Wessex One Health BBSRC scholarship: How do bacteria adapt to their environment?

This PhD scholarship is offered as part of a doctoral programme funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC). The programme trains postgraduate researchers in interdisciplinary approaches to Infection Biosciences across all classes of pathogens, to combat existing and future disease threats to human and animal health, including emerging infections, vector-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistance and food insecurity. The specific project focuses on how bacteria adapt to their environment through both adaptive evolution in existing genes and by acquiring new genes from other sources. The research will construct pangenomes from species with tens of thousands of sequenced strains and apply newly developed tests to investigate whether accessory genes are adaptive. The project offers training in Big Data, bioinformatics, computer programming, statistical analysis, population genomics and evolutionary biology. The studentship covers four years of UK or International PhD fees and a tax-free maintenance allowance (currently £20,780 in 2024-5) plus some research and travel costs.