PhD Studentship: One Health (meta)genomics of E. coli-associated Urinary Tract Infections in Pregnancy

Overview

This PhD studentship focuses on the One Health and metagenomics of Escherichia coli-associated urinary tract infections in pregnancy. Urinary tract infections affect up to 35 percent of pregnant women and link to maternal sepsis, pre-term birth, and higher health-care costs. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli accounts for 82 to 85 percent of these infections. The student will test the hypothesis that the elevated risk of urinary tract infections during pregnancy relates to differences in the types of E. coli causing the infections, such as variations in phylogenetic groups, virulence genes, and antimicrobial resistance determinants.

What you get

The recipient receives a 4-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD studentship. The award covers tuition fees paid directly to the university, a living expenses stipend at the 2026 and 2027 rate of £21,805 per annum, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per annum for each year of the studentship.

Requirements

The student will collaborate with clinicians at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to collect urine and faecal samples from pregnant women. Research methods include long-read genome and metagenome sequencing to characterise urine microbial compositions, 18S quantitative PCR to examine human DNA load, and cytokine quantification to evaluate disease severity. Whole genome sequence data will be used to compare genotypes of E. coli causing urinary tract infections with those in the patients own guts, publicly available genomes from non-pregnant individuals, and E. coli genomes from food and environmental sources.