Mechanisms of organismal resilience to chemical stress: a Drosophila model of ageing, regeneration and recovery.
Supervisors:
Dr Julia B Cordero, University of Glasgow
Dr Karen Keeshan, University of Glasgow
Prof Gail McConnell, University of Strathclyde
Project Summary:
How do organisms respond to and recover from stress? This PhD project will use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate how replication stress affects lifespan, tissue homeostasis and organismal resilience.
The student will develop a novel model using cytarabine (Ara-C), a compound that disrupts DNA synthesis in proliferating cells. Unlike traditional injury models that cause acute tissue damage, cytarabine provides an opportunity to study how impaired tissue renewal influences ageing, regeneration and recovery. The project will investigate how replication stress affects lifespan, behaviour, neuronal function, vascular-like tracheal networks and stem cell-driven regeneration.
Using a combination of genetics, whole-organism phenotyping, imaging and transcriptomics, the student will identify molecular pathways that regulate adaptation and recovery following stress. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding communication between intestinal, neuronal and vascular-like tissues during regeneration.
The successful candidate will receive interdisciplinary training in Drosophila genetics, ageing biology, stem cell biology, microscopy, image analysis, RNA sequencing and bioinformatics. By linking organismal physiology with molecular mechanisms, the project will provide a broad skillset highly relevant to careers in academia, biotechnology, pharmaceutical research and data science, while addressing a fundamental question in modern bioscience: how organisms maintain health in the face of stress.