PhD Studentship: Sequencing babies: understanding penetrance of childhood epilepsy to inform newborn screening

Overview

This PhD project at the University of Exeter, hosted in Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, aims to generate evidence on newborn genome screening. Many countries are planning to sequence the complete DNA of babies at birth to screen for hundreds of genetic conditions, and decisions are needed on which genes and variants should be included.

The student will use large datasets from clinical and population cohorts to analyse how common, and how penetrant, variants linked to monogenic epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders are. The aim is to broaden understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships in these conditions, clarify the risks associated with genetic variants and help guide which conditions belong in newborn genome screening.

What you get

The project is one of up to 18 MRC-funded studentships offered through the GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Programme, with a start date of October 2027. The studentships last four years. Funding covers UK tuition fees and a doctoral stipend matching the UK Research Council national minimum, which is 21,805 pounds per year for 2026/27 and is updated annually. Up to 5,000 pounds per year is also available for research training and support costs.

Who can apply

The studentships are open to UK and international students. This project competes for a place with projects across the whole MRC GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Award, in which 18 studentships are available across the partnership.

Key dates

The closing date is 21 October 2026, and the studentship begins in October 2027.