Understanding the mechanisms that promote healthy ageing is a priority considering the ageing population, globally. Lifespan is variable and can be altered by specific gene mutations, pharmacological treatments or dietary factors. This presents us with the possibility of developing interventions that will target ageing and ameliorate, or prevent, age-related diseases. Nevertheless, the phenomena of ageing and the implicated genes and proteins are far from understood. We and others have been trying to elucidate the molecular puzzle of ageing and define the roles and contributions of proteins in lifespan regulation and metabolism. We focus our efforts on nutrient-responsive signalling pathways (such as the Target of Rapamycin, mTOR) and utilise diverse cellular systems such as fission yeast, human neurons and fibroblasts.
The successful candidate will work on identified candidate genes that affect cellular lifespan and metabolism in relation to nutrient and stress availability. They will use biochemical, cell, molecular biology and genetics approaches coupled with systems biology. They will perform genome-wide cell-based screens and genetic interactomes for the candidates of interest and assess gene expression using RNA-seq. In addition, they will examine the cellular effects following gene deletions in both young and aged cells. The project will provide a comprehensive understanding of how the candidate proteins contribute to cellular architecture, metabolism and lifespan. Appropriate training for methods used will be provided.
We (www.rallislab.org) are a diverse and inclusive group of scientists. We study gene and protein networks implicated in cellular fitness and metabolism, neurodegeneration, cancer and ageing with a focus on the nutrient-responsive signalling pathway Target of Rapamycin (TOR). Our aim is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and principles behind senescence and lifespan and apply this knowledge for the amelioration of age-related diseases. We use the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and mammalian 2D and 3D tissue culture systems and utilise multi-omics approaches and network biology.
Find out more about the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences on our website.
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 Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Biomedical Science
Knowledge of microbiology techniques, tissue culture, protein and nucleic isolation and analysis, microscopy, RNA-seq analysis, large data analysis would be highly advantageous but are not required. The project requires combination of wet lab and computational approaches.
You must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and upload evidence before CSC’s application deadline, ideally by 1st March 2025. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible, where your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme.
Please find further details on our English Language requirements page.
Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 29th January 2025 for consideration. Please identify yourself as a ‘CSC Scholar’ in the funding section of the application.
Applicants are required to submit the following documents:
Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.
Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Dr Charalampos Rallis AT c.rallis@qmul.ac.uk Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-pgadmissions@qmul.ac.uk
Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your QMUL application, then you will be issued an QMUL Offer Letter, conditional on securing a CSC scholarship along with academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements.
Once applicants have obtained their QMUL Offer Letter, they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship with the support of the supervisor.
For further information, please go to the QMUL China Scholarship Council webpage.
Apply Online