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Deadline: 10th December 2025 Dr Miguel Montez leads a five-year Wellcome Trust-funded project to establish his research group and pioneer studies on how the local 3D chromatin structure determines gene regulation and environmental responses. His project is hosted within the well-established and vibrant research environment of Prof Antony Dodd’s group (Head of Department) at the John Innes Centre.

Dr Montez brings deep expertise in studying molecular mechanisms that enable plants to fine-tune gene expression to sense and adapt to the environment. By joining his project, you will become part of an emerging, interdisciplinary, and highly collaborative team that values innovation and curiosity in uncovering new fundamental principles in biology. The Montez group is committed to supporting your scientific development, helping you develop high-impact research and achieve your career goals within a supportive and inspiring environment. The Postdoctoral Researcher will investigate chromatin organisation at a fine scale, with a particular focus on the…

Deadline: 21st November 2025 We are seeking a highly motivated and talented scientist to join our MRC-funded research programme investigating how disruption of the circadian clock impacts energy metabolism and contributes to metabolic disease. You will play a key role in defining how circadian processes in the liver and other tissues regulate lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function, under both normal and perturbed conditions (e.g. dietary or environmental challenges). This exciting project builds on our recent findings (e.g. Downton et al., PNAS; Hayter et al., Nature Communications; West et al., Nature Communications), which demonstrate that circadian disruption—caused by simulated shift work, diet-induced obesity, or chronic inflammation—leads to aberrant liver function and accumulation of harmful lipid species such as ceramides. Working within a vibrant circadian research community in Manchester, you will employ cutting-edge in vivo and in vitro models, advanced physiological phenotyping, and multi-omic and flux metabolomic approaches. You will also collaborate with…

Project: CircadiAgeing - Clock excitability, circadian rhythms and healthy ageing Deadline: 3rd December 2025

The Nobel prize was awarded to Drosophila researchers determining the fundamental mechanisms of circadian rhythms conserved from flies to humans. This molecular clock consists of clock genes which are rhythmically expressed in clock neurons controlling the circadian expression of genes encoding ion channels/ receptors that drive daily changes in electrical activity. This membrane clock is vital for synchronising the molecular clock in different clock cells and communicating time-of-day information to the rest of the brain and body. The molecular clock is well understood, but there is a lack of research on the membrane clock. You will help address this crucial knowledge gap and the effect of ageing on both clocks.

The hypothesis you will test is the membrane and molecular clock become synergistically weaker during the lifespan compromising circadian rhythms and the individual’s health during ageing. This…

The position will be located in the AWI section “Polar Biological Oceanography”, working group “Marine Chronobiology”. The focus of the advertised position is on the investigation of internal clocks and the control of biological rhythms in marine invertebrates (copepod Calanus, bristle worm Platynereis). Specifically, molecular and genetic analyses shall be used to generate an initial functional understanding of the “clock genes” period and timeless. Copepods have a key role in pelagic food webs and they perform daily and seasonal vertical migrations. Platynereis worms use their internal clocks to synchronize their reproduction with the lunar cycle. Find out more and apply here

The position will be localized in the BICLOPS group, which investigates “Biological Clocks in Pelagic Systems”. Affiliated with the “Marine Chronobiology” working group, it is part of the AWI section “Polar Biological Oceanography”, which uses a wide spectrum of physiological and genetic analyses to understand biological processes in the open ocean.

The focus of the advertised position is on the mechanistic understanding of the circadian clock system in a North Atlantic key zooplankton species, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. Like countless other pelagic organisms, the copepods perform diel vertical migrations that directly determine the environmental cycles they encounter. As environmental cycles synchronize clocks and clocks affect migration behavior, this creates a chicken-and-egg paradox. We want to find out how circadian clocks can function in such “self-made” pelagic environments. Find out more and apply here

Project: Molecular basis of winter adaptation in the invasive horticultural pest Spotted Wing Drosophila

Deadline: 03 January 2026

The invasive pest Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) threatens UK fruit crops and biodiversity due to its climate-driven expansion and winter survival. This interdisciplinary project combines pest ecology, micro-CT and microscopy-based phenotyping, functional genomics, and bioinformatics to uncover overwintering mechanisms and inform evidence-based, sustainable pest management, supporting biosecurity and food security.

For further details:

Application and project details here

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/molecular-basis-of-winter-adaptation-in-the-invasive-horticultural-pest-spotted-wing-drosophila/?p187857

Project: New synthetic antibodies for circadian research

Deadline: 27 November 2025

Did you know that camels and llamas have a unique type of antibody that can be a powerful tool for science? These are nanobodies, tiny, highly stable, single-domain antibodies. Because of their small size, they can be used to manipulate or study the inner workings of cells in ways traditional antibodies cannot.

Our laboratory is fascinated by the circadian clock, the complex internal timekeeper that controls how we interact with the world around us and our health. We believe that nanobodies can help us unlock its secrets.

This PhD project focuses on a new and exciting way to discover nanobodies without needing an animal. Instead of immunizing a llama, we will use a synthetic library of billions of potential nanobody candidates. Using a technique called phage display, we will screen this library to find nanobodies that bind to key…

Project: Identifying the neurogenetic network underlying visually-driven sleep

Deadline: 27 November 2025

Sleep is a behavioural quiescence widely observed in the animal kingdom. Evidence indicates that daily light and visual stimuli contribute to sleep pressure; our lab is interested in identifying the elusive molecular and neural basis of such vision-driven sleep. We have identified various genetic components in the light/vision-driven sleep in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Circuit-based manipulation also indicates parallel neurogenetic pathways linking the visual system and the known sleep homeostatic centre in the fly brain. This PhD project, therefore, aims to combine the latest techniques in connectomics and Drosophila sleep to map out these neural pathways in the fly brain. The student will conduct this exciting project through the following three objectives.

For further details:

Project Enquiries to kc280@leicester.ac.uk

Lab details here