PhD opportunities

Tympanic membrane (ear drum) perforation (TMP) is a highly prevalent clinical problem. TMPs can result from physical trauma, pressure changes and, most commonly, from otitis media (OM). Almost all children will suffer from OM before the age of three, with an estimated 31 million cases of chronic suppurative OM annually. Although the majority of acute TMPs spontaneously heal within 2 weeks, approximately 6% do not heal and become chronic requiring surgery. Such surgery is invasive, and availability can be problematic in some communities with high rates of chronic OM. Simpler and less invasive techniques are, therefore, needed in the clinic. The ability to heal suggests the existence of adult ear drum stem cells that are activated during injury and contribute to repair the wound. We have identified a population of stem cells in the murine tympanic membrane that can be tracked during repair using transgenic report mice. We aim to understand how these cells are impacted by factors that have been linked to the formation of chronic perforations, with the aim of being able to stimulate repair capacity enabling non-invasive repair of chronic injuries. For this we will investigate three factors that have been predicted to lead to chronic perforations: the position of the hole, the size of the hole, and the level of infection.

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Muscle function is essential for healthy ageing, yet we know deficits in muscle stem cell (muSC) function occur when we get older, resulting in weakness and frailty. Increasingly, ageing research is looking to find novel and effective interventions to enhance muSC function in vivo and so promote a better regenerative response to injury and impaired muscle function. The challenge is how to identify such factors in the complex environment of the muscle, in which many cell types are important for controlling muSC function. By understanding how different cells communicate in regenerating muscle and how these affect the ability of the muSC to migrate to damaged muscle and effectively replace damaged myofibres forms the basis for this project.

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There are three unique features common to all vertebrates: the vertebral column, the brain as part of the nervous system and a complex head where sense organs became concentrated.

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One of the key questions in biology is to uncover how cells with the same genomic information become different from each other. This is not only important to understand embryo development, but also to determine what goes wrong in disease, how we can use this information to promote tissues regeneration or to reprogram cells for stem cell-based therapies.

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The evolution of the incredibly complex jaw apparatus of snakes allows many species to consume prey much larger than themselves. This study explores the development, structure and function of two lower jaw specialisations unique to most snake species, namely the free mandibular symphysis and the intramandibular hinge joint.

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Hearing as one of the five human senses plays a crucial role in our quality of life and integration into society, impacting on speech and language skills. Congenital hearing loss has been estimated to occur at an incidence of 1 in 1000 births, and as such has a major impact on the life of many children.

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The overall aim of this PhD project is to understand how the recognition of substrates initiates conformational change in the T2SS. This will be tackled using structural biology techniques (primarily cryo-EM and NMR) coupled with biochemical and cellular assays. Gaining molecular insights here will allow us to understand new biological processes but may also present novel drug targets for developing new antibacterial compounds.

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This PhD will build on previous pioneering studies from our group, which have shown the clinical results of minimally-invasive non-surgical therapy (MINST) and how they are mediated by molecular changes in inflammatory and repair biomarkers.

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The overall aim of this PhD project is to understand how changes in lipid A structure, linked to T9SS regulation and OMV formation, affect P. gingivalis biofilm formation. Gaining molecular insights here will allow us to understand new biological processes but may also present novel drug targets for developing new antibacterial compounds.

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The majority of emerging infectious diseases in humans over the past few decades have resulted from the interspecies transmission of RNA viruses. The PhD will use computational tools and machine learning techniques to predict how these viruses infect cells in the human upper respiratory tract and avoid the host immune response.

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The project aims to explore the intricate relationship between the human microbiome and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Despite increasing evidence suggesting a link between the microbiome and AD, the detailed molecular interactions remain largely unexplored. This study seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by employing a multi-omics approach, integrating genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to comprehensively analyze these interactions.

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Vitamin D deficiency is a widespread problem in the UK. Vitamin D plays a protective role against a myriad of chronic diseases. Periodontal disease is the number one cause of tooth loss in the UK. Current treatments fail to reverse existing damage to bone and supporting tissues.

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The successful management of peri-implantitis is based on the evaluation of composite therapeutic end-points, similar to those of periodontal treatment, that correspond to disease resolution and include the presence of shallow pockets without any bleeding on probing or suppuration and the maintenance of radiographic bone levels.

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Learning in the digital age gives educational institutions opportunities to gather rich data which could be used for inferring the progress of learners in learning technologies and environments. However, while large amounts of data are available, little interpretation about them is being made.

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There is wide recognition that dentistry is changing and that the skills and knowledge needed by people training to be dentists is also changing. A growing body of researchers are now looking at workforce planning and shaping the workforce of the future with a focus on the mix of skills and professions needed within the dental team (see for example Wanyonyi et al. 2014). There are also plenty of papers looking at the different ways in which dental students can best be taught the skills needed (see for example: Fincher & Shuker 2001, McAndrew et al. 2015; Reissman et al. 2015) at who they should be taught with (Nadershahi et al. 2012) and at professionalism within dentistry (see for example Trathen & Gallagher 2009). But pedagogical concerns and workforce planning are only part of the picture. The focus on providing patient centred dental care, coupled with an increased emphasis on prevention and widening understanding of the unequal distribution of oral health problems and related risk behaviours, all pose challenges to traditional paternalistic and/or business oriented models of dental care and require a change in mindset alongside the changing skillset.

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One fully funded UK/International PhD studentship available in the broad area of statistical machine learning, with a desirable focus on multimodal large language models, uncertainty-aware AI, and/or 3D images. Exemplary applications include Vision Language models for fusion of medical images, videos, and tabular data for disease detection, prediction, and decision making.

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The aim of this research project is to explore structural ableism in dentistry, not just as a form of discrimination that disabled people face within the healthcare sector but as a form of discrimination that is embedded in the structures, organisations and institutions that make up the healthcare system itself.

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The aim of this study is to undertake qualitative interviews to develop an understanding of the impact of TMJ on the daily lives of people living with atypical facial pain.

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Oral health is increasingly recognized as a critical yet often overlooked component of general health, particularly in the context of multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs). A growing body of epidemiological and clinical evidence has established associations between oral diseases—especially periodontal disease—and systemic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, respiratory disorders, cognitive decline, and mental health issues. These relationships are often bidirectional and mediated by shared risk factors including chronic inflammation, lifestyle behaviours, socioeconomic determinants, and health service access barriers.

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One fully funded UK/International PhD studentship available in the broad area of statistical machine learning, with a desirable focus on multimodal large language models, uncertainty-aware AI, and/or 3D images.

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Most reptiles can continuously replace their teeth throughout their lives, but a diverse group of lizards, known as the acrodonts, have lost this ability. Acrodont lizards cannot replace their adult teeth, similar to mammals, meaning that their teeth must be adapted to resist tooth wear for long periods of time. How their dental enamel, the most wear-resistant parts of their teeth, is adapted to suit the disparate diets of this diverse group of extant lizards is not known. This thesis project will therefore involve extensive histological sampling of enamel from representative species across seven subfamilies of acrodont lizards.

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Endodontic-periodontal disease has been characterized by the involvement of the pulp and periodontal diseases in the same tooth. The anatomic connections between the dental pulp and the periodontium provide pathways for perio-endo communication which result in the clinical presentation of the disease. This study is designed to address the following questions: Is the outcome of combined Endodontic-periodontal disease managed by root canal treatment using Hydraulic calcium silicate sealer and guided tissue regeneration (GTR) with adjunctive use of PRF superior compared to the above treatment with GTR alone? Are there any diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers (inflammatory markers or microbes) associated with the Endodontic-periodontal disease?

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