PhD Studentship: Cross-species modelling of rare coding variants associated with schizophrenia

The GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Programme is offering up to 18 MRC funded studentships across a range of biomedical disciplines, with a start date of October 2027.

These four-year studentships provide funding for fees and stipend at the rate set by the UKRI, as well as other research training and support costs, and are available to UK and International students.

This project is in competition for place with the projects across the MRC GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Award studentships. There are a total of 18 studentships available across the partnership.

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with debilitating effects on a patient's quality of life. Because current medications do not work well, we need to study its molecular cause to develop new therapeutics. Recent research identified a number of genetic mutations in Schizophrenia patients called “rare coding variants.” These mutations change the proteins they produce, but for many of them, we do not yet know the functional consequences. In this project we will study the functions of the rare coding variants using zebrafish and compare the results with mouse models of equivalent mutations and human post-mortem brain tissue.

These studentships are funded through GW4 BioMed3 MRC Doctoral Landscape Programme and consist of UK tuition fees, as well as a Doctoral Stipend matching UK Research Council National Minimum (£21, 805 p.a. for 2026/27, updated each year).

Additional research training and support funding of up to £5,000 per annum is also available.

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