PhD Studentship - Skeletal Editing of Therapeutic Nucleosides

How to apply: uom.link/pgr-apply-2425

UK only

This 3.5-year PhD project is fully funded and home students are eligible to apply. The successful candidate will receive an annual tax-free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£20,780 for 2025/26) and tuition fees will be paid. We expect the stipend to increase each year. The start date is October 2026.

We recommend that you apply early as the advert may be removed before the deadline.

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD studentship in skeletal editing of therapeutic nucleosides. The project is a collaboration between the Greaney and Lovelock laboratories based at the Dept of Chemistry, University of Manchester. The studentship is available from Sept 2026 and tenable for 3.5 years.

The project will develop new approaches to novel nucleosides via nucleobase skeletal-editing and biocatalytic assembly. For recent examples of work from both laboratories in this area see:

1. Conboy, A.; Greaney, M. F. Synthesis of benzenes from pyridines via N to C switch. Chem, 2024, 10, 1940-1949. DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2024.05.004
2. Meng, Q. et al. Enzymatic synthesis of key RNA therapeutic building blocks using simple phosphate donors. Nat. Commun. 2025 in press. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67366-4
3. Moody, E. R.; Obexer, R.; Nickl, F.; Spiess, R.; Lovelock, S. L. An enzyme cascade enables production of therapeutic oligonucleotides in a single operation. Science 2023, 380, 1150-1154 doi.org/10.1126/science.add5892
4. Wang, H.; Greaney, M. F. Regiodivergent Arylation of Pyridines via Zincke Intermediates. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202315418. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202315418

The successful applicant will hold, or be about to obtain, a first class degree in chemistry, and be inspired by recent advances in the field to develop creative approaches to molecule-making. They will have completed a research project in organic chemistry, and have experience of reaction optimization and analysis to discover new chemical reactivity.

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 1^st class honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.

To apply, please contact Prof Michael Greaney (michael.greaney@manchester.ac.uk) and Dr Sarah Lovelock (sarah.lovelock@manchester.ac.uk). Please include details of your current level of study, academic background and any relevant experience and include a paragraph about your motivation to study this PhD project.

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