PhD studentship: the role of chromatin in embryonic development

Nicoletta Bobola’s research group

Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester

The objective of this fully-funded 4-year PhD project is to investigate how the composition of chromatin regulates embryonic development, with a focus on Hox transcription factors activity.

The local composition of chromatin is a major determinant of the transcriptional activity of a gene. Changes in the spatio-temporal expression of genes generate the different cell types, even though their genomes are identical. Understanding how this happens is a major challenge in biology, and may lead to important progress in our ability to generate specific cell types for regenerative purposes.

Hox transcription factors are highly conserved and have crucial roles in embryonic development. In this project we will generate genome wide location maps of transcription factors, chromatin proteins and selected histone modifications. These data will be integrated in a systematic map of chromatin in areas of the embryo whose development is instructed by Hox proteins, to understand how different chromatin environments help to target Hox proteins to specific genomic regions and regulate their target genes.

The lab is located at the University of Manchester, in the AV Hill building, a cutting-edge training environment incorporating both the life and biomedical sciences.

Any enquiries relating to the project and/or suitability should be directed to Nicoletta Bobola (nicoletta.bobola@manchester.ac.uk).

The project is due to commence October 2011 and is open to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding. If interested, please apply by following the details at http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/studentships/

Closing date 4th April 2011

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