York Students
The studentships below are for University of York students only. Please note the location of each project supervisor as this will be where the project will be hosted.
Applications are open until 12 PM, Thursday 29th February 2024 for UK studentships and 12 PM, Thursday 22nd February 2024 for US studentships
Applications are now closed
Application Form
In your application, you can choose up to two projects from any of the projects on this webpage.
University and Industry funded studentships
The following studentships are open to all 2nd and 3rd year York students (including 3rd year leavers and those going onto an integrated Masters degree) and 4th year students finishing an integrated Masters degree. Studentships are also open to HYMS students up to Phase 1 of their studies.
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, provided by the Max Perutz Fund
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 weeks (full time 37.5 hours per week, paid at LMB rate, Band 7)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the flagship institute of the Medical Research Council, is considered one of the birthplaces of…
The role of the hypoxia-sodium transport axis in promoting survival of triple negative breast cancer cells
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables, McQueen-Mason studentship funding)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Alina Lavinia Capatina, Biology, York
Breast cancer affects over 150 individuals every day, in the UK, with the triple negative (TNBC) subtype being the most…
Understanding how lysosomal regulation confers resistance to yeast killer toxin
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £450 consumables, McQueen-Mason studentship funding)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Amy Milburn, Biology, York
A/B toxins (e.g. from tetanus, cholera, and diphtheria) are responsible for millions of deaths annually. However, the mechanisms of toxin…
Investigating the structure and dynamics of biomolecules with NextGen single molecule detection tools
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £750 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Steve Quinn, Dr. Peter O’Toole, and Dr. Tim Craggs, Physics and Biology, York
Single-molecule biophysics approaches are revolutionising our understanding of biology, enabling the very building blocks of human life – proteins, nucleic…
Using genetically altered mice to understand human disease
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 weeks (full time 36 hours per week, £13.67 per hour, contribution to accommodation costs)
LOCATION: Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Sara Wells, Mary Lyon Centre, MRC, Harwell
The Mary Lyon Centre, funded by the Medical Research Council in Harwell, is the UKs flagship facility for the creation,…
The role of the NLRP inflammasome in platelet-driven vascular inflammation
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time 35 hours per week, £12 per hour, consumables £800)
LOCATION: Leeds Beckett University, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Matt Hindle, Biomedical Sciences Dept., Leeds
Platelets are among the most numerous cells in the blood and are critical to efficient haemostasis and thrombosis, also playing…
Neighbours or self: what drives activation-induced macrophage heterogeneity?
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Shoumit Dey, HYMS Kaye Lab, York
Macrophages are a key immune cell that in response to infection and disease become activated heterogeneously. We will use cutting…
Effects of erythropoietin on megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor cell fate
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 2 weeks in York, 8 weeks in US, £4,000 stipend, accommodation costs contribution, flight and VISA costs covered)
LOCATION: York, UK and US
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Vanessa Scanlon, University of Conneticut, US and Prof. Ian Hitchcock, York, UK
Erythropoietin and analogous erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) are regularly administered to correct anaemia in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease,…
Effects and optimisation of a new compound on live cells using the very latest bioscience technologies
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Karen Hogg, Biology, York
BioStatus, a British Life Science Technology company, that develops, manufactures and sells highly innovative laboratory reagents for research-oriented cell-based analyses…
SENSE and SENESCENCE: Investigating innate immunity in aged cells
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time 35 hours per week, £10.90 per hour, consumables £800)
LOCATION: Leeds Beckett University, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Jas Kohli, Biomedical Sciences Dept., Leeds
Cellular senescence is a state of cell-cycle arrest which increases in frequency with age and contributes to various age-associated diseases…
Analysis of CIZ1 function in development and disease
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Elena Guglielmi, Biology, York
The nuclear matrix protein CIZ1 associates with cyclins to promote DNA replication and is involved in stabilisation of heterochromatin, notably…
3D in situ structures of neurodegenerative pathology
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Madeleine Gilbert, Biology, Leeds
Proteins that misfold into amyloid filaments within the brain are pathological features of most neurodegenerative conditions. Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM)…
Mechanism-based prediction of chronic post-stroke pain using advanced neuroimaging techniques
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables)
LOCATION: Liverpool, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Arnas Tamasauskas, Medical Sciences, Liverpool
Stroke is an ever-present health condition that is increasing in prevalence as the world population ages. There are multiple complications…
An introduction to the role of animal technologist in biomedical sciences
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 - 12 weeks (full time 36 hours per week, £20,650 per annum)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
James Cruickshank, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, ARES Animal Facility, Cambridge
Where there are no suitable alternatives, LMB scientists use mice and rats in their research, to understand biological processes at…
Hacking catnip plants to make novel insect repellents
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £1000 consumables, McQueen-Mason studentship funding)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Cobus Smit, Biology, York
Plants from the mint family are renowned for their aromatic and medicinal properties largely due to the presence of compounds…
BBSRC Studentships: the building blocks of life
The following studentships are open to second year (BSc) and second and third year (integrated Masters) students.
Isolating purple bacterial photosynthetic supercomplexes
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Mrs Liz Martin, Biology, Sheffield
Photosynthetic organisms utilise membrane embedded pigment-protein complexes to capture the energy of sunlight and convert it to chemical energy in…
Investigating the role of ageing in changing cell mechanisms
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Naomi Hartopp, Biology, Sheffield
The question of how ageing affects our cellular and molecular response to stress is one that is yet to be…
Development of mechanically gradient conductive materials for bioelectronic interfaces
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Thomas Paterson, Dentistry, Sheffield
The growing use of soft and hard bioelectronics in medical and technological fields requires the development of materials that can…
Imaging of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Spatial Patterns of Gene Expression
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr Samantha Ivings, Biology, Sheffield
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer an excellent model for understanding how coordinated gene expression impacts the spatial organisation of…
Impact of silicon on wheat: a potential route to crop drought resilience
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Katie Shaw, Biology, Sheffield
Drought stress has devastating effects on global wheat yields and as climate change progresses, the frequency and intensity of droughts…
Investigating the use of double stranded (ds)RNA for crop pathogen control
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Maria Pattichis, Biology, York
Botrytis cinerea is a prolific necrotrophic fungal pathogen that can infect over a 1000 species of plants, including many crops…
Investigating why birds crossed the K-Pg boundary as a model of mass extinction survival
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr Katie Davis, Biology, York
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction was responsible for the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. In addition, modern birds (Neornithes) were…
Investigating the mechanism of DNA repair
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Qian Wu, Biology, Leeds
DNA repair is critical in maintaining the integrity of our genome, and therefore is essential for cellular function. Our summer…
Unveiling the secrets to viable Cas9-HEG systems
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Joshua Ang, Biology, York
In recent years, synthetic Cas9-based homing endonuclease gene (HEG) systems have garnered substantial interest as a groundbreaking genetic biocontrol method.…
Spray-on semiconductor quantum dots as biosensors
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Matthew Hobbs, Engineering, Sheffield
Semiconductor quantum dots have emerged as a highly promising material for biomedical sensing applications to overcome a wide range of…
Two photosynthetic proteins, one function: Comparing electron transfer properties
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Henry Lloyd-Laney, Chemistry, York
The photosynthetic electron transport chain of cyanobacteria and chloroplasts catalyses the conversion of solar light into chemical energy, which in…
The role of Kinesin as a microtubule motor protein
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Glenn Carrington, Biology, Leeds
Kif5a (Kinesin-1) is a microtubule-based motor protein implicated in neurodegeneration. It autoregulates its activity via interaction of the tail with…
Transforming technology: Development of light-activated probes for protein labelling
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Keith Livingstone, Chemistry, Leeds
Chemical probes are central to understanding the behaviour of proteins as they allow us to visualise or modify specific proteins…
Advancing adenovirus technology using CRISPR-Cas9 to study replication in human cells
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Prof. Eric Blair, Biology, Leeds
Recombinant Adenoviruses (rAds) are frequently-used vectors for gene therapy and as such are often grown in p53-deficient cells. PTEN is…
Investigating the role of the viral protein 2A in protein synthesis
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Miguel Aracena Velazquez, Biology, York
As part of infection, viruses deploy diverse strategies to undermine the translation of host mRNAs whilst simultaneously promoting the translation…
Determining the function of novel pathogen-secreted proteins in plants
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Mirela Coke, Biology, Leeds
The parasitic potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida is a plant pathogen that develops a fascinating, close relationship with its…
Testing new methods to capture carbon and simultaneously increase crop yield
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Sarah Thorne, Biology, Sheffield
How can we remove atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to mitigate against climate change and how can we increase food production…
Unravelling the molecular basis for defective interfering particles in arenaviruses
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Nicholas Smith, Biology, Leeds
Many virus families, including arenaviruses, restrict their own growth through viral interference which is driven by the production of defective…
Manipulating resource flow between parasites and mutualists of crop plants
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Willow Maxwell, Biology, Leeds
Plant-parasitic nematodes and mutualistic fungi both rely upon the host plant for the entirety of their resource intake, dictating their…
Investigating the interplay between LUBAC and GBP1 in early innate responses
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Gemma Banister, Biology, York
After invading human cells, bacteria are recognised by receptors directly at its surface, forming a unique cell signalling platform and…
Implementing a biotyping toolkit to identify and classify microbes
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £850 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Tony Larson, Technology Facility, York
Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is routinely used in clinical settings to identify (‘biotype’)…