Role of Extracellular Matrix in Hypoxic Metastasis

• Home
• About
• Our Research Areas
• Industry-linked Studentships
  • Does fertilizer placement play a key role in crop establishment?
  • Engineering Biology approaches to functionalised hydrogel production
  • From nature to industry: applying H2-metabolising enzymes to sustainable biocatalysis.
  • mRNA cap methylation localisation and mechanisms in gene expression and RNA therapeutics
  • Native mass spectrometry for the discovery of new anticancer agents
  • Next-generation nanoparticle functionalisation for selective delivery to brain tumours
  • Optimisation of protease feed additives for poultry to increase protein utilisation efficiency from locally produced sources
  • Role of Extracellular Matrix in Hypoxic Metastasis
  • The Fast and Non-Spurious: High-content screening without artefact in barrier tissues on a chip
  • The plasticity of insects' microbiome and the impact of feeding to chickens
  • Machine Learning for predicting yeast phenotype from genotype for biotech applications
  • Future Grains: Evaluating impacts of elevated CO2 and temperature on yield and grain quality in cereals
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Apply
• Magnify
• Meet the team

Lead Supervisor: Kenton Arkill

The extracellular matrix plays a vital role in the local tumour microenvironments modulating both physical properties and molecular features. The glycosaminoglycans are polysaccharide chains and arguably the most dynamic of the extracellular matrix components. There are relatively few glycosaminoglycans but include heparan sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and hyaluronan. Most importantly the biological complexity of the polysaccharide chains depends on their post translation modifications. These modifications can significantly alter cell phenotypes hence implications for functional changes during development, in tumours, or during ischemia are wide reaching. 

The project partners the University of Nottingham’s “GlycoWeb” funding novel glycosaminoglycan analysis and detection techniques. This fundamental doctoral training program position will use those novel techniques to study the underpinning tumour microenvironment on a cellular scale. We will test the hypothesis that the metastatic cells within a tumour have a different glycosaminoglycan profile to the surrounding cells enabling both proliferation and migration from the tumour. 

The project aims to initially understand cellular response using 2D (gene edited) models and then transfer this to 3D models using a hydrogel system developed by our industrial partners (PeptiMatrix™). The successful student will then develop 3D correlative imaging techniques based around a multiphoton fluorescent map of the 3D culture before beyond state-of-the-art analysis techniques for GAGs including spatial transcriptomics/metabolomics and imaging mass spectrometry. 

The position is based in the University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute with four floors of multidisciplinary laboratories and will have team support with cross-school scientific and clinical researchers. We have a strong record in developing and training scientists and this project has an industrial placement to gain non-academic scientific experience. 

This project is no longer open for recruitment.