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 PhD student will be member of both Dr Fumagalli and Professir Rossiter’s research groups located at Mile End campus. Both labs have strong expertise and track record in bioinformatics, population genetics and data science. The student will be part of local initiatives for Artificial Intelligence and biomedical sciences, and have the possibility to interact with members of the Digital Environment Research Insitute (https://www.qmul.ac.uk/deri/).
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.The PhD student will receive any additional training in bioinformatics, data science and population genomics.
Glucose metabolism is critical for brain and muscle function, while excess glucose is toxic, so the glucose metabolism pathway is highly regulated and its evolution in animals is linked with diet. Human diets changed with farming and cooking and more recently with modern food production technology. We previously demonstrated a shift to Western diet may be linked to Type-2 diabetes in Inuit (Science, 2015) and that one gene belonging to the clathrin family has evolved in response to changes in human diet (eLife, 2019). We hypothesise that other genes in the GLUT4 glucose metabolism pathway will also have undergone variation in response to dietary selection.
New methods in artificial intelligence developed by Dr Fumagalli will be used to analyse databases of genomic sequences from two different human populations whose diet has changed at different times in human evolution. We will select genes implicated in regulation of the insulin-responsive GLUT4 pathway using interactome data, and analyse their genetic variation in ancient and modern human samples from Arabic and South American populations. The former underwent historical dietary change, while the diet of the latter has changed within the past 500 years. Deep learning algorithms developed by Fumagalli (e.g., BMC Bioinformatics, 2019) will be deployed to identify signals of natural selection, and therefore pinpoint putative functional variants.
Once genetic variants are identified their function relative to each other will be studied in cellular models of human glucose metabolism developed in the Brodsky laboratory at UCL, external collaborator. Co-supervisor Rossiter is interested in molecular adaptations underpinning high sugar diets across mammals more widely. Variants from humans will also be compared to orthologues across species with naturally sugar-rich diets to test for parallelism. This project combines cutting edge machine learning and bioinformatic tools with techniques for studying cell function for functional validation.
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 any area relevant to the project such as evolutionary biology and genetics. A masters degree is desirable, but not essential. A good attitude to quantitative thinking and bioinformatic analysis is also desirable.
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 Matteo Fumagalli at m.fumagalli@qmul.ac.uk.
Applicants will need to complete an online application form 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.
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