Engineering protein nanocages for biotechnology applications (LE BRUN_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
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Welcome to Norwich
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Project Description
"Proteins that self-assemble to yield cage-like structures are of great interest due to their potential applications in biotechnology. The cellular protein ferritin, which functions to detoxify and store iron, is composed of 24 subunits, arranged in a highly symmetric fashion to form an approximately spherical protein shell surrounding a hollow centre. While evolved to store large amounts of iron as a ferric-oxy-hydroxide mineral, the ferritin protein shell can potentially accommodate a range of other molecules. The aim of this project is to use engineering biology approaches to develop bacterial and human ferritins as nanocage platforms for the encapsulation of small molecules, peptides and proteins with applications in biocatalysis and therapeutics/diagnostics. Methodologies for encapsulation will be optimised, and the ability of the nanocages to transfer substrates, electrons and protons across the protein coat investigated. Eventual targets include technologically relevant enzymes such as hydrogenase, which catalyses the reduction of protons to hydrogen gas, and the targeted delivery of molecules for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. This multi-disciplinary protein biochemistry project, which is based in the Le Brun lab in the School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology at UEA, will involve protein purification, bioanalytical methods, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and microscopy. It offers excellent training potential for the appointed student within a supportive and stimulating environment. Informal enquiries to Prof Nick Le Brun (n.le-brun@uea.ac.uk) are welcome."
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
H. Yu, et al. An interpretable RNA foundation model for exploring functional RNA motifs in plants, Nature Machine Intelligence, 6: 1616-1625, 2024. H. Yang, et al. Bridging Sequence-Structure Alignment in RNA Foundation Models, AAAI 2025, 39(20): 21929-21937. H. Yu, et al. PlantScience.ai: An LLM-powered virtual scientist for plant science, Molecular Plant, 19(5): 1117-1123, 2026. S. Zhou, et al. Position: Genomic Model Research Must Move Beyond Anecdotal Evaluation of Interpretability Methods, ICML 2026. M. Huang, et al. Conversational exploration of literature landscape with LitChat, IJCAI 2025, p. 11058-11061.