Wessex One Health BBSRC scholarship: The molecular anatomy of an opportunistic pathogen, Mycobacterium avium complex (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

The molecular anatomy of an opportunistic pathogen, Mycobacterium avium complex  

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

Lead partner: University of Sussex 
Supervisor: Simon Waddell, s.waddell@bsms.ac.uk

Joint partner: UKHSA - UK Health Security Agency
Supervisor: Simon Clark, Simon.Clark@ukhsa.gov.uk

Project Summary

Why do some bacteria cause opportunistic infections in people, and what can we do to prevent them? Non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections are increasing in the UK and the world. These bacteria, found naturally in soil and water, cause opportunistic lung infections that may be acquired in hospitals. They cause disease most often in patients with chronic lung conditions such as COPD/bronchiectasis or in immunocompromised patients. The dispersal of NTM in water and aerosols is not well understood, and they are hard to kill with antibiotics. This project will characterise NTM in relevant infection models using a combination of cutting-edge molecular tools, including genomics and transcriptomics. The project will hopefully lead to novel strategies to prevent NTM infections, to eradicate biofilms, and to improve patient outcomes. The project builds on an existing partnership between the University of Sussex (Waddell) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Porton Down (Moore and Clark), where we have identified NTM in water sources in hospitals. NTM likely colonise water systems by growing in biofilms, which may generate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes. The experienced supervisory team has expertise in the molecular microbiology of Mtb and NTM (Waddell), Mtb and NTM models of infection (Clark), and the biology of waterborne bacterial infections (Moore).

The project will: (1) Define the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) phenotype (using transcriptomics and genomics) to life as a biofilm in hospital water systems, and in patient samples utilising a purpose-built Isolator to Measure Aerosol and Droplet GENeratioN (IMADGENN). (2) Characterise the impact of MAC lung and biofilm phenotypes on susceptibility to frontline antibiotics and disinfectants. (3) Map the adaptations necessary for MAC to establish an infection.

The project would suit a student who is interested in infection biology and in the application of molecular omics tools to drug discovery and infection control.

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 Simon Waddell, s.waddell@bsms.ac.uk; Dr Simon Clark, Simon.Clark@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