Understanding and therapeutically exploiting chemo-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

About the Project

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer and while cure rates are good, the outlook for children with relapsed or poor responding ALL is suboptimal due to the presence of multidrug resistance (MDR). Understanding the mechanism of MDR may enable its therapeutic exploitation to improve treatment outcomes.

Recent data from the Irving laboratory has demonstrated a role for activated pCREB in drug resistant ALL, shown increased expression of the major CREB transcriptional target, CXCR4, in MDR ALL cells and that CXCR4 antagonists reduce ALL viability when on stromal support.^1,2 Recently, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells were shown to attain MDR by shielding within fibroblast cells, a mechanism that depended on the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis and could be reversed with CXCR4 antagonists.³ Such drugs are used clinically to mobilize hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow for collection for autologous transplantation but may be repurposed to have a role in leukaemia treatment.

Thus, this PhD will investigate if ‘cell in cell’ (CIC) is a feature of MDR ALL and if CXCR4 antagonists can be repurposed as resensitiser? The project will utilise both standard and cutting-edge methodologies including the most advanced ex vivo and in vivo models of ALL. For the latter, they will undertake a course to attain a home office licence to perform animal research. There will be significant tuition in transformative technologies including multi-fluorescent imaging microscopy and the use of AI tools, including machine learning, to aid in CIC identification. At later stage of the project, CrispR-Cas9 and /or proteomic technologies will be needed.

The student will be supervised by Professor Julie Irving with input from Professor Van Delft and Dr Helen Blair who have an international profile in ALL research. They will benefit from regular interaction with this supervisory team and will be embedded in the recently refurbished Wolfson Childrens Cancer Research Centre which is home to a number of research groups, focusing on various aspects of leukaemia including biology, molecular cytogenetics, epidemiology and haematological pathology.

Funding

Students who have, or are expecting to attain, at least an upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, are invited to apply. Funding is available for Home (UK) students to cover tuition fees, a tax-free stipend at the UKRI rate (indicative amount in year 1 in 2026-27, £21,805) and research costs, for four years. Applicants normally required to cover International fees will have to cover the difference between the Home and the International tuition fee rates. There is no additional funding available to cover NHS Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) costs, visa costs, flights etc.

Funding for this studentship is awarded on a competitive basis and is not guaranteed; availability will depend on the outcome of the selection process and subject to final approval by the University.

HOW TO APPLY

Please complete the following application form – Google Form

Applicants can only apply for 1 project; any additional applications will not be accepted.

Applicants should send the following documents to FMSstudentships@newcastle.ac.uk:

• a CV (including contact details of at least two academic (or other relevant) referees).
• a Cover letter – stating your project choice, as well as including additional information you feel is pertinent to your application.
• copies of your relevant undergraduate degree transcripts and certificates.
• a copy of your IELTS or TOEFL English language certificate (where required)
• a copy of your passport (photo page).

A GUIDE TO THE FORMAT REQUIRED FOR THE APPLICATION DOCUMENTS IS AVAILABLE

Please submit your documents in the following format only:

• each document should be submitted as a separate attachment and should be named as follows: candidate surname, candidate name – document type. For example: Jones, Jamie – CV; Jones, Jamie – cover letter.
• Please submit .pdf documents where possible for your CV, cover letter, transcripts and certificates. Do not submit photos of certificates.
• Do not combine documents into one pdf. You may zip separate documents into a zip file to send via email if required.
• When emailing your application, please use the email subject header: FMS PhD Application 2026

Applications not meeting these criteria may be rejected.

Informal enquiries may be made to the lead supervisor of the project you are interested in.

The deadline for all applications is 12 noon BST (UK time) on Wednesday 20^th May 2026.