At a Glance
- Tasks: Investigate how the rice blast fungus penetrates host plants and develop strategies to combat it.
- Company: The Sainsbury Laboratory, a leading centre for plant-microbe interaction research.
- Benefits: Fully funded PhD, stipend of £21,805, and a £5,000 annual research grant.
- Other info: Gain hands-on experience in cutting-edge research with excellent professional development opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on global food security by tackling devastating agricultural diseases.
- Qualifications: Must have at least a 2:1 Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
The predicted salary is between 21805 - 21805 £ per year.
Primary Supervisor: Dr. Frank Menke. The world’s food supply is under pressure from climate change, water shortages, and agricultural pests and diseases. Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is a devastating disease of rice and is related to the recent wheat blast outbreak in Asia. Rice blast infections begin when spores land on leaf surfaces, attach, and germinate. The hydrophobic leaf surface triggers germlings to form an appressorium, a single-celled infection structure that generates enormous turgor pressure to penetrate the leaf. Understanding how appressoria develop and how the host leaf is penetrated is important to devise strategies to prevent rice blast disease and other cereal diseases.
Project focus: This PhD project will investigate the role of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Mps1, which is essential for appressorium development and host penetration. Deletion of the MPS1 gene abolishes pathogenicity of the fungus. Little is known about how upstream components of the Mps1 MAPK pathway are activated or how the kinase cascade exerts its activity. The project builds on recent work that has established phosphoproteomic methods for analysing the Pmk1 pathway, revealing its direct targets for the first time.
Training and environment: The project will provide broad training in fungal biology, molecular plant pathology, proteomics, protein biochemistry, molecular genetics and advanced cell biology at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, one of the premier centres for plant–microbe interaction research. The Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme (NRPDTP) offers fully funded four-year PhD studentships with comprehensive professional development and a 3-month professional internship placement (PIPS) during study. Support is provided by the NRPDTP Professional Internship team.
Funding and admissions: This project has been shortlisted for NRPDTP funding. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on 25 or 26 August 2026.
Entry requirements, mode of study and start date:
- At least a 2:1 Bachelor's degree.
- Mode of Study: Full time.
- Start Date: 1 October 2026.
Additional information: This is a four-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD studentship. The studentship covers tuition fees payable to the university, a stipend to cover living expenses (2026/7 stipend rate: £21,805), and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per year for each year of the studentship. For information on eligibility and how to apply, please refer to the NRPDTP guidelines and templates for Personal and Research Statements. Templates are provided on the NRPDTP website and must be used for the application sections.
