Wessex One Health BBSRC scholarship: Plasmids, adaptation, and one health: understanding transmission dynamics and selective pressures (2025)

What you get

PhD studentships cover four years of UK or International PhD fees and a tax free maintenance allowance (currently £19,237 in 2024-5) plus some research costs.

Type of award

PhD scholarship

PhD project

Plasmids, adaptation, and one health: understanding transmission dynamics and selective pressures 

Theme(s): Detection, Prevention and Intervention; Microbial Evolution and Drug Resistance; Understanding Disease Spread

Lead partner: University of Sussex 
Supervisor: Leena Al-Hassan, l.al-hassan@bsms.ac.uk

Joint partner: UKHSA -UK Health Security Agency
Supervisor: Paz Aranega Bou, Paz.AranegaBou@ukhsa.gov.uk

Collaborative partner: University of Exeter

Project Summary

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health threat, where bacteria evolve and acquire mechanisms to resist antibiotics. Bacterial diversity is fuelled by horizontal gene transfer and the mobilisation of resistance and virulence mechanisms via plasmids and mobile genetic elements. This contributes significantly to the rapid spread of resistance and affects the pathogenicity, transmissibility, and persistence, which compounds the challenge of treating resistant infections across the One Health domain. Yet the exact transmission dynamics of plasmids are poorly understood, especially the impact on bacterial fitness across different ecological niches. 

The aim of this project is to study how plasmids persist and spread within and between different environmental niches, when subject to different selective pressures (i.e. the wider environment, exposure to antibiotics and disinfectants across the One Health sectors such hospitals, livestock and the food chain). Combining laboratory and computational approaches will identify what factors allow the success of certain plasmids across multiple bacterial species, and how they persist and spread in a) different bacterial hosts and b) different environments. Furthermore, measuring the speed of plasmid transfer among bacteria, as well as the fitness costs of harbouring and expressing these plasmids will reveal important insight into the resistance-virulence convergent plasmids observed more recently in hospital settings. 

This project will provide invaluable input in the field of infectious diseases by providing a comprehensive understanding of the role of plasmids in the acquisition and transfer of both antibiotic resistance and virulence, as well as demonstrate how plasmids contribute to bacterial adaptation, in response to different selective pressures (e.g. chemical disinfection) and environmental factors. This project will provide essential insights into the complex dynamics of bacterial pathogens, paving the way for improved interventions in infection prevention and control practices globally. 

 The Wessex One Health programme brings together the expertise of our three university partners and four major UK institutes with national capability for working on high consequence pathogens, to provide a broad training and research experience for students, with the following highlights:

Eligibility

Who we are looking for

You will have the ambition, motivation and scientific curiosity to research new approaches to combatting infectious diseases in the themes of:

• Detection, prevention and intervention
• Microbial evolution and drug resistance
• Understanding disease spread
• Infection and cellular biology. 

You will have or expect to have an MSc, and/or a first or upper second honours degree in a relevant subject. We welcome applications from graduates of all universities, and from candidates already in work, or returning after a career break.

Note: Lab experience is desirable but not essential as all successful applicants will be trained in basic lab skills where applicable.

The Scholarships are open to both UK and International applicants but 70% of each cohort of students must be UK and some of the host laboratories have further nationality or residency requirements for their researchers, so bear this in mind when selecting your four project preferences.

In order to be eligible to apply for the necessary security clearance, applicants for projects with Dstl must be a UK national, currently resident in the UK, and have resided in the UK continuously for the past five year. Applicants for projects including laboratory work at APHA, UKHSA or Pirbright Institute must be currently resident in the UK and have at least three years continuous UK residency. Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) clearance is required prior to commencing work at all the above laboratories. Candidates need to ensure that they are eligible for security clearance. It is up to each person applying for a studentship to ensure they meet the residency criteria. Please contact the supervisor if you have any questions. 

Number of scholarships available

One for this project but 17 PhD studentships are available for October 2025 across the programme. 

Deadline

How to apply

Please apply by submitting an application form and completing our EDI survey.

Prospective students are asked to select up to four projects from those available and if invited for interview are strongly encouraged to contact prospective supervisors ahead of interview. 

• Submission deadline: Midnight, Friday 28 February 2025
• Shortlisting: by 10 March 2025
• Interviews: Online, week beginning 24th March 2025.

Contact us

For Sussex-specific enquiries contact pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk

For information on thiso project, contact the supervisors: DR Leena Al-Hassan, l.al-hassan@bsms.ac.uk and Dr Paz Aranega Bou, Paz.AranegaBou@ukhsa.gov.uk

For further information on the programme or application process, email WOH@surrey.ac.uk. 

Timetable

The timetable is as follows:

Deadline for online application:               February 28th 2025 - 23:59

Invitation to interview:                              By 10th March 2025

Interviews Online:                                    w/c March 24th 2025