"PhD Studentship: Subcortical brain development and disorders, funded PhD at the University of Exeter"

University of Exeter - Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences

Decoding the precise programme regulating neurodevelopment has been crucial to our understanding of brain disorders. A central question is how the brain generates its remarkable diversity of cell types in the right place at the right time to establish complex connections and functions. The dorsal midbrain, a subcortical brain region, is known to orchestrate the integration of sensory information and coordinate motor responses. Despite its importance, our understanding of its development and how it may be disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders is still largely unknown.

This funded PhD project offers an exciting opportunity to map and decode the transcriptomic landscape of the developing human dorsal midbrain. The successful candidate will use state-of-the-art single-nuclei and spatial transcriptomics approaches combined with bioinformatics analyses. The project will focus on the emergence of diverse cell-type at critical points of brain development and identify molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders.

This studentship will allow the candidate to actively contribute to fundamental discoveries in the exciting field of neurodevelopment and related disorders, gain essential research skills, and explore important open questions in the field. We encourage candidates interested in developmental neuroscience and bioinformatics to apply.