Click-to-Connect Cytochromes: Modular Components for Sustainable Electrical Circuits (BUTT_U27DTP)
Key details
- Application Deadline
- 30 November 2026 23:59 UK Time
- Location
- UEA
- Funding Type
- Competition Funded (Home and International)
- Start Date
- 1 October 2027
- Mode of Study
- Full-time
- Programme Type
- PhD
)
Welcome to Norwich
According to the Sunday Times, this city is one of the best places to live in the UK.
Project Description
"This exciting project will engineer cytochromes for site-selective covalent linkage to multiple redox partners and electrodes thereby delivering proof-of-principle for novel electronic circuitry.
Harnessing redox-active proteins as an abundant and tuneable source of conductive molecules presents an attractive route to meet the need for sustainable electronic components. Multiheme cytochromes produced by electric bacteria are particularly attractive for this purpose because they are spanned by close-packed chains of redox-active heme cofactors. We have previously demonstrated that such proteins can be engineered to sit between two electrodes and conduct electrons between them.
Building on our success, this project will use site-specific mutagenesis to create novel cytochromes that extend the opportunities to form protein based electrical circuitry. That mutagenesis will introduce natural and non-canonical amino acids to allow site-selective conjugation of multiple cytochromes in novel conductive configurations.
The project will use site-specific mutagenesis, protein purification, protein engineering, spectroscopy, and dynamic electrochemistry. Working in an enthusiastic and supportive team the successful applicant will become expert in state-of-the-art protein engineering, biochemistry and biophysics. They will also expand their knowledge of synthetic biology and green chemistry, and benefit from opportunities to participate in national and international conferences.
Informal enquiries are encouraged, please contact Professor Julea Butt (j.butt@uea.ac.uk) for further information.
"
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
"Genetic code expansion in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 allows site-specific incorporation of bioorthogonal functional groups into a c-type cytochrome.
Lockwood CWJ, Nash BW, Newton-Payne SE, van Wonderen JH, Whiting KPS, Connolly A, Sutton-Cook AL, Crook A, Aithal AR, Edwards MJ, Clarke TA, Sachdeva A, Butt JN.
ACS Synthetic Biology (2024)
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00248 Shallow conductance decay along the heme array of a single tetraheme protein wire.
Garg, K., Futera, Z., Wu, X., Jeong, Y., Chiu, R., Chittari Pisharam, V., Ha, T., Aragones, A., van Wonderen, J. H., Butt, J. N., Blumberger, J. & Diez-Perez, I.
Chemical Science (2024)
DOI: 10.1039/d4sc01366b Bespoke biomolecular wires for transmembrane electron transfer: Spontaneous assembly of a functionalized multiheme electron conduit.
Piper, S., Edwards, M., van Wonderen, J., Casadevall, C., Martel, A., Jeuken, L. J. C., Reisner, E., Clarke, T. & Butt, J.
Frontiers in Microbiology (2021)
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.714508 Engineering Cytochromes for Photocatalysis: Biohybrid Assemblies for Light-Driven Dye Decoloration.
van Wonderen, J. H., Kent, D. L., Emmerson, M. E. G., Piper, S. E. H., Zhang, H., Jeuken, L. J. C., Sazanovich, I. V., Towrie, M., Meech, S. R. & Butt, J. N.
New Biotechnology
DOI: 10.1016/j.nbt.2026.06.010 Advances in single-molecule junctions as tools for chemical and biochemical analysis.
Dief, E. M., Low, P. J., Díez-Pérez, I., Darwish, N.
Nature Chemistry (2023)
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01178-1"