Genetic epidemiology of chronic cough

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

Nearly everyone will have had an annoying cough from time to time, but some people experience persistent, unexplained cough which may last weeks, months or years. This can be exhausting, debilitating and may lead to dizziness, muscle pain and even vomiting. It is thought that abnormalities of the nerves supplying the airways are involved, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. There are currently no effective drug treatments for chronic cough, leaving few options for people with the condition. 

Studying genetic variation which increases the risk of chronic cough is one route to better understand the biological mechanisms involved and identify potential drug targets. 

In this project, you will explore datasets and approaches for studying the genetics of chronic cough, and use bioinformatic methods to discover genes and pathways which may shed light on the development of chronic cough. You will be supported by supervisors with expertise in both the methods and datasets which underpin this 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 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