Programme overview: This MRC-funded doctoral training partnership (DTP) brings together cutting-edge molecular and analytical sciences with innovative computational approaches in data analysis to enable students to address hypothesis-led biomedical research questions. This is a 4-year programme whose first year involves a series of taught modules and two laboratory-based research projects that lead to an MSc in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research. The first two terms consist of a selection of taught modules that allow students to gain a solid grounding in multidisciplinary science. Students also attend a series of masterclasses led by academic and industry experts in areas of molecular, cellular and tissue dynamics, microbiology and infection, applied biomedical technologies and artificial intelligence and data science. During the third and summer terms students conduct two eleven-week research projects in labs of their choice. Project: Our cells constantly produce proteins, nucleic acids and lipids which must be transported throughout the cell to the locations where they are needed. Microtubules act as the molecular highways on which motor proteins carry theses cargoes. These molecular motors typically travel in one direction: kinesins go towards the plus end of the microtubule, while dynein goes towards the opposite end. Many cargoes simultaneously bind both dynein and kinesin, and move bidirectionally. Ideas have been put forward as to how cargo transport with opposing motors works. The tug-of-war model suggests that the ratio of forward and backward motors controls the overall direction, but research has shown that this is probably not the dominant mechanism for producing bi-directional transport, because removal one of these motors affects transport in both directions. This leads to the phenomenon of co-dependence - both forward and reverse motors are required for faithful transport in either direction, suggesting these motors support rather than fight one another. To move beyond the tug-of-war model, we need to examine how bi-directional motor complexes work. What are they key molecules, and key interactions? How do motors support each other? What allows a complex to swap directions? We will first manufacture the proteins we are interested in using established insect cell expression techniques. We will attempt to reform bi-directional complexes and investigate their characteristics under a microscope. We aim to tease apart this complex to understand the importance of key molecules, and how they are providing directional bias. Simultaneously we will design experiments in live cells that can test key aspects of this transport mechanism. Finally we will attempt to recapitulate what we see down the microscope using computational simulation, with the hope to better our understanding of the process and elucidate new avenues for research.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Hepatitis C virus infects a predicted 170 million people worldwide and causes chronic liver disease leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The virus is transmitted in contaminated blood and by needle-sharing. The virus is highly variable; prior infection does not appear to protect from re-infection and there is no realistic prospect of producing a vaccine. Extended drug treatment can clear the virus in a proportion of those infected, but treatment is expensive and has unpleasant side-effects. To make new and improved therapies we need to understand better how the virus replicates. Our previous studies have identified a small region of the genome that is critical for an early event in virus replication. It is highly conserved in all isolates of this variable virus. We have data to suggest that this element forms a molecular switch controlling two of the earliest events in the virus life cycle ? the translation of the virus to make proteins, and the replication of the virus genome. We propose to continue these studies to define exactly how this switch operates and, in doing so, expect to learn of ways in which we can prevent it from being ?tripped? and so halt the replication of the virus.

'All we have is each other'- A queer and feminist political economy of the AIDS crisis. Understanding the relationship between queer women, social reproduction, and care as analyzed through the framework of the AIDS crisis of 1980-1997. There are numerous histories of the AIDS crisis that have been written and yet overwhelmingly many of them continue to have marginalised, subsumed, and neglected the necessary role of queer women within the crisis. My work is therefore an interjection that addresses this empirical gap and fills it with histories of care and activism. This research project builds upon the emerging field of queer political economy, in order to explore the under-researched topic of the care work and activism undertaken by queer women throughout the AIDS crisis. Theoretically the research brings together queer and feminist work that centres the relationships between queerness, the family and neoliberal capitalism, and empirically the research contributes to histories of the AIDS crisis in the Global North by investigating the work and burdens of care within queer communities. The main objectives of the research are as follows: (a) to draw upon both queer theory and social reproduction scholarship in order develop a queer theory of care that sheds new light on the erased histories of queer women during the AIDS crisis; (b) to critically reflect on the limits of neoliberalism and capitalism for queer people and communities and recognise the gendered, classed, and racialised implications for queer women in terms of the burden of care and its implications on exacerbating the AIDS crisis; and, (c) to use the findings of this study to demonstrate the contemporary significance of debates about queerness and care particularly in terms of the relationships between queer political economy, mutual aid/care and alternative economies.

There is currently a strong drive to develop new tools and methods for what is known as "precision farming". These tools are designed to provide a wealth of information on the heath of animals and allow the farmer to make decisions and interventions when needed. Ideally, these tools should be non-invasive and not adversely effect the health of the animals. Measuring the gases emanating from of animal waste, be it stool, urine or breath, provides a simple way of understanding the health of the animal in this non-invasive ways - providing direct information on the metabolic health of the animal. The purpose of this PhD is to develop new tools based on measuring these gases at the single animal or pen/herd level. The project will focus on cows (as a high value animal) and will initially be in the lab measuring different biological waste materials and understanding the link between the measured gases and the animal health. With this information, we will develop prototype gas analysis tools that can be placed in research farms to see if we can measure the same chemicals and link these with other markers of animal health. Finally, we will deploy the final system in real farms and see if it can provide useful information to the farmer.