Association of von Willebrand factor genetic variation and levels with cardiovascular disease outcomes
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the second most common cause of death in the UK and therefore a significant disease burden. von Willebrand factor (VWF) plays an important role in the haemostatic system and there is considerable natural variation in VWF levels; levels have been associated with clinical outcomes in single-centre acute coronary syndromes (ACS) patient cohorts, while high levels have also been associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction. In addition, VWF genetic variation independently influences VWF levels. There is therefore a timely opportunity to test whether VWF genetic variation and levels can predict CVD outcomes and inform personalised therapies for patient benefit.
This project aims to investigate the role that natural variation in VWF levels has in determining CVD risk, focusing specifically on clinical outcomes in a large multi-centre ACS patient cohort. Key objectives will:
- Identify VWF variants and variant haplotypes that significantly influence VWF levels and perform analyses in vitro to verify associations and determine the biological mechanisms involved.
- Investigate validated associations in ACS patients, determining how VWF levels relate to their clinical outcomes following treatment.
Closing date: 1 December 2023
Full details about the PhD and how to apply on FindaPhD.com
Diabetes and thrombosis: mechanistic links and novel interventional opportunities
Thrombosis is the occlusion of blood vessels by uncontrolled blood clotting. Being the cause of death for 70% of diabetes patients, thrombosis is a serious threat in diabetes. Blood platelets drive blood clotting and are hyperactive in diabetes.
Our data suggest that high blood glucose in diabetes patients causes oxidative stress, vesicle shedding and hyperactivity of platelets, which lead to uncontrolled blood clotting and increase the risk of thrombosis.
In this project, we will:
- identify the molecular mechanisms linking high blood glucose with platelet hyperactivity;
- establish novel in vitro and in vivo models of diabetes for the study of the association of diabetes and thrombosis;
- study the effect of hyperglycaemia on haemostasis and vascular health;
- assess whether dietary interventions can normalise platelet response in experimental models of diabetes.
Closing date: 6 December 2023
Full details and how to apply on the University of Hull website
Exploring cancer transcriptomes with Nanopore long-read sequencing
This PhD is offered at Hull York Medical School through the University of York’s participation in the prestigious Discovery Medicine North Doctoral Training Partnership (DiMeN DTP), to research the major health problems facing the world today. This initiative brings together a vibrant and diverse community of PhD students from the programme’s partner institutions (Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, York and Sheffield).
Are you interested in cancer gene expression, immunology, and cutting-edge genomics/transcriptomics? Do you want to pursue a PhD in an environment supported by a supervisory team including immunologists and RNA biologists (Lagos, Kourtzelis), clinical oncologists (Vasudev), and leading industry experts (Oxford Nanopore Technologies)? If yes, this is the perfect opportunity for you.
You will use the remarkable power of the long-read sequencing platforms developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), the project’s iCASE partner and global leaders in long-read and direct RNA sequencing, to explore and explore gene expression landscapes in kidney cancer. This will be a vehicle to transforming our understanding of cancer biology and immunology, for example through identifying immune transcripts associated with disease relapse or response to treatment.
Here is the challenge this PhD will aim to address: The clinical use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has been transformative in oncology, but significant challenges remain, including lack of response by a substantial number of patients. Long-read and direct RNA sequencing methodologies are currently at the cutting-edge of clinical cancer research thanks to their superiority in assessing alternative transcript and 3’UTR usage, poly-A length and post-transcriptional RNA modifications, all at single transcript resolution from the same sequencing run.
Full details and how to apply on FindaPhD.com
Closing date: 17 December 2023
Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre for Water Cultures - Dissecting the climate, water and health nexus for people with disabilities
The University of Hull Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre for Water Cultures is an interdisciplinary research centre exploring humanity’s relationships with water in the green-blue regions of the world, past, present and future.
It pioneers a new, humanities-led, interdisciplinary and transhistorical research area – the green-blue humanities – and equips a new generation of PhD students to take this agenda forward and transform our understanding of humanity's relationships with water.
A funded 4-year PhD studentship is available in Hull York Medical School to start in September 2024 or January 2025. This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious, talented and enthusiastic researcher to conduct interdisciplinary research in order to advance thinking within the area of blue-green humanities.
Climate change has complex relationships with water cycles and related extreme events, health and disease, which are governed by levels of exposures and vulnerabilities. Different peoples with different vulnerabilities face multiple stressors with synergistic effects that are aggravated by climate change - with the most vulnerable and least resilient populations (e.g., some people with disabilities) worst affected. Building on our recent work around the roles of climate change, sanitation, hygiene and water in human health, in this project you will investigate the climate-water-hygiene-health nexus for people with disabilities.
We aim to incorporate human and planetary health as new metrics of accountability (a new ‘currency’) at the centre of ‘health in all’ climate strategies, particularly for some of the most vulnerable, that is, people with disabilities. You will investigate how supported behavioural change strategies can lead to disease prevention approaches that benefit societies as a whole, and are cost- and health-effective. You will explore the relationships between disabilities and accessibility to clean drinking water and hygiene standards, using the UK and Ghana as case studies.
Climate change has been labelled as the greatest public health opportunity this century and you will contribute towards realising this for people with disabilities.
Closing date: 24 January 2024
Full details about the PhD and how to apply on the University of Hull website
Developing and testing a psychosocial intervention to promote spousal communication for mutual problem solving among Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their partners
Prostate cancer affects 1 in 4 Black men and is now regarded as a couple’s disease because men and their partners experience significant psychological and emotional distress after diagnosis and treatment. This novel PhD will address this gap in the evidence base by developing and testing an intervention to promote open communication for mutual problem-solving among Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their partners in the United Kingdom.
Supervised by an experienced supervisory team, the project will involve collaborative working with a patient and public involvement group, NHS Trusts, Black community organisations as well as multidisciplinary teams of researchers at the Hull York Medical School and Institute for Clinical and Applied Health Research, University of Hull.
Closing date: 15 February 2024
Find out more and apply on FindaPhD.com
University of Hull research cluster: Wound care: prediction, prevention and profiling
Wound care presents a substantial burden to the NHS, affecting 3.8 million individuals with direct and indirect NHS costs of £8.3 billion annually due to prolonged hospital stays, increased morbidity and mortality, extended recovery periods, and compromised quality of life for affected individuals. The urgency to tackle this problem is further driven by an ageing demographic and the significant rise in the number of people with diabetes and obesity.
This project will be part of a University of Hull PhD cluster to investigate four fundamental aspects of wound care: 1) Harnessing AI for remote diagnosis and sustainable practices; 2) Automated assessment of wound perfusion; 3) Exploring novel SSI prevention interventions; 4) In-depth profiling for precision treatment. Each of these projects will also address multiple Vascular James Lind Alliance priorities.
Find out more and apply for these scholarships on the University of Hull website:
Closing date: 15 February 2024