Fully funded PhD position studying signalling in Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells at the University of Manchester

Investigating the mechanism of cell signalling by cytonemes in Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells.

Cell signalling is essential to multicellular life and its misregulation causes a vast number of human diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disorders.  For many years it was thought that cell signals diffuse between source and target cells. However, evidence from multiple systems has uncovered a new mechanism of signalling, in which cells extend actin-rich signalling filopodia, called cytonemes, to either deliver the signals to target cells or collect them from source cells.  We recently showed that Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells (GSCs) extend cytonemes to contact the stem cell niche and collect the BMP signal which promotes GSC self-renewal.  The aim of this project is to exploit cutting-edge optogenetic and imaging approaches to determine the mechanism of cytoneme signalling in Drosophila GSCs.  Findings from this project will be generally relevant to cytoneme signalling in other systems.  Based on the diverse range of cellular processes influenced by signalling, our findings will impact researchers in developmental biology, regenerative medicine, bone and cartilage biology, disease modelling and translational research.  Finally, understanding cytonemes will, in the longer term, provide new opportunities to control signalling, including creating novel therapeutics to treat human disease.

This multidisciplinary project is a collaboration between the labs of Prof Hilary Ashe, Dr Raman Das and Prof Magnus Rattray.