A strategy to kill cancer cells by inducing proteotoxic stress

The overall aims of the projects in this area will be to get a detailed understanding of how ubiquitylation regulates the stability and degradation of oncogenic proteins and how strategies can be designed to modulate them. Specifically, we are interested in exploring a newly identified pathway in the lab that disrupts protein degradation, thus inducing proteotoxic stress. In this project, you will determine how this pathway works and develop strategies to modulate this pathway in cancer cells. During this project, you will have opportunities to learn and apply a wide range of cell biological methods including CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering, proximity-labelling based identification of interacting proteins, proteomics, high-resolution microscopy, live cell imaging and access to mouse models.

At the MRC PPU, as well as the possibility of a PhD in one particular lab, we offer the possibility of two 4.5-month rotations in labs of their choice. A range of other projects from MRC PPU scientists are advertised on this website. Rotations provide valuable experience and help with deciding on the choice of PhD project and research group.