Opportunities
Postdoctoral Opportunities
We welcome informal enquiries from potential postdoctoral candidates with outstanding research track records who are prepared to apply for independent research funding, for example from the European Union, HFSP, Wellcome Trust, etc. Full assistance will be provided in preparing a competitive research proposal.
PhD Studentships
3.5-year PhD Studentship: Using Covalent Inhibitors to Overcome Drug Resistance in Cutaneous Melanoma
Metastatic cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive type of skin cancer with limited treatment options and a poor prognosis. Melanoma incidence rates are rising fast and roughly 2,300 people die from the disease each year in the UK. Drugs that inhibit the MAPKinase pathway have transformed melanoma treatment and are now the standard of care for Stage III-IV patients. For example, the BRAF inhibitor Vemurafenib has strong initial clinical responses and rapidly reduces tumour size but the clinical benefit is temporary as drug resistance is acquired in most cases. Drug resistance is thus the major barrier to successful melanoma treatment. The aim of this PhD project is to identify a covalent small molecule inhibitor that is selectively cyotoxic for Vemurafenib-resistant melanoma cells. This will be achieved using a combination of organic synthetic chemistry, chemical proteomics, cancer cell biology and structural biology.
Start Date: September 2025
Click here for further details and to apply. Deadline - 12th December 2024
4-year GW4 MRC DTP PhD: Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance with Targeted Covalent Macrocycles
Infections with drug-resistant bacteria are major threats to human health. Discovering novel druggable targets for antimicrobial development is a pivotal task to guarantee effective future treatments. This interdisciplinary project will target WalK, a protein kinase essential for the viability of S. aureus cells. Large libraries of covalent macrocycles will be screened against WalK to identify an inhibitor. Hit-to-lead optimization will be achieved using a suite of chemical, structural and molecular methods. Finally, lead molecules will be applied in vivo using an invertebrate infection model. Ultimately, this work will provide novel antimicrobial compounds ready for pre-clinical assessment in mice.
This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the GW4 BioMed2 MRC Doctoral Training Partnership which is offering up to 21 studentships for entry in September 2025.
Click here for further details and to apply. Deadline - 4th November 2024
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Any students interested in pursuing postgraduate research in our group should contact Dr Lovell directly; all prospective applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a minimum 2:1 honours degree (or equivalent) in chemistry, biochemistry, or a very closely related discipline; non-UK students must be able to obtain independent funding for their studies, e.g. via a government bursary.