Subject areas:
Genetics, epigenetics, transcriptomics, functional genomics, skin, dermatology, nutrition
Funding type:
Stipend.
Travel.
Tuition fee.
Bench Fees / Research Training & Support Grant.
This 4-year PhD studentship is in collaboration with Unilever and includes a 3-month research placement at Unilever’s King’s College London research laboratory and Unilever’s Liverpool laboratories.
Award details
Seeking highly motivated early-career researchers with a strong statistical/mathematical/bio-informatics/genomics/nutrition background for a PhD studentship on the links between nutrition and skin molecular genomics, at the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London. This 4-year BBSRC iCASE PhD studentship is in collaboration with Unilever and will include a 3-month research placement at Unilever’s King’s College London research laboratory and Unilever’s Liverpool laboratories.
The project will explore links between nutrition and skin ageing at the molecular level in the largest skin tissue biopsy dataset from the TwinsUK cohort. The results will help understand the molecular pathways through which diet affects skin health, and determine how diet affects molecular factors that influence visual ageing changes. Nutrition is linked to multiple aspects of skin ageing, and this work will help identify aspects of diet that are most influential to skin ageing.
The project will take advantage of the TwinsUK cohort, which has extensive nutritional data and is the largest multi-omics skin dataset in the world, including genetics, epigenetics and transcriptomics on over 400 older female twins, alongside systemic and skin ageing phenotypes. The project will predominantly focus on computational large-scale data analysis, with some laboratory components.
Skin ageing becomes notable during mid-life and into older age. Lifestyle plays an important role in the presentation of skin ageing, although how specific factors influence different skin ageing features is less well known. Nutrition is linked to multiple aspects of skin ageing. For example, protein intake and overall diet quality associate with skin health and ageing1. Characterisation of these links can advance knowledge into skin ageing in several aspects. First, they can identify genes and molecular pathways that elucidate mechanisms through which diet affects skin health. Second, analyses can be undertaken in context of skin ageing phenotypes (e.g. wrinkles) to determine how components of diet affect molecular factors that influence these visual ageing changes. The results enable focus, from a preventative or rejuvenation perspective, on which aspects of diet are most influential to skin ageing.
The proposal will take advantage of the TwinsUK cohort, which has extensive nutritional data and is the largest multi-omics skin dataset in the world. The TwinsUK whole-skin biopsy dataset has genetics, epigenetics and transcriptomics on over 400 older female twins. The cohort contains detailed longitudinal nutrition and lifestyle data, extensive systemic and skin ageing phenotypes, such as deep wrinkling, telangiectasia, and self-assessed tanning ability.
Work leading up to the proposal. Recent results from our group identified a strong genetic basis of skin epigenetic and transcriptomic profiles (Shore et al. 2024. Am J Hum Genet2), as well as identifying skin DNA methylation and transcriptomic signals in 400 TwinsUK biopsies that associated with age and skin ageing traits (Roos et al. 2017. J Investig Dermatol3; Shore et al. in preparation). Although some signals show evidence for genetic basis2, the majority of signals are not heritable and are under environmental influences. Furthermore, recent results from our EU-JPI-HDHL DIMENSION consortium (PI: Bell) identified diet-epigenetic associations in a sub-set of twin skin biopsies. Preliminary but significant links between dietary protein intakes and methylation levels were observed, warranting further analysis.
Objectives. The primary objective is to use the rich TwinsUK data to test the hypothesis that aspects of diet are reflected in molecular signatures of human skin, and to explore how these signals change with age and skin-ageing traits. Specifically:
- Identify aspects of diet associated with skin ageing through a literature review (Year 1)
- Investigate in TwinsUK data significant associations between dietary intakes with existing epigenetic and transcriptomic factors (Year 1-3)
- Determine if associations in 2) link to skin ageing phenotypes to identify potential consequences of dietary intakes (Year 3)
- Investigate underlying biological mechanisms underpinning rate of skin ageing using laboratory and in silico based approaches (Year 3-4)
The project is in collaboration with Unilever and will include a 3-month industrial placement at Unilever’s King’s College London research laboratory and Unilever’s Liverpool laboratories, where the student will be supported by experts in skin biology and bioinformatics.
The successful candidates should ideally have a BSc, MSc, or equivalent in the areas of bioinformatics, statistics or mathematical sciences; or in life-sciences or nutrition research with significant experience in quantitative analyses. Background in quantitative analysis and experience with computational analysis of large-scale datasets is essential. Knowledge of nutrition, genetics, epigenetics, or transcriptomics would be beneficial. The position will be based at the Department of Twin Research, at St Thomas’ Campus, King’s College London.
Award value
The award is for 48 months (full time), and includes a stipend / maintenance allowance starting from £27,180 per annum (academic year 2025/26) – funded by BBSRC and Unilever CTP. Please note the stipend is tax free and includes £2,000 per annum London Weighting Allowance (LWA).
Tuition fees are covered at UKRI rates. Fees for international students will be considered subject to funder’s approval.
Eligibility criteria
Bachelor's degree with 2:1 honours in an appropriate subject, or equivalent. A 2:2 degree may be considered only where applicants also offer a Master's degree with Merit or above.
English Language Requirements:
Band D
Application process
To apply: please visit the King’s Apply website (https://apply.kcl.ac.uk/ ) and follow the steps outlined below:
- Register a new account and login.
- Open a new application.
- Select the programme: “Life Course Science Research MPhil/PhD” (Full-time)’.
- Complete and submit your application noting the following:
- Include name of First Supervisor
- Include a supporting personal statement
- 2 References
- CV
Funding –select drop-down ‘5. I am applying for a funding award or scholarship administered by King’s College London’; include funding scheme code – SLCPS-2526_01