PHD IN BOTTOM-UP ASSEMBLY OF MULTI-COMPARTMENT SYNTHETIC CELLS

Do you want to design and construct synthetic life-like cells? A major goal of synthetic biology is to create life-like artificial cells from non-living components, i.e. the bottom-up approach. This exciting project will focus on designing, constructing, and testing synthetic cells with multiple sub-compartments. Just like their living counterparts (i.e. eukaryotic cells), synthetic cells with different inner compartments allow multiple and advanced functionalities.
The building blocks will be lipid vesicles, both large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) and giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), as well as membrane embedded and encapsulated proteins. To do so, the student will develop methodologies for lipid vesicle formation, including bulk techniques such as water-in-oil emulsions, and microfluidic systems (e.g. micro-droplets). Bottom-up synthetic cells can shed light on natural biological cell functions but can also be used for future industrial applications like biofuel production or in biomedical applications such as drug delivery.

LOCATION AND SKILLS:

The project will be carried out at the Institute for Bioengineering (IBioE) at the University of Edinburgh. The student will attain skills in microfluidics, lipid chemistry, membrane protein reconstitution, optical microscopy, as well as data and image analysis. The student will also learn various experimental techniques including microfabrication, protein preparation, lipid handling, and confocal microscopy. These skills will be essential for a student perusing an industrial career in the biotechnology sector; in addition they will be important for an academic career in Chemical or (Bio)engineering.

Please refer the Job description for details