PhD Studentship: Mechanistic Modelling of Biofilm-Induced Host-Cell Damage

Overview

The University of Birmingham, through the School of Mathematics, offers a full-time, fixed-term PhD studentship focused on mechanistic modelling of biofilm-induced host-cell damage. Biofilm-associated infections often lead to persistent tissue damage, yet the specific links between biofilm development and host-cell injury remain insufficiently quantified. Factors such as biofilm growth, nutrient availability, bacterial toxins, oxidative stress, and inflammatory signalling interact over time and space, contributing to DNA damage, repair failure, and cell death. While experimental methods measure many of these responses, they struggle to isolate dominant mechanisms or explain their spatial and temporal interactions.

To address this challenge, the doctoral project centers on creating a mechanistic mathematical framework that incorporates experimental observations to identify the processes driving host-cell damage and quantify associated uncertainties. The research involves four main aims. First, students will develop a mathematical model connecting biofilm growth and structure to nutrient transport, bacterial toxins, reactive oxygen species, inflammatory signalling, DNA damage, repair mechanisms, and host-cell viability. Second, the work requires designing efficient numerical methods to simulate the evolution of these interacting processes across space and time, accounting for shifting biofilm structures and local biochemical gradients. Third, researchers will use experimental data to estimate hidden biological parameters, evaluate uncertainty, and ascertain which mechanisms are supported by empirical observations. Finally, the calibrated model will be applied to forecast responses to specific therapeutic interventions, differentiate competing damage pathways, and guide future experimental measurements, with predictions undergoing testing via independent experiments. Ultimately, the project produces an experimentally validated framework designed to clarify how biofilms cause host-cell injury and to pinpoint which biological targets can minimize damage while preserving effective bacterial control.

Key dates

The closing date for applications is 2026-11-23.