Available Projects

Informal enquiries about projects can be made by email to the relevant supervisor

NON-CASE Projects based at Durham University

Watering the flowers: gene x environment control of water use during Brassica napus inflorescence development.

Dr Jo Hepworth
jo.a.hepworth@durham.ac.uk

How does RNA modification affect ageing process?

Dr Ting-Yu Lin
ting-yu.lin@durham.ac.uk

Metals, Microbes, and Mathematics: Understanding Coexistence with Toxic Nutrients

Dr Denis Patterson
denis.d.patterson@durham.ac.uk

The Ageing Brain’s Window: Subiculum Circuitry and Memory

Dr Steven Poulter
steven.poulter@durham.ac.uk

CIC structures; Hungry cells or suicidal cells?

Dr Patricia Muller
Patricia.Muller@durham.ac.uk

Dissection of the mode-of-action of miltefosine – a potent anti-fungal and anti-leishmanial chemotherapeutic

Prof Paul Denny
p.w.denny@durham.ac.uk

Understanding ageing-related deficits in hippocampal boundary and object spatial coding: Artificial deep neural network and in-vivo electrophysiological neuronal recording approaches

Prof Colin Lever
colin.lever@durham.ac.uk

The role of mitochondria in age-related decline of the diet-microbiota-gut-brain axis

Dr Rebecca Clark
rebecca.clark2@durham.ac.uk

Nutrient uptake in commensal bacteria: exploring uncharacterised TonB-dependent transporters

Dr Karrera Djoko
karrera.djoko@durham.ac.uk

Angry and Alone: How Social Experience Shapes Female Aggression in Flies

Dr Eleanor Bath
eleanor.bath@durham.ac.uk

NON-CASE Projects based at Newcastle University

Control of top-down and bottom-up information by serotonin: a combined experimental and computational approach

Dr Srikanth Ramaswamy
Srikanth.Ramaswamy@newcastle.ac.uk

Dissecting Gram-negative envelope biogenesis to understand drug delivery in Gram-negative pathogens

Dr Manuel Banzhaf
manuel.banzhaf@newcastle.ac.uk

Characterising antibacterial toxins in the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes

Prof Tracy Palmer
tracy.palmer@newcastle.ac.uk

Understanding structure, dynamics, formation and properties of complex sphingolipid-aSyn proteolipid fibrils

Dr Agnieszka Bronowska
agnieszka.bronowska@ncl.ac.uk

The impact of the RNA exosome on ribosome specialisation in different cell types

Dr Claudia Schneider
Claudia.Schneider@newcastle.ac.uk

Project GraviAge: The Gravity of Aging - Using Microgravity as a Model for Metabolic Aging

Dr Adam Wollman
adam.wollman@newcastle.ac.uk

Mechanisms of chromosome alignment and error correction in bovine oocytes: enhancing fertility and agricultural sustainability

Dr Suzanne Madgwick
suzanne.madgwick@newcastle.ac.uk

Structural and functional investigations into a putative cobalt transporter conserved in Mycobacteria

Dr Kate Beckham
kate.beckham@newcastle.ac.uk

Forged by Iron: Synthetic protein binders to decode bacterial iron transport mechanisms

Dr Kesha Josts
kesha.josts@newcastle.ac.uk

Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction

Dr James Connolly
James.Connolly2@newcastle.ac.uk

NON - CASE Projects Based at Northumbria University

From polymorphism to phenotype: Integrative analysis of retrotransposon insertions in human populations

Dr Ruchi Shukla
ruchi.shukla@northumbia.ac.uk

The molecular basis of age-related changes to lumbosacral spinal autonomic and motoneurons

Dr Rachel Ranson
rachel.n.ranson@northumbria.ac.uk

Resistance, resilience, and redundancy in the human gut microbiome

Prof Christopher van der Gast
chris.vandergast@northumbria.ac.uk

Novel Bacterial-Host Stress Pathway Interactions: Targets for both Novel Anti-Microbial Resistance and Anti-inflammatory Therapeutics

Dr Antony Antoniou
antony.antoniou@northumbria.ac.uk

Unravelling the molecular basis of phenotypes resulting from deletion of NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Dr Ali Ryan
ali.ryan@northumbria.ac.uk

Non-CASE Projects based at Teesside University

Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of Toxoplasma gondii ROP kinases in host cell invasion

Dr Kalesh Karunakaran
k.karunakaran@tees.ac.uk

Autophagy-driven sTemness LAndscape in Stressed brain organoids (ATLAS)

Dr Sreejith Raveendran
Sreejith.r@tees.ac.uk

Engineering and Optimisation of Actinobacterial PETases Using AI Approaches

Dr Hong Gao
h.gao@tees.ac.uk

Investigating the roles of mtDNA mutations in healthy ageing

Dr. Tora K. Smulders-Srinivasan
t.smulders@tees.ac.uk

CASE Projects

CASE projects involve a partnership between the academic institution and a non-academic organization They provide students with training, facilities and expertise not available in an academic setting.

CASE Projects Based in Durham University

SUMO code: deciphering how SUMOylation enables plants to adapt to their environment (Azotic Technologies)

Prof Ari Sadanandom
ari.sadanandom@durham.ac.uk

PhytoImage: Next-Generation Plant Bioimaging technology for Cytoskeletal Coordination, Signalling and Stress-Responsive Morphogenesis (ZEISS)

Dr Tim Hawkins
t.j.hawkins@durham.ac.uk

Novel behavioural assays to study mosquito pheromone signalling (AIPEX Robotics)

Dr Olena Riabinina
olena.riabinina@durham.ac.uk

CASE Projects Based at Newcastle University

Synthetic Biology for Light-Activated Smart Materials (Dstl)

Dr Thomas Howard
Thomas.Howard@newcastle.ac.uk

Harnessing genome engineering, structural and computational biology to discover how an RNA binding preserves transcriptome integrity (Nanovery)

Prof David Elliott
david.elliott@ncl.ac.uk

The effect of stress on pollinator behaviour (Sensibee)

Dr Vivek Nityananda
vivek.nityananda@newcastle.ac.uk

Establishing a glyco-enzyme toolkit for designer glycoproteins (Prozomix Ltd)

Dr Tom McAllister
tom.mcallister@newcastle.ac.uk

Survival of the Oldest: Mitochondrial Remodelling and Stress Resistance in pathogenic yeast (Brigid Bio)

Dr Alessandra da Silva Dantas
alessandra.da-silva-dantas1@newcastle.ac.uk

Developing high content imaging technologies to capture the complexity of the innate immune system (Nevrargenics Ltd)

Dr Kate Harris
kate.harris@newcastle.ac.uk

Can natural feed supplements improve stress resilience in commercial laying hens?

Dr Tom Smulders
tom.smulders@ncl.ac.uk

Understanding how management drives the virulence of Varroa destructor in the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) (Bee Disease Insurance)

Dr Giles Budge
giles.budge@newcastle.ac.uk

Investigating how ageing affects host-pathogen interactions in a C. elegans model of fungal infection. (Nuchido Ltd)

Dr Elizabeth Veal
e.a.veal@ncl.ac.uk

CASE Projects Based at Northumbria University

Design and evaluation of a new class of fluorescent cellular probes for high content imaging (LightOx Ltd)

Dr Jonathan Knowles
jonathan.p.knowles@northumbria.ac.uk

Cholinergic function and ageing: establishing normative data and associations with gait and cognition (Head Diagnostics)

Dr Rodrigo Vitorio
rodrigo.vitorio@northumbria.ac.uk

Skin Microbiome Reporter Models for studying the effects of consumer good actives on healthy microbiomes (Proctor and Gamble)

Dr Paul James
paul.b.c.james@northumbria.ac.uk

Harnessing Bacteria as Green Chemical Factories: Engineering Surface-Display Systems in Rhodococcus for efficient cell-based biocatalysis (Prozomix Ltd)

Dr Lynn Dover
lynn.dover@northumbria.ac.uk

How does replacing meat with alternative sources of protein affect colonic genotoxicity?(Aelius Biotech)

Dr Daniel Commane
daniel.commane@northumbria.ac.uk

CASE Projects Based at Teesside University

Interpretable precision phenotyping for sustainable livestock systems (AFBI)

Dr Mengyuan Wang
mengyuan.wang@tees.ac.uk

Unlocking Mangiferin: Engineering Ultraviolet (UV) protection for skin and hair (Hexis Labs)

Prof. Muhammad Safwan Akram
safwan.akram@tees.ac.uk

Digestibility and health impacts of ultra-processed foods (Aelius Biotech)

Dr Jibin He
jibin.he@tees.ac.uk