Role of non-canonical autophagy in liver lipid metabolism in response to unhealthy diets (BERAZA_Q27DTP)
Key details
- Application Deadline
- 30 November 2026
- Location
- Quadram Institute Bioscience
- 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
"Obesity has epidemic proportions in the UK as more than 60% of adults are overweight and 33% have fatty liver. Poor dietary habits (western diets) are the main contributors to obesity and liver steatosis, where lipid accumulation becomes toxic for hepatocytes leading to cell death and consequent inflammation. Autophagy, which removes intracellular components, is key to regulate lipid metabolism in hepatocytes and its impairment contributes to fatty liver. Importantly, the role of alternative cellular mechanisms of intracellular cargo degradation like LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP), remains poorly studied in this context.
This project aims to define the mechanisms mediating the lipid update and metabolism in the liver in response to high fat diets. This will enable the PhD student to identify targets to preserve liver metabolic health and prevent disease progression associated to poor dietary habits, which will be investigated in this project.
This collaborative project provides the unique opportunity for the successful candidate to receive broad training on preclinical in vivo models and in vitro work as well as cellular and molecular biology and immunology methodologies including confocal microscopy and spectral flow cytometry.
The project will be supervised by two molecular biologists (Beraza and Rushworth) whose work have a strong translational aim. This collaborative project will enable the student to work in different labs at different institutions (Quadram institute and University of East Anglia) and to present their results to wide-ranging audiences in conferences and meetings. The multidisciplinary nature of this project will contribute to build a broad network and will provide the student valuable transferable skills essential for the progression of her/his scientific career.
This project will be carried out at the Quadram institute, which combines research laboratories with clinical facilities, located at the core of the Norwich Research Park.
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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
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*co-Corresponding author
Moreno-Gonzalez M, Hampton K, Ruiz P, Beasy G, Nagies FS, Parker A, Lazenby J, Bone C, Alava-Arteaga A, Patel M, Hellmich C, Luri-Martin P, Silan E, Philo M, Baker D, Rushbrook SM, Hildebrand F, Rushworth SA*, Beraza N*.
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*co-Corresponding author
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LC3-associated phagocytosis in bone marrow macrophages suppresses acute myeloid leukemia progression through STING activation.
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*co-Corresponding author
Rai S, Arasteh M, Jefferson M, Pearson T, Wang Y, Zhang W, Bicsak B, Divekar D, Powell PP, Nauman R, Beraza N, Carding SR, Florey O, Mayer U, Wileman T
The ATG5-binding and coiled coil domains of ATG16L1 maintain autophagy and tissue homeostasis in mice independently of the WD domain required for LC3-associated phagocytosis.
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