumwell, Adam, Duxfield, Dan Hayman and Marc Farcasanu will be presenting their work.
There’s still time to join if you’re interested!
Absolutely amazing BSMB meeting in Liverpool
We were at the British Society for Matrix Biology meeting in Liverpool this month. An amazing meeting full of great science around development and ageing, including a great networking morning with the ECMage network (really exciting projects and ideas there!). Lovely to see so many new tissue engineering approaches and opportunities to collaborate with friends old and new.
And a big thank you and well done to Francesca, Marc and Rachel, who presented posters about our EC, NC3Rs, and JGW Patterson Foundation funded projects.
Save the date! SRG seminars, 5th September 2022
Professor Frank Beier is visiting Newcastle University on the 5th of September and Dr Sarah Rice from the Skeletal Research Group (the SRG) has organised a seminar by him at 1pm followed by short talks (15min + 5 min questions) by PhDs and PostDocs from the SRG. Please see the exciting program below.
(https://boneandjoint.uwo.ca/about_us/people/researcher_bios/beier.html)
12 PhD positions available in the EU-funded network to investigate mechanisms of age-related disease
We are part of the “Cellular Homeostasis ANd AGing in Connective TissuE Disorders” (CHANGE), an EU-funded MSCA network focused on investigating connective tissue (CT) disorders to identify key players in age-related decline in physiological functions to develop therapeutic strategies and identify treatment targets for common diseases and frailty associated with aging. It is part of Horizon EUROPE programme of the European Union and 12 Doctoral Candidates (DC) will be appointed for 36 months each.
The application deadline is 30th of September 2022
The consortium consists of partners from academia and industry with excellent scientific qualifications in multiple disciplines. In total, there are 12 open PhD positions for DCs within CHANGE. Each DC will be appointed at one of the consortium partners but secondments and regular meetings will be performed at other partners to ensure multidisciplinary training and close collaboration. An ideal DC candidate will hold a Master’s degree with excellent marks from her/his previous studies and experience in one or more of the relevant broad research fields will be an advantage. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are essential. The DCs will start their projects between September 2022 and March 2023.
For more information on the consortium or the positions offered in this project please click here: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/812870
Here’s a simple explanation of osteoarthritis by our colleagues in Liverpool
https://simplebooklet.com/behindosteoarthritis#page=1
A lovely booklet developed by Dr David Wilkinson, Dr Catalina Castanheira and Prof Mandy Peffers at University of Liverpool and sponsored by CIMA.
Celebrating grants and papers
Well done to Adam Duxfield for publishing the results of his first year of PhD, and to everyone for getting our next MRC project funded. Here’s to great science ahead!
Summer is here!
We had a lovely Pirog/Briggs barbecue last week. It is so nice to be able to sit outside, play croquet and chat about life. A big thank you to Prof Mike Briggs for inviting us to his lovely Northumberland home!
NC3Rs summer school in London, June 2022
In June the NC3Rs welcomed twenty of their PhD students to London for the annual summer school, which included peer networking, a flash poster session and some further useful online sessions. Here’s a picture of all the students, with our own Marc Farcasanu in the front row.
The Dunhill Medical Trust PhD Opportunity at Newcastle University
https://research.ncl.ac.uk/nudmtdtp/
Newcastle University invites applications to a doctoral training programme on multiple long-term conditions and social inequalities funded by The Dunhill Medical Trust. This PhD programme focuses on multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) and social inequalities. The projects build on our Newcastle University-led James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership on MLTCs in later life that highlighted unanswered questions in this area.
Theme 1 of the studentships is “Understanding the mechanisms of ageing and age-related disease” and a studentship is offered in the Skeletal Research Group (SRG) in Newcastle with Dr Louise Reynard, to investigate “Epigenetic alterations in cellular ageing”. Epigenetic alterations are a primary hallmark of cellular ageing, with many common age-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes and osteoarthritis characterised by abnormal epigenetic signatures. This project aims to understand the role of DNA methylation, an epigenetic regulator of gene expression, in musculoskeletal ageing and multi-morbidity. CRISPR-Cas9 genomic and epigenomic editing of cartilage and bone cells will be used to determine the effect of DNA methylation on ELOVL2 and FHL2 gene expression and investigate the function of these genes in cellular ageing. This project offers an opportunity for a student to work at the forefront of ageing research.
To apply please send a CV and covering letter (no more than 500 words) to dmtdtp@newcastle.ac.uk that contains your reasons for applying and how you are qualified. Please also list up to three projects in your letter, and number them in order of preference from 1 (top choice) to 3 (least preferred).
Deadline: Thursday, 7th July 2022 at 17:00
Interviews expected to take place in the week ending 15th July 2022.