Project Description

Primary Supervisor - Professor Neil Hall

Euglena gracilis is one of biology's outliers. This single-celled protist diverged from plants and animals over a billion years ago, switches effortlessly between photosynthesis and feeding, and carries a genome stitched together from multiple ancient endosymbionts. It controls its genes in ways that break the textbook rules: trans-splicing, a modified DNA base (base J), and heavy reliance on post-transcriptional control rather than classical promoters.

Despite growing industrial interest in Euglena as a sustainable source of biofuels, bioplastics and nutraceuticals, we still barely understand how it orchestrates gene expression (1) .

This PhD will change that. You will build the first single-cell atlas of Euglena, profiling thousands of individual cells to reconstruct the waves of gene expression that sweep across the cell cycle, and asking how this programme is rewired by light and temperature. Bulk transcriptomics averages over millions of cells and hides this choreography; single-cell approaches pioneered in this project should reveal it. (2, 3)

You will be trained across the full pipeline: culturing and imaging Euglena, developing single-cell RNA-sequencing workflows, and reconstructing the cell cycle computationally. There is real scope to follow your own questions, testing hypotheses about which pathways switch on, when, and why.

The project will be conducted at the Earlham Institute, a world-class BBSRC research centre of excellence in genomics, engineering and computational biology, and AI. You will join a collaborative and supportive research community with access to training and career development opportunities through the Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership.

This project suits a curious, quantitative graduate excited to work at both the bench and the keyboard, and who wants to help crack the biology of one of the most unusual cells on Earth.

We welcome applicants from the biological, computational or physical sciences.

References:
1. Ebenezer et al (2022) Euglena International Network (EIN): Driving euglenoid biotechnology for the benefit of a challenged world 11(11):bio059561. doi: 10.1242/bio.059561
2. Sebé-Pedrós et al (2025) The Biodiversity Cell Atlas: mapping the tree of life at cellular resolution. 645 877-885. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09312-4.
3. Dogga SK, et al (2024) A single cell atlas of sexual development in Plasmodium falciparum. Science. 384(6695):eadj4088. doi: 10.1126/science.adj4088

The Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme (NRPDTP) is offering fully funded studentships for October 2027 entry. The programme offers postgraduates the opportunity to undertake a 4-year PhD research project whilst enhancing professional development and research skills through a comprehensive training programme. You will join a vibrant community of world-leading researchers. All NRPDTP students undertake a three-month professional internship placement (PIPS) during their study. The placement offers exciting and invaluable work experience designed to enhance professional development. Full support and advice will be provided by our Professional Internship team.

This project has been shortlisted for funding by the NRPDTP. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th February 2027.

Visit our website for further information on eligibility and how to apply: https://biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk

Our partners value diverse and inclusive work environments that are positive and supportive. Students are selected for admission without regard to gender, marital or civil partnership status, disability, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age or social background.

To maximise accessibility and attract students from underrepresented groups to our programme we have introduced bespoke templates for applicant Personal and Research statements which will enable every applicant to fully represent themselves through providing suitable examples and evidence. These forms are on the NRPDTP website and must be used for these sections of the application form.

Entry Requirements

At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1. English Language requirement (Faculty of Science equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category).

Funding

This project is awarded with a 4-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD DTP studentship. The studentship includes payment of tuition fees (directly to the University), a stipend to cover living expenses (2026/27 stipend rate: £21,805, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000pa for each year of the studentship.

References

Ebenezer et al (2022) Euglena International Network (EIN): Driving euglenoid biotechnology for the benefit of a challenged world 11(11):bio059561. doi: 10.1242/bio.059561 Sebé-Pedrós et al (2025) The Biodiversity Cell Atlas: mapping the tree of life at cellular resolution. 645 877-885. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09312-4. Dogga SK, et al (2024) A single cell atlas of sexual development in Plasmodium falciparum. Science. 384(6695):eadj4088. doi: 10.1126/science.adj4088

A single-cell atlas of the Euglena gracilis cell cycle (HALL_E27DTP)

Welcome to Norwich

Project Description

Entry Requirements

Funding

References