Are you holding Master’s degree and looking for fully funded PhD positions? University of Dundee, Scotland invites online application for multiple funded PhD Programs / fully funded PhD positions in various research areas.
Candidates interested in fully funded PhD positions can check the details and may apply as soon as possible. Interested and eligible applicants may submit their online application for PhD programs via the University’s Online Application Portal.
1. Fully Funded PhD Position in Discovery of novel mitochondrial and organelle biology underlying Parkinson’s disease
Summary of PhD Program:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a movement disorder that is now the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world. Despite much research the disease is incurable and there are no treatments that can slow the disease down. The discovery of genetic mutations in rare familial forms has transformed our understanding of the origins of PD but the function of these genes is poorly understood. Mutations in PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) cause autosomal recessive PD. PINK1 is unique amongst all protein kinases due to the presence of a mitochondrial targeting domain that localises it to mitochondria.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in Feel the tension – how does S-acylation of OSCA ion channels regulate responses to environmental change in plants?
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to elucidate how S-acylation affects OSCA channel outputs in plants, how OSCA S-acylation is regulated and the mechanisms by which S-acylation affects OSCA channel function to provide greater insight into how plants mitigate against environmental stress. This will be done using an interdisciplinary approach, combining laboratory-based plant physiology, molecular biology, S-acylation assays, chemical biology, and biochemistry with in silico structural biology and molecular dynamics simulations.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
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3. Fully Funded PhD Position in Deciphering molecular pathways underlying Parkinson’s disease
Summary of PhD Program:
The goal of this studentship is to dissect the molecular mechanism by which LRRK2 pathway regulates TMEM55B and the role that this has on controlling Parkinson’s relevant lysosome dysfunction. This could lead to new knowledge to help us better treat and diagnose Parkinson’s disease that is driven by the LRRK2 pathway. This project will provide training expertise in the state-of-the-art biochemistry, molecular biology, cell signalling, mass spectrometry, data analysis, scientific collaboration as well as statistics, communication, written and oral presentation.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Potato Disease Resistance: Harnessing Advanced Genomics and Genetics to Clone Functional Genes
Summary of PhD Program:
RenSeq has already been applied to over 1,200 potato varieties and breeding clones from across the UK, China, and Europe, yielding valuable insights into the historical and geographical distribution of resistance genes. By combining RenSeq data with phenotypic observations, AgRenSeq (association genetics with RenSeq) enables the identification of NLRs linked to disease resistance traits. Furthermore, advanced sequencing technologies, including PacBio and Oxford Nanopore, are employed to better represent and resolve the potato NLRome (the complete set of NLR genes) and their haplotypes.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
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5. Fully Funded PhD Position in PROTACs in plants – effectiveness, biological mechanisms and implications for use
Summary of PhD Program:
Food production must increase by 50% by 2050 to feed the global population in the face of climate change, while using less water, pesticide and fertilizer (UN FAO). Yield delivery through traditional breeding methods is also plateauing. Means to expand phenotypic diversity, improve pathogen resistance, manipulate developmental processes and produce crops able to overcome these challenges are urgently needed.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in Charting the atlas and mechanistic structural features of small-molecule degraders that glue intrinsic protein-E3 ligase interactions
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will develop and apply novel approaches, including chemical, biophysical and cellular methods, to identify and leverage weak-affinity protein-E3 interactions between recombinant proteins and/or endogenous proteins inside the cell. The project will have the support as second supervisor of Dr. Ron Hay, whose research group work on studying mechanisms of protein ubiquitination.
Application Deadline: 31 January 2025
7. Fully Funded PhD Position in BARIToNE: Assessing the potential of Circularity in Integrated Systems for mitigating Greenhouse gas emissions and Net Zero in Barley supply chains
Summary of PhD Program:
This four-year PhD studentship is fully funded by the BARIToNE Collaborative Training Partnership (from Sept. 2025) and offered in partnership between the James Hutton Institute, the University of Dundee and Scotgrain Agriculture. The pursuit of achieving Net Zero emissions in agriculture is a significant challenge, especially considering the sector’s substantial contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This Ph.D. research aims to evaluate the potential of circularity within integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems as a strategy for mitigating GHG emissions, with a specific focus on barley production.
Application Deadline: 19 January 2025
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8. Fully Funded PhD Position in Identification of key gene for better barley using AI protein structure modelling
Summary of PhD Program:
This four-year PhD studentship is fully funded by the BARIToNE Collaborative Training Partnership (from Sept. 2025) and offered in partnership between the James Hutton Institute, the University of Dundee and AHDB. Alphafold31, has enabled discovery of novel interactions between proteins or proteins and nucleic acids, small molecules and ions. The accuracy and power of these tools have sparked a wide range of applications, including identification of novel small, secreted proteins from plant pathogens that obstruct tomato secreted immune protease2 and discovery of varied ion transportation activities due to protein structure changes caused by alternative splicing (unpublished data).
Application Deadline: 19 January 2025
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Beyond Lysine: Exploring the Functional Consequences of Non-Canonical Ubiquitination in Health and Disease
Summary of PhD Program:
Ubiquitination is a fundamental post-translational modification (PTM) crucial for a wide range of cellular processes, including protein degradation, localization, quality control, DNA repair, cell signalling, and immune responses. Traditionally, ubiquitin attaches to lysine residues via isopeptide bonds. However, recent advances have uncovered a novel form of ubiquitination – non-canonical ubiquitination – where ubiquitin binds to serine, threonine, and other hydroxyl-containing biomolecules through ester bonds.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
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10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Deciphering novel ALS signalling pathways: Biomarker discovery and developing therapeutic strategies
Summary of PhD Program:
A PhD project is available to develop a knowledgebase of TDP-43 loss of function (LoF) mediated cryptic splicing, identification of cryptic peptides, development of ultra-sensitive assays for mechanistic understanding TDP-43 LoF biology. This studentship provides a great opportunity to learn and employ human iPSC derived motor neurons and glial cell models (2), protein biochemistry, transcriptomics, quantitative proteomic analysis using state-of-the-art Ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry (Orbitrap Astral and tims-TOF SCP mass spectrometers), Bioinformatics, Proteogenomics (3) and targeted PRM mass spectrometry assays (4).
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in Cleave to Modify: A new biological mechanism for protein regulation
Summary of PhD Program:
Variations in protein structure at the level of amino acid sequence and modifications allow for the biological complexity observed in living organisms; a complexity that far exceeds that of the approximately 20,000 genes in the human genome that encode for proteins. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) add to the diversity of the proteome through the generation of new and different proteoforms. Amongst the known PTMs, proteolytic cleavage is an irreversible modification performed by proteases enzymes characterized by the highly precise cleavage of a protein into two or more smaller fragments1.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
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12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Decoding the mechanism and function of UFMylation in ER Quality Control
Summary of PhD Program:
The goal of this project is to define how ribosomes get UFMylated upon stalling and to investigate the mechanisms and function of ribosome UFMylation. This project will build on our recent unpublished work, and we are looking for curious and creative students to work at the frontier of an exciting new field. What makes this project especially exciting is its potential to reveal a fundamental pathway responsible for quality control and homeostasis at the ER, the disruption of which causes disease.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in Destroying cancer-causing proteins
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project aims to understand the molecular mechanisms by which FAM83F and FAM83G activate Wnt signalling and explore if targeted degradation of FAM83F and/or FAM83G inhibits Wnt-dependent proliferation of colorectal and other cancers. The project will employ a wide range of multi-disciplinary cutting-edge technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, mass-spectrometry, DEL screens to identify ligands for FAM83F/FAM83G, and development and application of small molecule degraders, including PROTACs and molecular glues, of FAM83F-CK1-alpha and FAM83G-CK1-alpha complexes.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Identifying therapeutically-targetable mechanisms of PIK3CA mutant-specific signal transfer
Summary of PhD Program:
The Madsen Lab is dedicated to a systems understanding of PI3K signalling plasticity, inspired by observations from human disorders such as cancer and PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS) 1,2. Over the last five years, with support from Wellcome funding, we uncovered previously unappreciated allele dose-dependent effects of PIK3CA mutations in human pluripotent stem cells and cancer 3–5.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
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15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Molecular mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease
Summary of PhD Program:
We have explored how LRRK2 is regulated and discovered several signalling components such as VPS35 4, Rab29 5,6 and other Rabs including Rab12 7 and Rab 32 8 that strikingly controls LRRK2 pathway activity. We have identified a poorly studied protein phosphatase termed PPM1H that counteracts LRRK2 signalling by selectively dephosphorylating Rab proteins 9. Much evidence suggests that elevation of the LRRK2 pathway leads to lysosome dysfunction. We have recently identified a new downstream component of the LRRK2 pathway termed TMEM55B that may function as an E3 ligase that is located on the lysosome 10.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Discovery of novel mitochondrial and organelle mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease
Summary of PhD Program:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a movement disorder that is now the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world. Despite much research the disease is incurable and there are no treatments that can slow the disease down. The discovery of genetic mutations in rare familial forms has transformed our understanding of the origins of PD but the function of these genes is poorly understood. Mutations in PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) cause autosomal recessive PD. PINK1 is unique amongst all protein kinases due to the presence of a mitochondrial targeting domain that localises it to mitochondria.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in How do atypical E3 ligases facilitate their biology?
Summary of PhD Program:
Our multidisciplinary lab has developed pioneering technologies for E3 ligase discovery and activity measurement 1,2. The discovery and study of atypical E3 ligases have resulted in new ubiquitin system paradigms with therapeutic opportunities 3-5. We revealed that MYCBP2 conjugates ubiquitin to atypical sites such as threonine and uses an unprecedented ubiquitin transfer mechanism we term ubiquitin relay. MYCBP2 promotes programmed axon degeneration so drugs that block its ability to carry out non-lysine ubiquitination have great promise for treating neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neuropathies and ALS.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
18. Fully Funded PhD Position in How do Dysregulated Signalling Pathways cause Intellectual Disability?
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project aims to map signalling pathways that are disrupted in intellectual disability, with the overarching goal of uncovering much-needed therapeutic opportunities in this area. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to utilise exciting new tools and reagents in the lab and expand on our recent progress in dissecting intellectual disability signalling networks. Potential approaches include (phospho)proteomic profiling mass-spectrometry, modelling human neural development using pluripotent stem cells, animal models of intellectual disability, cutting edge biochemistry, and structural analysis using Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (CryoEM).
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
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19. Fully Funded PhD Position in Investigating the immune-epithelial interactions that drive intestinal inflammation
Summary of PhD Program:
The aim of this project is to investigate how specific signalling components in allows them to adapt to the intestinal microenvironment and mount appropriate responses to intestinal perturbations, including diet and microbial challenges. The discovery that PIM kinases uniquely regulate metabolic activation of IEL (2), and that T-cell receptor signalling in IEL is uniquely modified (3) , and that IEL have a unique metabolic signature (4), all suggest that changes in these molecular components are necessary for IEL to function.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
20. Fully Funded PhD Position in New technologies to monitor assembly of alternative forms of the proteasome
Summary of PhD Program:
The Rousseau lab is interested in decoding how protein degradation by the proteasome is regulated in cells so that accumulation of unfolded, misfolded, or damaged proteins can be cleared before they become deleterious. The proteasome recognises, unfolds, and degrades faulty proteins that have been tagged with ubiquitin to maintain the integrity of the proteome. Defects in the proteasome give rise to various human diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
21. Fully Funded PhD Position in Finding the eat-me signals
Summary of PhD Program:
The Ganley lab is interested in unravelling the molecular mechanism of autophagy (which literally translates from the Greek meaning to eat oneself). Autophagy is a critical lysosomal degradation pathway that functions to clear the cell of potentially damaging agents, such as protein aggregates or faulty mitochondria. Importantly, autophagy appears to be dysregulated in many diseases and therefore its modulation could lead to novel therapies. However, to enable this, we first need to understand the machinery involved.
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
22. Fully Funded PhD Position in DNA damage sensors which launch protective responses to DNA damage
Summary of PhD Program:
DNA damage happens at very high frequency in the cells in our bodies – meaning that the instructions for the proper functioning of cells could be altered unless the mistakes are spotted and corrected. We recently started a search for new surveillance factors in human cells that can detect damaged DNA and help to launch the DDR “DNA damage response” that stops secondary consequences of DNA damage such as mutations, disease or cell death (see for example EMBO Journal 40, e108271).
Application Deadline: 15 January 2025
23. Fully Funded PhD Position in Translational Studies into Molecular mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease
Summary of PhD Program:
We are particularly interested in the role of the lysosome and other organelles and the role of the Leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) (1). Our goal is to identify and validate markers for diagnosing PD / PD subtypes, measuring PD risk, progression and prognosis as well as stratifying patients for novel disease modifying treatments. We take translational multidisciplinary approaches, collaborate with leading national and international clinical experts and scientists, emphasise meaningful patient and public engagement and support the development of early career scientists.
