The School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences at Queen Mary is one of the UK’s elite research centres, according to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). We offer a multi-disciplinary research environment and have approximately 180 PhD students working on projects in the biological and psychological sciences. Our students have access to a variety of research facilities supported by experienced staff, as well as a range of student support services.
The Martin-Duran lab (https://www.martinduranlab.com) is a team of 2 postdoctoral research associates and 5 PhD students working together to dissect the molecular mechanisms underpinning the evolution of spiral cleavage and regeneration in annelid worms. This is a truly multidisciplinary team, with members working purely on computational approaches, such as genome sequencing, to members combining wet and dry lab or mostly focussing on experimental approaches. The lab is supported by a range of funders, including the European Research Commission through an ERC Starting Research Grant, and the Wellcome Trust.
Our PhD students become part of Queen Mary’s Doctoral College which provides training and development opportunities, advice on funding, and financial support for research. Our students also have access to a Researcher Development Programme designed to help recognise and develop key skills and attributes needed to effectively manage research, and to prepare and plan for the next stages of their career.
During animal development, the progenitors of e.g., the gut and nervous system emerge either through a self-organising process or via maternal inputs. These two strategies to specify the primary cell fates of an embryo occur naturally in spiral cleavage –an ancestral embryonic programme present in many invertebrates such as earthworms and snails. Spiral cleavage is, therefore, ideal to investigate how progenitor cells are specified and how different strategies to do so evolve. In marine snails, we know that the association of maternal inputs to the mitotic spindle is essential for their proper segregation and the specification of the first progenitor cells. However, which genes and proteins control this process are unknown.
RNA binding proteins are important to ensure that maternal inputs segregate during the first cell divisions of the egg to end up in the adequate cells and specify their corresponding cell fates. Recently, my lab has discovered that a set of RNA binding proteins involved in segregating maternal RNAs during early development in humans and flies are also in the eggs of marine annelids with spiral cleavage. Therefore, in this project, you will investigate the function of these RNA binding proteins in annelids to discover the general role of these proteins in controlling cell fate specification during spiral cleavage.
You will combine molecular evolutionary approaches with experimental embryology and super resolution microscopy to ask three major questions: What are the RNA binding proteins in annelid worms? Where do these proteins localise during early development? What are their functions?
This studentship is open to students applying for CONACyT funding. CONACyT will provide a contribution towards your tuition fees each year and Queen Mary will waive the remaining fee. CONACyT will pay a stipend towards living costs to its scholars. Further information can be found here: https://conacyt.mx/convocatorias/convocatorias-becas-al-extranjero/
Please refer to the CONACyT website here: https://conacyt.mx/convocatorias/convocatorias-becas-al-extranjero/ for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship.
Applications are invited from outstanding candidates with or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree in an area relevant to the project (e.g., developmental biology, molecular biology, biochemistry). A masters degree is desirable, but not essential.
Applicants from outside of the UK are required to provide evidence of their English language ability. Please see our English language requirements page for details: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/international-students/englishlanguagerequirements/postgraduateresearch/
Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Chema Martin at chema.martin@qmul.ac.uk
Applicants will need to complete an online application form by this date to be considered, including a CV, personal statement and qualifications. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the project supervisor. Those who are successful in their application for our PhD programme will be issued with an offer letter which is conditional on securing a CONACyT scholarship (as well as any academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements).
Once applicants have obtained their offer letter from Queen Mary they should then apply to CONACyT for the scholarship as per their requirements and deadlines, with the support of the project supervisor.
Only applicants who are successful in their application to CONACyT can be issued an unconditional offer and enrol on our PhD programme.
Apply Online