University of East Anglia - School of Pharmacy
| Qualification type: | PhD |
| Location: | Norwich |
| Funding for: | Self-funded Students |
| Funding amount: | Not specified |
| Hours: | Full Time |
| Placed on: | 7th November 2015 |
| Closes: | 31st May 2016 |
Start Date: October 2016.
Supervisor: Dr Leanne Stokes, l.stokes@uea.ac.uk
The P2X7 receptor is a ligand gated ion channel activated by extracellular ATP. It is highly expressed on immune cell populations where it regulates many cell signalling pathways. P2X7 may be involved in inflammatory responses and developing pharmacological tools to modulate P2X7 channel activity is important. My group recently discovered a novel series of allosteric modulators of P2X7, chemicals present in the herbal medicine Panax ginseng. These ginsenosides potentiate responses through P2X7 and in doing so, enhance intracellular calcium signalling and promote downstream events such as cell death through apoptosis. This PhD project will expand on these observations and investigate the effects of modulating P2X7 on immune cells. The PhD student will be trained in core techniques such as cell culture, primary cell isolation from peripheral blood, fluorescent dye uptake assays using a plate reader, patch clamp electrophysiology (optional), flow cytometry, microscopy and ELISA techniques.
Person specification
At least a 2:1 honours degree in Pharmacology, Immunology, Biomedical science
Funding
This PhD project is offered on a self-funding basis. It is open to applicants with funding or those applying to funding sources. Details of tuition fees can be found at http://www.uea.ac.uk/pgresearch/pgrfees.
A bench fee is also payable on top of the tuition fee to cover specialist equipment or laboratory costs required for the research. The amount charged annually will vary considerably depending on the nature of the project and applicants should contact the primary supervisor for further information about the fee associated with the project.
Supervisor: Dr Leanne Stokes, l.stokes@uea.ac.uk
The P2X7 receptor is a ligand gated ion channel activated by extracellular ATP. It is highly expressed on immune cell populations where it regulates many cell signalling pathways. P2X7 may be involved in inflammatory responses and developing pharmacological tools to modulate P2X7 channel activity is important. My group recently discovered a novel series of allosteric modulators of P2X7, chemicals present in the herbal medicine Panax ginseng. These ginsenosides potentiate responses through P2X7 and in doing so, enhance intracellular calcium signalling and promote downstream events such as cell death through apoptosis. This PhD project will expand on these observations and investigate the effects of modulating P2X7 on immune cells. The PhD student will be trained in core techniques such as cell culture, primary cell isolation from peripheral blood, fluorescent dye uptake assays using a plate reader, patch clamp electrophysiology (optional), flow cytometry, microscopy and ELISA techniques.
Person specification
At least a 2:1 honours degree in Pharmacology, Immunology, Biomedical science
Funding
This PhD project is offered on a self-funding basis. It is open to applicants with funding or those applying to funding sources. Details of tuition fees can be found at http://www.uea.ac.uk/pgresearch/pgrfees.
A bench fee is also payable on top of the tuition fee to cover specialist equipment or laboratory costs required for the research. The amount charged annually will vary considerably depending on the nature of the project and applicants should contact the primary supervisor for further information about the fee associated with the project.
