Job Description

Location

Biosciences, Streatham Campus, Exeter

The University of Exeter\'s Department of Biosciences is inviting applications for a PhD studentship fully-funded by Mowi and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences to commence on 8 January 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. For eligible students the studentship will cover Home tuition fees plus an annual tax-free stipend of at least \xc2\xa318,622 for 3.5 years full-time, or pro rata for part-time study.

Project Description

Aquaculture is as a major contributor to sustainable food production for a growing global human population, but the dependency on antibiotics for efficient farming for most finfish and some crustaceans species to control disease presents a risk from increasing antibiotic resistance. As resistance erodes arsenals of effective antibiotics and with new antibiotic development stalled since the 1980s, bacteriophage (phage) therapy is regarded as a promising solution to the AMR crisis, both in human and animal health. Phages are abundant, naturally occurring viruses that infect and kill bacteria, regardless of resistance to antibiotics, and are thus a viable solution to reducing dependence on antibiotics in animal husbandry. However, their use as therapeutics in aquaculture and agriculture is hampered by (1) a lack of knowledge of pharmacokinetics (e.g. absorption, tissue penetration, metabolism and elimination); (2) the potential for propagation outside the target, posing a risk of environmental contamination; (3) the challenges of securing intellectual property on natural products. In this exciting project, the student will join a thriving research team and collaborate with our industrial partner Mowi, the world biggest producer of salmon, to develop phage therapeutics for prophylactic use in salmonid aquaculture that are biocontained, trackable and patentable.

Hosted within the Citizen Phage Library (https://citizenphage.com) team, the student will identify and characterise potential phage candidates that show effective killing of priority pathogens associated with salmonid aquaculture. The student will learn truly cutting-edge molecular techniques to develop a system for propagating fluorescently-tagged phage particles that either replicate normally, or are biocontained to only replicate inside a lab-strain host. The student will work within the Aquatic Resources Centre at the University of Exeter to evaluate these phages in a transgenic zebrafish model lacking skin pigmentation that allows imaging to evaluate uptake and body tissue distribution during prophylactic phage treatment. Prophylactic use of candidate biocontained phages supplemented into either feed or water supplies will be evaluated in a disease challenge within the research labs in direct partnership with Mowi .

The collaboration with the named project partner is subject to contract. Please note full details of the project partner\'s contribution and involvement with the project is still to be confirmed and may change during the course of contract negotiations. Full details will be confirmed at offer stage.

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the required level as per our guidance at

The closing date for applications is midnight on Thursday 30 November 2023

\xc2\xa318,622 per annum

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