Developing a National Clinical Standardised Novel Classification System for Retinoblastoma

The Wellcome Trust Programme is offering 1 UK-funded place to start in January 2025.

The successful candidate will join a cohort of seven other students on the DTP, who started in September 2024. Please note that due to funding restrictions, we cannot consider overseas applicants at this time.

Project

Retinoblastoma (Rb), the most common intraocular malignancy in young children, presents enduring challenges, including vision impairment, physical deformities, and psychosocial struggles for survivors. The exploration of genetic variations influencing Rb’s development and characteristics provides a unique insight into the underlying biological mechanisms, offering improved patient management and outcome prediction. By utilising cutting-edge technology and extensive datasets, we have a unique opportunity for ground-breaking discoveries.

Our project pioneers innovative genotype and phenotype approaches to classify Rb, opening the way for further clinical investigations. As part of this study, you will engage with a fascinating array of novel datasets and analytical techniques, enhancing your skills across diverse fields. In addition to clinical data collection and genetic association analyses, you will learn ophthalmic imaging analyses and interpretation, deepening your comprehension of the findings and their links to genes and biological pathways. Depending on your interests, you may also explore data analyses utilising machine learning approaches.

Throughout this journey, you will receive unwavering support from supervisors and collaborators across multiple institutes and hospitals, all of whom possess expertise in the methodologies and datasets that underpin this transformative project.

This project is part of the Wellcome Trust Doctoral Training Programme in Genomic Epidemiology and Public Health Genomics at the University of Leicester. Two other projects are being advertised as part of this Programme and the successful candidate will join 7 other students who started the DTP in September 2024. More details about the Programme can be found at http://www.le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/wellcome-trust-dtp.

Open to UK Applicants only for January 2025 start

Informal enquiries

For project enquiries please contact the project supervisor in the first instance.

Administration and general enquiries to genomicsphd@leicester.ac.uk.

To apply please refer to our website https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/funded-opportunities/wellcome-trust