PhD Studentship: Developing Chemical Tools to Engineer the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Cell Envelope

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. Please note that candidates will need to cover relocation and visa (including immigration health surcharge) costs.

This PhD project will investigate how the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be chemically engineered and how these changes influence pathogen biology by combining chemistry, biochemistry, structural biology and microbiology techniques.

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains the leading cause of death worldwide from a single bacterial pathogen. The latest World Health Organisation report estimates that in 2024 ~1.3 million people died from TB and more than 10 million individuals were diagnosed with the disease. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies to control this major global health challenge.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a remarkably successful and unusual pathogen. One of the defining features of this pathogen is its distinctive cell envelope, which contains a diverse range of unusual carbohydrates and lipids typically not found in other organisms. The mycobacterial cell envelope plays a central role in pathogenesis and virulence and forms a highly effective permeability barrier that restricts the entry of many antibiotics, significantly complicating TB treatment.

This project aims to determine how chemical tools can be used to modify the mycobacterial cell envelope and builds on our previous work (PMID: 39144457, 35917119, 32350493, 31659363, 31360399). We hypothesise that modifying the sugars in the cell envelope will influence how the pathogen interacts with the host, affect the recycling of cell envelope sugars and alter cell envelope permeability. By understanding how the cell envelope can be modified and how these changes affect pathogen biology, we have an opportunity to exploit this knowledge to develop new strategies to combat this deadly pathogen.

This project will combine chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology and microbiology approaches to develop tools that modify the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell envelope and investigate how these changes influence different aspects of pathogen biology. This work will provide new insights into how the mycobacterial cell envelope can be engineered, potentially revealing new opportunities for the development of next-generation TB therapeutics and diagnostics.

This exciting interdisciplinary PhD project will be based at the University of Manchester, within the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the Department of Chemistry. The student will be supported by an interdisciplinary supervisory team led by Professor Elizabeth Fullam and Professor Matthew Gibson. The successful candidate will receive multidisciplinary training across chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and structural biology, while working within a collaborative research environment with access to world-class facilities and expertise. This provides a unique opportunity to address a global health challenge while developing new approaches to manipulate the biology of an important human pathogen.

Applicants should have, or be about to obtain, at least a 2:1 UK honours degree and ideally hold a master’s level qualification at merit or distinction level, or international equivalent, in chemistry or a relevant discipline. Applicants with a strong interest in pathogen biochemistry are encouraged to apply. Previous research experience in chemistry would be advantageous but is not essential.

To apply, please apply click on the apply button above.

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