How to find and design bioactive peptides at scale?

Our project aims to produce and screen in vivo all known natural sequences within one group of plant-derived cyclic peptides. We will establish their heterologous production and assess their effects on C. elegans development and behaviour. Follow-up experiments with identified active peptides will include biochemical assays, bioactivity testing in relevant pest or parasitic species, and investigation of their mechanisms of action. The generated dataset will be used to learn how to turn plant cyclic peptides into a programmable platform for AI-guided design.

The project combines computational library design, synthetic biology, biochemical characterisation and automated animal phenotyping. It is a close collaboration between the Synthetic Biology lab (headed by Dr. Karen Sarkisyan) and the Behavioural Phenomics lab (headed by Dr. Andre Brown) at the MRC LMS & Imperial College London, and Professor David Craik's group at the University of Queensland.

To apply for this project please follow the application instructions provided on the LMS website (https://lms.mrc.ac.uk/work-and-study/studentships/lms-4-year-phd-studentships/) and submit an application form by the deadline. 'Registering your interest' below will not be considered an application.

Funding Notes

This studentship covers all tuition fees as well as a tax free stipend amounting to £26,500pa paid directly to the student in monthly instalments.

The funding is available for both Home and Overseas students.