Influenza A: From genotype to antigenic phenotype
MRC Funded Studentship
Individual pathogen species are genetically diverse. This variation often results in immune systems 'seeing' the pathogen differently depending on the exact genotype of the infective strain. The ability to quantitatively determine the extent to which two strains of a pathogen induce different immune responses is essential because vaccines that are used to control viral infections such as influenza must be selected – for influenza annually – to match those strains most likely to cause infection.
The studentship will build on mathematical approaches developed at the University of Glasgow to identify antigenic regions of the foot-and-mouth disease virus[1]. The aim will be to further develop these methods to investigate genetic predictors of antigenic difference in Influenza A viruses. The project will be a close collaboration between mathematically and ecologically trained researchers in Glasgow and virologists in the WHO Influenza Centre in the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London.
The student will be based predominantly in Glasgow, where they will be joining an inter-disciplinary group with interests in quantifying, modelling, and describing ecological and epidemiological processes. They should be quantitative, but could come from a mathematical, statistical or computational background with a strong interest in developing applied and even lab skills, or a quantitative biology background with a desire to develop their modelling skills.
PhD supervisors at the University of Glasgow are:
and at the National Institute for Medical Research:
[1] Reeve et al. (2010) Sequence-based prediction for vaccine strain selection and identification of antigenic variability in foot-and-mouth disease virus. PLoS Computational Biology doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001027
General Information
The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences has several three year MRC funded PhD studentships available. These will be highly competitive and students will be appointed following interview; applicants are encouraged to directly contact the proposed supervisors prior to application to find out more about the proposed project. Successful applicants will receive the recommended Research Council stipend of £13,590 in the first year.