Post Graduate Research Assistant vacancy: Oxford Brookes University, applications close 30th October 2022

As part of a collaboration between Dr Paul K Potter (Oxford Brookes University) and Dr Karl Morten (Oxford University) there is an opportunity to establish and run a screening programme for anti-inflammatory peptides with the potential to treat chronic disease. With age there is a gradual decrease in the integrity of the intestinal barrier resulting in changes to the microbiome and leakage of microbial peptides into the circulatory system that have been shown to exacerbate a range of chronic and age-related diseases. These are thought to contribute to a range of chronic conditions (reviewed in Martel et al., Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, April 2022, Vol. 33, No. 4).

We intend to screen for compounds that will maintain intestinal barrier integrity and hence, potentially reduce the severity or incidence of some of these chronic conditions. We will employ in vitro and in vivo systems (Drosophila and C. Elegans) to screen compounds that will maintain gut barrier integrity in the context of ageing, and induced barrier dysfunction. Using the three screening systems we will prioritise compounds to take forward for further studies. Dr Potter has an interest in age-related and chronic diseases (https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/paul-potter/) and Dr Morten has an on-going programme investigating chronic disease (https://www.wrh.ox.ac.uk/team/karl-morten).

More detail at https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CTR401/post-graduate-research-assistant