PhD Studentship: Understanding and enhancing the physiological resilience of older adults to improve health-span: a focus on skeletal muscle.

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Medication
Location: UK Different
Closing Date: Saturday 20 April 2024
Reference: MED2003

Principal supervisors: 

PhD 1 – Prof Philip Atherton (College of Medication) – [email protected]  

PhD 2 – Prof Paul Greenhaff (College of Life Sciences) – [email protected]  

PhD 3 – Prof Bethan Phillips (College of Medication) – [email protected]  

Funded by the Dunhill Medical Belief (https://dunhillmedical.org.uk/ ) as one in every of their A number of PhD Studentship Awards, now we have three fully-funded (stipend at UKRI charges, PhD charges (for UK nationals solely) and analysis prices) three-year full-time PhD’s accessible, every to start out on the first October 2024. 

Every of those tasks is predicated across the widespread theme of enhancing the physiological resilience of older adults, with a particular deal with skeletal muscle.

Programme description: Lack of resilience describes enhanced vulnerability to, and impaired restoration from stress occasions when in comparison with a strong [youthful/healthy] state; and is usually encountered with advancing age. With ageing populations all over the world, and the related rise in years spent in ill-health, there may be an pressing want to know the mechanisms underpinning this lack of physiological resilience, and potential methods to mitigate these declines. Though a current nationwide GIRFT (Getting It Proper First Time) report means that enhancing frailty administration may save the NHS >£600-million/12 months, furthering understanding of the organic mechanisms driving lowered resilience to tell on precision mitigation methods (i.e., for the proper individuals on the proper time) may in actual fact have a a lot greater impression. This impression would favour not solely on healthcare methods but in addition older people, their assist networks and society as an entire. Proof means that skeletal muscle deterioration, together with metabolic and useful decline, is a core driver of lowered resilience in older adults each with and with out illness. Certainly, skeletal muscle weak point is on the fore of each frailty (the scientific time period encompassing lack of resilience) and sarcopenia (age-associated losses of muscle mass and performance) definitions. A devastating consequence of lowered resilience is that the time individuals spend in good well being (their health-span) is now a lot shorter than total lifespan; a problem that we intention to assist handle by means of this assortment of PhD’s.

PhD descriptions:

PhD 1 – Drug repurposing is an rising avenue of analysis within the discipline of Geroscience; a discipline whose acknowledged intention is to “speed up reseach into the essential mechanisms driving ageing which may result in improved scientific interventions”. Primarily based on the College of Nottingham Medical College at Derby (UNMSD; Royal Derby Hospital Centre), this PhD is focussed on exploring the impression of an already-licensed mechanistic goal of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor (which has been proven to attenuate sarcopenia in animal fashions of ageing) on muscle progress and performance in each community-dwelling older adults and orthogeriatric sufferers. Outcomes from this PhD will inform on the potential of mTOR inhibition to boost the resilience of older adults, not solely in relation to skeletal muscle but in addition different organ methods for which beneficial pre-clinical knowledge is rising (i.e., the immune system). As is the case for all of those PhD’s, the profitable candidate will study a wealth of abilities regarding human physiology research/scientific trials and state-of-the-art wet-lab strategies.

PhD 2 – Sturdy proof concerning the organic mechanisms liable for the well being advantages of bodily exercise, and the detrimental impacts of inactivity is missing. This PhD will intention to handle the long-standing debate surrounding the function of routine bodily exercise ranges in driving ageing processes in a number of organs, with a selected deal with skeletal muscle. The profitable candidate will likely be built-in right into a multidisciplinary group dovetailing magnetic resonance imaging, biotechnology and human physiology experience, which is able to allow a complete array of endpoints to be quantified over the course of a 6 month managed bodily exercise intervention. A selected focus of this PhD venture will likely be understanding the contribution of metabolic and physiological modifications in skeletal muscle with altered bodily exercise ranges. This PhD will present distinctive coaching in metabolic physiology and will likely be based mostly throughout 3 websites, the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre and Queens Medical Centre (QMC) on the College of Nottingham College Park campus and the UNMSD. 

PhD 3 – Along with rehabilitation, which has lengthy been employed as technique to boost restoration from scientific stress occasions, there may be burgeoning scientific and analysis curiosity in prehabilitation, an method employed to organize people for these occasions. Primarily based on the College of Nottingham Medical College at Derby (UNMSD; Royal Derby Hospital Centre), this PhD will contemplate the significance of, and strategies for the preservation of muscle mass and performance in older affected person cohorts. With elective surgical procedure a transparent and customary instance of a stress occasion encountered by older adults, and recognising that physiological resilience isn’t just preparedness for stress occasions but in addition the power to get better from them, this PhD will deal with practicable pre- and rehabilitation methods in older surgical sufferers. Exploring the interplay between novel contractile methods and dietary consumption, outcomes from this PhD will present an evidence-base for methods to be applied as an adjuvant to plain care within the peri-operative interval of older surgical sufferers.  

All of those PhD’s will profit from the experience and expertise of multi-disciplinary supervisory groups comprised of discovery scientists and scientific teachers.

Additional data:

Candidates ought to have both:

• a minimal of a 2.1 in a related undergraduate diploma (e.g., Train Science, Physiology, Biology, Biomedical Sciences (non-exhaustive listing)), OR
• a minimal of a 2.2 undergraduate diploma and a related Grasp’s diploma.

The perfect candidate may also have expertise of human physiology and or laboratory analysis and an understanding of growing older physiology.

Casual enquiries could also be addressed to the programme lead, Prof Bethan Phillips ([email protected] ) or to the principal supervisor for every PhD.

To use, candidates ought to ship their CV and a brief cowl letter (<1000 phrases) outlining why they’re making use of to be a part of this PhD programme and what they imagine they will supply  to: [email protected] . The e-mail topic line ought to be: “DMT PHD APPLICATION”. Candidates might apply for greater than one of many PhDs listed, however ought to make this recognized of their cowl letter. Candidates must also present the contact particulars for two referees, one in every of whom ought to be their most up-to-date tutorial supervisor (or line supervisor in related employment, if relevant). Please word, gives of examine will likely be topic to 2 passable references being acquired.

Closing Date for Functions: Monday April twentieth 2024, 10:00am

Provisional Interview Dates: twenty eighth and twenty ninth Could 2024

For those who will be unable to attend an interview on the College of Nottingham Medical College at Derby on these dates please make this recognized while you e-mail your software to Prof Bethan Phillips so various preparations may be thought of if potential.

PhD Begin Date: 1st October 2024, or as quickly as potential thereafter.