Deciphering ionic signalling and immunosuppression in bladder cancer

About the Project

The Challenge: When Altered Sodium Fuels Cancer Spread

The tumour microenvironment causes a profound internal change to cancer cells: an elevated level of ions, specifically sodium and calcium. This unique ionic "fingerprint" is a critical, yet overlooked, driver of solid malignancies and may promote immune evasion. Our project’s focus is on bladder cancer, where the interplay between ionic signalling, immune suppression and tumour progression is poorly understood. We believe a new key to effective therapeutic strategies lies in controlling the bioelectric state of cells within the tumour microenvironment.

The Project: Novel Therapeutic Opportunities

This is a cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary PhD project. You'll be at the forefront of combining advanced cell biology and transcriptomics with electrophysiology to understand and control bladder cancer.

Your Core Objectives:

1. Quantify the Dynamic Ionic State: Use state-of-the-art tools to precisely measure ionic status in normal cells, malignant bladder cancer cells, and tumour-associated macrophages.
2. Generate New Transcriptomes: Use a bioinformatics approach to profile immunosuppressive signalling of cancer cells in response to specific cytokine stimulations and ion channel modulations to inform targeted strategies for therapy.
3. Measure Immunosuppression: Track crucial metabolic, physiological and transcriptional changes to understand whether ionic alterations regulate the immunosuppressive phenotype of tumour-associated macrophages.
4. Repurpose for Impact: Combine existing ion transport blocking drugs with oncolytic virotherapy to enhance anti-tumour immune responses.

A Unique Experimental Toolkit

This project provides a rare opportunity to master a highly sought-after combination of experimental skills. Working with both cell lines and primary patient samples, you will:

• Isolate and characterise epithelial, carcinoma cells, and tumour-associated macrophages using flow cytometry.
• Perform direct electrophysiological recording (patch-clamping) to precisely measure sodium and calcium transport.
• Utilise advanced live-cell imaging with fluorescent probes to quantify real-time physiological changes.
• Evaluate target ion channel expression using cutting-edge transcriptomic analyses.

Integrate your experimental and bioinformatic findings with computational modelling.

You'll join a vibrant group of cancer researchers based in the Jack Birch Unit (JBU) at the University of York.

Your supervisory team will provide regular meetings and in-depth training via a Personal Development Plan. You benefit from the complementary expertise of all three supervisors. Your understanding of primary data will be advanced through local weekly group meetings and journal clubs. You'll be supported to attend UK and international conferences to present your results. You’ll also benefit from an active relationship with a local patient support group, giving your work a direct clinical context.

You will pioneer novel ionic profiling tools, ultimately identifying putative targets for next-generation therapies—or "ionic theranostics." Join us to harness the power of electricity and ions to suppress malignancy and truly improve the prognosis for patients with bladder cancer!

The University of York are committed to recruiting future scientists regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation or career pathway to date. We understand that commitment and excellence can be shown in many ways, and we have built our recruitment process to reflect this. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in science, who have curiosity, creativity and a drive to learn new skills.

The Department of Biology holds an Athena SWAN Gold Award. We are committed to supporting equality and diversity and strive to provide a positive working environment for all staff and students.

Entry Requirements: Students with, or expecting to gain, at least an upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, are invited to apply.

Programme: PhD in Biomedical Science (3.5 years)

Start Date: 21 September 2026

Funding Notes

This studentship is fully funded by York Against Cancer and covers: (i) a tax-free stipend of £21,805 for 2026/27 entry, with annual increments (ii) research costs, and (iii) tuition fees at the UK rate.

Studentships commence: 21st September 2026