Funded 3.5 year PhD studentship at the University of Exeter, Penryn.

The candidate will characterise the aphid immune system, investigating similarities and differences to other insects. The last major investigation into any aphid immunity was conducted in 2010 with the sequencing of the genome, finding loss of the Imd immune pathway. Recent studies in Drosophila have characterized a new antiviral pathway (cGAS-STING) with cross-talk to Imd, making it unclear if aphids are expected to retain cGAS-STING signalling, and how this might work.

The student will explore aphid immunity bioinformatically and functionally, and ask and validate questions by comparing with and taking advantage of Drosophila genetics.

For more information, see:

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=5191eropean