We are excited to provide MSc Biomedicine offer holders the opportunity to pre-select your project supervisor.
We have curated selection of research projects, provided by leading academics from across various fields, spanning various disciplines, methods, and approaches - including wet (lab-based), dry (computer-based), or mixed methodology. We hope you explore the projects outlined below and select those that align best with your academic and research interests.
Once you decide on the project that interests you the most, follow the link and let us know about your choice. You can choose up to five projects from the list. After everyone makes a choice, the project will be assigned to you based on availability.
Please submit your project choice as soon as possible. If you have any queries, you can contact Dr Barbara Shih (b.shih@lancaster.ac.uk).
Choose your supervisor
My research is focused on how the skin immune system functions, and what is dysregulated in inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (eczema). My lab is particularly interested in the roles of gamma delta T cells and innate lymphoid cells in mediating skin inflammation, and we also aim to understand how immune responses in skin are regulated and how inflammation is resolved in a healthy manner. The overall aim of our research is to deepen our understanding of immune responses and inflammatory disease in skin, so this knowledge can improve treatments for skin conditions in the future.
We are a cancer cell biology lab and are particularly interested in developing and testing novel therapeutics to specifically inhibit the growth/interfere with mitosis and the cell cycle of aggressive cancer types, such as triple-negative breast cancer and metastatic uveal melanoma. We do this using 2D and 3D cancer cell models...
Mitochondria are essential energy-generating organelles in most eukaryotes. Our research focuses on understanding the pathways controlling mitochondrial function in a human pathogen, the 'Sleeping Sickness' parasite Trypanosoma brucei. We have identified two novel pathways which counter mitochondrial dysfunction. These pathways involve many unusual proteins that still need characterising, and which potentially could become drug targets.
I am an anatomist and medical educator with research interests in cardiopulmonary anatomy, public health, and medical education. My work explores sex-specific differences in disease presentation, particularly in cardiopulmonary conditions, and how these differences can be better reflected in clinical training and public health education to improve equity in care. Alongside this, I am interested in studying student learning behaviours, focusing on how students adapt to the challenges of balancing expectation of higher education.
My lab uses various bioinformatic methods to explore the genome-wide gene expression in skin, from normal physiological states, developmental stages, aging, inflammatory disorders, to cancers. By doing so, we aim to identify gene differentially expressed between the cell types or disease states. Key methods we use include coexpression network analysis (Graphia), single-cell RNA sequencing, and spatial transcriptomics. My lab predominately utilizes publicly available datasets or dataset already generated by my lab. Prior experience in programming is required.
The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae normally lives in the nose without causing problems. However, if it gets into the lungs, the blood, or the brain, it can cause pneumonia, sepsis, or meningitis, respectively. These diseases kill over one million people every year, mainly young children and older adults. For disease to occur, the pneumococcus must cross the epithelial lining of the nose which acts as the first line of defence and forms a protective barrier. We study how pneumococcus interacts with human respiratory epithelial cells under various environmental conditions using complex in vitro/ex vivo infection models.
My research focuses on factors that affect brain development and degeneration and their intersection. In particular, I investigate how pre-conception and perinatal obesity impacts on brain development and maturation across the life course and whether this predisposes offspring to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in later life. I also investigate how the cerebrovasculature is altered in AD, and how this leads to the development of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and vascular dementia...
Our research centres around proteins involved in the pathogenesis of diseases such as prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Currently, we are focusing on the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B). In addition to investigating the functions of hitherto uncharacterized fragments of APP, we are investigating the potential application of 'PROTACs' for the depletion of PDE4B and associated AD therapeutics.
I mostly use the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, mostly in ageing research. Age is the major risk factor for >80% of causes of death over 65 years old, yet the basic molecular causes of ageing are still not well understood.
My lab works in four main areas:
I am a medical doctor teaching anatomy to various cohorts like MBChB, dentistry, biomedical sciences, etc. My research interests are mainly clinical anatomy and medical education.
Our laboratory investigates how post-translational protein modifications regulate the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite causing African sleeping sickness. We identified key signaling pathways that induce parasite cell differentiation, published in our 2019 Cell paper, and now focus on how ubiquitination and ubiquitin-like modifiers (NEDD8, UFM1) trigger this developmental program. We study Cullin ligases and their regulation, as well as novel non-Cullin substrates whose roles are poorly understood. Using genetic tools, proteomics, and biochemical assays, we map enzyme networks and define how these modifications shape parasite biology. Students can join projects in molecular parasitology, protein biochemistry, and cell biology.
My laboratory uses a combination of genetics, cell biology and proteomics approaches to understand biological systems at the molecular level. Our research is focused on tropical infectious diseases, primarily eukaryotic parasites including African trypanosomes affecting humans, cattle and game animals and Leishmania species that affect humans and companion animals worldwide.We are studying how these parasites regulate their cell cycle and how they are able to sense and adapt to their host environment by regulating their gene expression. We conduct basic biomedical research utilising in vitro and in vivo techniques to uncover differences between host and parasite biology cthat an be exploited to develop therapeutic treatments.
My research interests are focused on further understanding the mechanisms through which genetic and environmental risk factors for psychiatric, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease impact on brain functioning, behaviour and cognition. I primarily address these questions through the use of preclinical rodent models. I also have an interest in developing and validating new translational preclinical models for these disorders for utilisation in the drug discovery process.
Cell cycle, DNA replication and cancer therapies that target the cell cycle.
Bioinformatic analysis of the cancer genome (TCGA) will be used to identify cancers that have poor outcomes with high CIZ1 expression. Approaches that reduce CIZ1 levels will be used to assess cancer vulnerability to depletion of CIZ1 levels and cancer viability.
DNA is susceptible to endogenous and exogenous threats that challenge its integrity and may hinder physiological DNA replication progression, causing a situation known as DNA replication stress (RS). Several mechanisms repair RS, but if they fail then accumulation of DNA damage and mutations facilitates genomic instability, which appears at early stages of cancer. Studying the repair mechanisms that protect DNA from RS is crucial as it can be exploited in targeted killing of malignant cells. My lab investigates the RS repair mechanisms that safeguard genome stability. In our research we use mammalian cell cultures as our model system and study DNA damage using techniques such as immunofluorescence, immunoblotting and DNA fibres.
Rachael Rigby’s research interests include how the microbiota influence repair of the intestinal epithelium and develops the immune system. The majority of her research has used the gastrointestinal tract as an organ-system to research immunology and cancer biology pathways. Our research focuses on intestinal epithelial cells and their interactions with immune cells, cytokines and bacteria.
Our research focuses on understanding brain function in health and disease using neurophysiological methods. Currently, we are particularly interested in epilepsy, sleep, memory and dementia, with an emphasis on analysing electroencephalography (EEG), including high-density EEG and intracranial EEG, and clinical data from human participants.
Cellular DNA is naturally unstable and constantly subjected to damage and degradation. This harm may arise from environmental carcinogens or from normal cellular processes. If left unrepaired, DNA damage can result in cell death or mutations. While mutations are a major driver of cancer, paradoxically, DNA damage also serves as a key tool in cancer treatment.My research focuses on understanding how cells respond to DNA damage and how these responses can be exploited therapeutically. One active area of investigation in my lab is studying how drugs that inhibit the DNA damage response can be used to enhance the effectiveness of cancer therapies. I also have an interest in identifying the mechanisms of genome maintenance employed by unicellular eukaryotes, including several human parasites.
Snakebite affects millions of people annually and is estimated to cause >100,000 deaths and approximately 400,000 life-altering injuries, with those in tropical and sub-tropical Lower- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) most at risk. Conventional antivenoms are the current mainstay treatment but are associated with many issues, including high cost, poor stability, the need to be delivered intravenously, and poor efficacy against local tissue necrosis caused by cytotoxic snake venoms. As a pharmacologist, my lab’s focus is the discovery and development of drugs, drug combinations, and drug delivery methods to improve the treatment of snakebite envenoming, with a particular focus on the morbidity caused by snakebite-induced necrosis.
My research explores the link between the immune system and the brain, with a particular focus on how skeletal muscle communicates to influence behaviour, cognition, and mental health. I use experimental models of neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders to study how metabolic pathways (such as lipid and energy metabolism) are disrupted, and how interventions like physical activity can restore healthy brain function. Projects in the group combine neuroscience, metabolism, behaviour, and systems biology, offering MSc students hands-on experience with modern experimental approaches, data analysis, and translational questions relevant to brain disorders, exercise, and health across the lifespan.
