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School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

Nanoscale Lung Maps in Health and Respiratory Disease

  • Supervisors: Dr Vito Mennella
  • Studentship Funding:
    • Name: SBBS Studentship
    • Funder: School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences (SBBS) at QMUL
  • Application Deadline: 23:59pm on 31st July 2025
  • Expected Start Date: 15th Sept 2025 (Sept 2025 Entry) or Jan 2026 (Jan Entry)

Download this document for further details, eligibility criteria and how to apply. [PDF 192KB]

Project Overview

Applications are open for a 3-year funded PhD Studentship in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences (SBBS) at Queen Mary University of London.

The human airway epithelium plays a fundamental role in our health by providing the first line of defence against infectious agents and pollutants inhaled through breathing. Not surprisingly, lung diseases affecting millions of patients worldwide such as asthma, COPD and several rare diseases of the lung are caused by either dysfunction of specific cell types of the airway epithelium or by its defective remodelling during inflammatory responses and repair.

In this project, the PhD student will focus on examining how the airway epithelium undergoes and can revert goblet cell metaplasia, a pathophysiological process of cell type remodelling responsible for asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases. In this process airway cells types transform into mucus producing cells leading to airway malfunction.

The PhD student will build a quantitative understanding of this respiratory disease state by applying nanoscale imaging techniques (Volume Electron microscopy and Super-resolution microscopy) and AI models. Moreover, the student will leverage existing single cell proteomics and transcriptomics data to identify target to rescue the disease phenotype by CRISPR Cas9 KOs using human airway in vitro models and patients’ samples.

Keywords: 

Cell Biology; Biophysics; Molecular Biology; CRISPR Cas9; Multimodal imaging; Super-resolution microscopy; Asthma; Airways

Research Environment

The Mennella lab is a dynamic and innovative research group based at the Blizard Institute at Whitechapel in East London. The lab employs cutting edge and cross-disciplinary approaches to analyse airway tissue organisation and function at the nanoscale. Find out more about Mennella’s research here.

The PhD will be exposed to excellent skill development opportunities both in the laboratory and through collaborations with international leaders in single-cell mass spectrometry and Volume Electron Microscopy, and with industry partners.

Find out more about the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences on our website. 

Entry Requirements & Criteria

We are looking for candidates to have or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree and a Master’s degree in an area relevant to the project such as Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and related disciplines. Candidates must also have experience conducting research in a laboratory environment.

Knowledge of human cell models, molecular biology (CRISPR), fluorescence imaging, segmentation, image analysis would be highly advantageous but are not required.

 Find out more about our entry requirements here.

Funding

The studentship is funded by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). It will cover home tuition fees, and provide an annual tax-free maintenance allowance for 3 years at the UKRI rate (£21,237 in 2024/25). 

Please find out more about funding and eligibility via: Mennella_QMUL SE Studentship Details [PDF 192KB]

Any further queries can be sent to sbbs-pgadmissions@qmul.ac.uk 

How to Apply 

Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by the stated deadline for consideration.

Applicants are required to submit the following documents:

  • Your CV
  • A Personal Statement, including:
    • Previous experience relevant to the project
    • Your motivations for pursuing this position
    • Your career aspirations
    • Any further information you think is relevant to the application
  • References
  • Copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates

Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.

Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Dr Vito Mennella AT v.mennella@qmul.ac.uk

Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-pgadmissions@qmul.ac.uk.

Further details can be downloaded here: Mennella_QMUL SE Studentship Details [PDF 192KB]

Apply Online

References

    Vijakumaran A, Godbehere C., Abuammar, A, Hurst L., Breugesem S., Dalbay M., Llodra J., Morone N., Niaj Tanvir, K.  MacLellan-Gibson, Chris O’Collaghan, Esben Lorentzen, HHMI Cell Map and FIB-SEM project team, Andrew J. Murray, Narayan, K and Mennella V. “Nanoscale Architecture of the Airway Epithelium Reveals Cytoplasmic Coupling of Ciliary Beating Forces” BioRxiv, 2024 

    Vijakumaran A, Abuammar, A, Megadahara, O, Narayan, K and Mennella V. “Airway Cells 3D reconstruction via manual and machine learning aided segmentation of
    volume EM datasets” Methods in Molecular Biology, 2023. Springer Nature, December 2023 

    Liu Z, Nguyen QPH, Guan Q, Albulescu A, Erdman L, Mahdaviy Y, Kang J, Hong O, Hegel R, Moraes T, Dell S, Mennella V. “Quantitative Super-resolution Toolbox for Diagnosis of Motile Ciliopathies”
    Science Translational Medicine. 2020 Mar 18; Vol 12 535 eaay0071
          
    Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T9mhfB0AAAAJ&hl=en 

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