PhD Studentship: Antibiotic Discovery in Streptomyces Bacteria

Overview

Antimicrobial resistance in disease-causing bacteria is a major threat to global health, creating an urgent need for new molecules in the antibiotic discovery pipeline. Although most clinical antibiotics come from specialised metabolites in Streptomyces bacteria, genome analysis shows that only three percent of these metabolites have been discovered, while the rest remain silent under laboratory growth conditions. This four-year PhD studentship focuses on activating these silent pathways by studying how they are controlled. The project involves identifying gene targets of a newly discovered key regulator in the model organism Streptomyces venezuelae, examining the effects of its overexpression on specialised metabolism in environmental Streptomyces strains, and using comparative metabolomics to discover new antibiotics.

Who can apply

This opportunity is awarded with a Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD DTP studentship.

What you get

The studentship covers the payment of tuition fees directly to the University and provides a living expenses stipend at the 2026/27 rate of £21,805 per annum. Additionally, recipients receive a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per annum for each year of the studentship.

Key dates

The closing date for applications is 2026-11-30.