PhD Studentship to study the role of peroxisome defects in hearing impairment, at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, Guy’s Campus, King’s College London

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship funded by an award from Action on Hearing Loss, starting in October 2015. 

 

Applicants should have (or be expected to obtain) a 2:1 or 1st class honours degree (or overseas equivalent) in a subject relevant to the proposed project, and should be able to communicate well in English.  The studentship covers course fees (Home/EU rate), a stipend starting at £17,000 rising each year for three years in total, and a small contribution towards research costs, training and conference attendance.  Course fees are available only up to the UK/EU rate, so will not cover the fees level for students outside the EU.  Applicants should send a full CV, covering letter explaining why you are applying for this studentship, and contact details of at least two academic referees to Ms Brenda Williams at brenda.williams@kcl.ac.uk by the closing date: 24^th February 2015.  Interviews will be held during the week beginning 9^th March 2015.

 

For further details of the group’s research, see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/depts/wolfson/about/people/staff/steelkaren.aspx 

or contact Professor Karen P Steel at karen.steel@kcl.ac.uk.  A summary of the project is given below.

 

Pex3 protein is required for peroxisome genesis and degradation, and peroxisomes in turn are needed for metabolic processing of very long chain fatty acids. PEX3 mutations in humans are known to cause severe diseases that include hearing impairment, but we know nothing about the pathological basis of this.  This project involves analysing a new mouse mutation of Pex3 that has been found by a large-scale screen to show high frequency hearing impairment.  The student will investigate if the hearing loss is progressive, what underlying pathological processes occur in the auditory system, and how peroxisomes and lipids are affected in the mutant.  The mutant allele will be manipulated using Flp and Cre recombinases to establish whether deafness results from a local (inner ear) effect or a systemic effect of a lack of Pex3 activity, and to ask if adult onset of reduced Pex3 activity also leads to hearing impairment.  These experiments will guide future development of therapies for mild peroxisome defects, which may underlie some forms of progressive hearing loss due to mild genetic variants or due to environmental challenges.

 

Professor Karen P Steel, FMedSci, FRS

Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases,

King's College London, Guy's Campus,

London SE1 1UL

+44 207 848 6203

karen.steel@kcl.ac.uk