Programme overview
Programme structure
We seek to create a new generation of scientists who think differently and will go on to transform our understanding of important biomedical problems.
The Cheney Scholarship programme world class researchers in Biological Sciences and Medicine, including from the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology and the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre . You will be part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary environment, that spans physical sciences to clinical medicine, and a positive research culture, where you can develop your skills and flourish.
Year 1
In the first six months, you will carry out rotation projects before choosing your final PhD project, alongside introductory practical classes in microscopy and structural methods. This will allow you to explore your ideas and put together a final project proposal tailored to your interests.
- Two 10-week rotation projects
- Introductory practical classes in microscopy and structural methods
- Development of a tailored final PhD project proposal
Years 1.5 - 4
After exploring your ideas, you will put together a final project proposal tailored to your interests. You will then have the opportunity to focus on your main PhD project for the remaining 3.5 years of your scholarship, alongside bespoke training.
- Bespoke training in life skills, resilience, public engagement, entrepreneurship, and translation
- Extensive taught and real-life training experiences
- Opportunities to publish research and review articles
Highlights of the programme
- Support from a dedicated programme co-ordinator
- A mentorship scheme where we help you to find an experienced mentor outside of your supervision team
- Access to truly world class research facilities for in situ biology
- Maximized time for the main PhD project
- Support for career development and travel
- Opportunities to publish your research and a review article
- Extensive relevant taught and real-life training experiences
- Wide multidisciplinary supervisor pool (including clinician-scientists)
- Financial support
Research themes
Cheney Scholarships are awarded to candidates on the basis of their potential, and we will not recruit to specific projects. Project teams will be built during the first six months of the scholarship, aligned with researchers in Biological Sciences and Medicine, including the Astbury Centre and Leeds Biomedical Research Centre.
Areas may include (but are not limited to):
Neurodegeneration. Neurodegeneration is a scourge in our ageing population. Our research seeks to understand how protein aggregation in the brain leads to loss of neural cells, memory loss and dementia. We are seeking to understand the formation of amyloid aggregates of Aβ (Alzheimer’s) or α-synuclein (Parkinson’s) in brain, studying their structures, intra-extracellular dynamics, and the contribution of cellular environment to aggregation and toxicity, to inform next generation diagnostics and therapeutics.
Virology. Viruses are a major determinant of human health, affecting the immune system and contributing to cancer, especially across minority segments of our population with restricted access or socioeconomic resistance to vaccines. We are working to dissect the molecular roots of host response biology (HRB). Projects could focus on how healthy cells are transformed into cancerous ones, responses to vaccines or how immune surveillance is evaded. This research will inform the development of direct-acting drugs to directly modulate HRB.
Antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a slow-moving pandemic that without urgent action will transform society in the next 30 years. We are working across multiple targets, but are focussing on the outer membrane of Gram-negative pathogens; the most pressing need and the hardest to tackle. Projects could include understanding protein structure/function in real bacterial membranes, working with clinically-relevant pathogens, with microbiologists to discover new natural products, and chemists to discover new small molecules antibiotics.
Immunology and Inflammation. Inflammation is our natural response to injury, from wounds to infection to cancer and it is driven by our immune system. Failure in regulating crucial on/off switches is at the heart of autoimmune diseases and cancer progression. We are working on regulation of the immune response with structural biologists and translational clinicians, to inform the next generation of therapeutics able to dial the immune response up for infection and in cancer, or down for autoimmune diseases.
Cancer Biology. The dysregulation of cell division leads directly to cancer, and the molecular events that lead to such dysregulation, including mutations to protein kinases and DNA damage is a major focus. The Leeds Cancer Research Centre has recently pulled together major players in this field who study dysregulation of signalling and DNA damage, with clinical oncologists and chemists. Transformative discoveries are urgently needed to target specific proteins, and to develop new diagnostics that can identify cancers much earlier.
Cardiovascular and Metabolic diseases. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease are individually major causes of mortality, but the multimorbidity caused by both together is a major societal problem. Researchers in Leeds are investigating the molecular underpinning of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and trying to develop new tools to diagnose and treat such diseases. Projects could include work on the structure of myosin motors, systemic amyloidosis, the structure and function of ion channels, and the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance.