Development of Advanced Spectroscopic Methods for Probing Membrane Damage

About the Project

Lead supervisor:Dr Steven Quinn

The student will be registered with the Department of Physics, Engineering and Technology

The solubilization of biological membranes by detergents is critical for many technological applications including the isolation and purification of membrane proteins, rapid cell lysis and the inactivation of viruses. This experimental project will involve implementing fluorescence-based techniques, in particular fluorescence de-quenching for probing the structure of model-membrane vesicles in response to detergents. You will design and construct controllable and tuneable model-membranes, which are excellent models of biological membranes and characterize their structure and dynamics in response to detergents using the developed strategy. The key innovation is that you will unambiguously dissect the mechanism through which detergents lead to membrane solubilization, opening a platform from which to explore the interaction with the model membranes with many other disruptive agents, including proteins implicated in neurodegeneration. This project will provide an opportunity to align specialized imaging systems and perform advanced fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. Quantitative analysis of the data will be performed using bespoke software, allowing investigation of the nanoscale disruption of the model-membrane systems. The successful candidate will utilize a number of advanced biophysical approaches, including dynamic light scattering, ensemble fluorescence spectroscopy, and time-correlated single photon counting. The project will also involve biochemical purification techniques and single vesicle imaging approaches. The specific objectives of the project include:

1. Purification and biophysical characterization of model-membrane vesicles.
2. Implementation of a fluorescence de-quenching assay for the quantification of freely-diffusing vesicles in response to detergents.
3. Investigation of the de-quenching magnitude as a function of detergent and dye.
4. Implementation of bespoke software for the quantitative analysis of vesicles in response to detergents and neurotoxic proteins.

The University of York is 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.

Entry Requirements: Students with, or expecting to gain, at least an upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, are invited to apply. The interdisciplinary nature of this programme means that we welcome applications from students with any biological, chemical, and/or physical science backgrounds.

Programme: PhD in Biomedical Science (3 year)

Start Date: 21 September 2026