PhD study in the Division of Pathway Medicine
PhD Enquiries
We are pleased to receive enquiries from well-qualified, funded students interested in pursuing PhD research with us.
The DPM conducts a wide range of research projects in a number of areas. Before considering an application, please contact an academic staff member with expertise relevant to your intended area of research. Contact details for all DPM staff can be accessed via the link below.
Some Current PhD Projects
Host Protection Pathways
This project, jointly led by Professor Peter Ghazal and Dr Simon Talbot, will focus on dissecting the physiological role for the sterol pathway as part of a host protection pathway acting against infection. An aim of the project is to highlight the potential for pharmacological targeting of host metabolic regulatory networks as an anti-viral strategy.
Pathogen-Host Interaction under Therapy
Microbial antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to healthcare. This project will research the impact on antibiotic therapy on the molecular host-pathogen interaction and the survival of bacterial pathogens in the host. Increased understanding of this scenario will help designing more specific therapies in the context of a personalised medicine approach in infectious diseases. The project will be jointly led by Dr Till Bachmann and Professor Peter Ghazal.
New Mechanisms of Host Defence against Herpesvirus Infections
This project, co-supervised by Professors Jürgen Haas and Peter Ghazal, will investigate the function of anti-viral, cellular proteins that have recently been identified in genome-scale RNA interference screens, with Herpes Simplex virus (HSV) and Varicella Zoster virus (VZV). All herpesviruses, including HSV and VZV, cause latent infections (in neuronal cells) and can reactivate and cause active disease if insufficiently controlled by the host immune system. These studies will explore how these antiviral subunits act on viral replication, and their potential as candidates for drug development.
This article was published on Jan 16, 2013