Aims
The objective of this project is to study how specific cells respond to mitochondrial dysfunction within the context of a living organism. We plan to find out whether interactions between different cell types, may render cells and tissues more, or less, vulnerable to mitochondrial disease. The project will focus on the developing Drosophila brain and aims to investigate how neural stem cells interact with their surrounding glial cells in the stem cell niche. We take advantage of the powerful genetics of Drosophila and combine targeted genetic manipulations with confocal and super-resolution imaging, biosensors to perform in vivo metabolite measurements and innovative sequencing approaches to study how different cell-types within the post-embryonic brain of a living organism interact and respond to mitochondrial dysfunction. Possibility exists to translate findings from Drosophila into mouse or mammalian cell culture.
Funding Notes
For academic year October 27/28;
Gates US applications (round 1) close 14th October 26, further information available via Gates Website;
Cambridge Trust, Gates Cambridge (round 2) deadline 8th December 26 to be eligible for funding. If you apply after the funding deadlines you will not be eligible for the Cambridge Funding competition, please indicate in your application all the funding you are eligible for. You can also check funding search.
Funding is not available for Lent or Easter 27 places as the funding deadline for these has already passed, you will need to have other funding in place to support your studies.
References
Application portal link;
PhD: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/cvcnpdpcn/apply
Research MPhil: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/cvcnmpmds/apply
Please do try to get in contact directly with the supervisor should you want to discuss the project further.
If you do not hear back from the supervisor, you contact you can still include their name on the application as this will be sent to them to review as well as our committee.
Further reading
- Burr SP, Auckland K, Glynos A, Dhawanjewar A, Wei W, Ryall C, Hynes-Allen A, Prater M, Sczaniecka-Clift M, Prudent J, Chinnery PF*, van den Ameele J*. MitoPerturb-Seq identifies common and gene-specific single-cell responses to mitochondrial DNA depletion and heteroplasmy. bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 08. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.08.663208
- Viscomi C, van den Ameele J, Meyer KC, Chinnery PF. Opportunities for mitochondrial disease gene therapy. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2023 Jun;22(6):429-430.
- van den Ameele J, Hong YT, Manavaki R, Kouli A, Biggs H, McIntyre Z, Horvath R, Yu-Wai-Man P, Reid E, Williams-Gray CG, Bullmore ET, Aigbirhio FI, Fryer TD, Chinnery PF. [11C]PK11195-PET brain imaging of the mitochondrial translocator protein in mitochondrial disease. Neurology. 2021;96(22):e2761-e2773.
- van den Ameele J, Brand AH. Neural stem cell temporal patterning and brain tumour growth rely on oxidative phosphorylation. eLife. 2019;8:e47887.
Open Days
17 September 2026 – Multiple dates
University of Cambridge – Postgraduate College Visit Days
Cambridge, United Kingdom
View event
