PhD Studentship

(NERC Funded)

Background: Footrot is present in over 95% sheep flocks in GB. It causes an inflammation of the epidermis of the interdigital skin that makes sheep lame. Approximately 10% of sheep per flock are lame at any one time, with ~7 million cases of lameness/year in GB alone. Footrot reduces sheep productivity through premature culling of adults, reduced birth and growth rate of lambs, costing the sheep industry >£84 million/annum. The causal agent, Dichelobacter nodosus, is an obligate anaerobe that has strong associations with a second bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum. In most of the UK, footrot is endemic and presents as a series of mini-epidemics through most of the year. In regions with hot, dry periods of weather (e.g. Australia, India, Southern Europe) or cold, dry periods (north Scotland, northern Europe) footrot presents as major epidemics with disease-free periods when sheep feet are clinically healthy. In certain arid conditions footrot has been eliminated from flocks/regions (Green and George 2008) but in many areas elimination has proven to be very difficult if not impossible, despite periods of time where there are no diseased sheep. A question that has remained unanswered to date is: “Where does D. nodosus persist in these situations?”

Proposal hypothesis: F. necrophorum facilitates the persistence of D. nodosus by increasing the severity and duration of footrot and hence environmental shedding and contamination.

Experimental approach: We will train the student in anaerobic isolation and PCR, nested PCR, qPCR and multiple loci VNTR analysis (MLVA) on F. necrophorum and D. nodosus. In addition the student will be trained in epidemiological theory of infectious disease so that they can design and conduct robust on-farm data collection. They will learn to handle sheep, collect clinical and environmental samples and differentiate clinical signs of footrot. Finally the student will be trained in advanced statistical methods including generalisable linear mixed models and Bayesian prediction and use these to investigate how the presence / absence and load of F. necrophorum and its interaction with D. nodosus influence disease duration and severity. With these skills the student will be able to directly address the hypotheses set out above and will have developed the vital laboratory and analytical skills to be an effective researcher in the field of persistent endemic disease.

Awards available: 1 award available

Funding Details: Fees and Maintenance at the RCUK level

Length of Award: 3.5 years (PhD)

Eligibility: Due to funding restrictions this studentship is available to Home (UK & EU) students

In brief, candidates are required to satisfy two principal eligibility conditions (Residence and Qualification - further details can be found on the Life Sciences website (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/study/pg/research/phd/studentships/nerc_case_eblex)

Application Details: 

Apply directly through PG Admissions.

When completing the online application form please choose PhD in Biological Sciences and enter NERC CASE Eblex in the Finance section.

Further details can be found on the following webpage: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/study/pg/research/phd/studentships/nerc_case_eblex

Deadline: 31^st May 2013