Version 2
Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
PhD Project Template
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Use one form per project
Please complete & submit to international@nuigalway.ie as soon as possible, and by 27/11/2012
In your email, begin the subject line with [SWB] (be sure to use square brackets) to ensure that
your email is filed correctly. Emails will be automatically filed
PI name & contact details:
School:
Cathal Seoighe, Cathal.Seoighe@nuigalway.ie,
Phone: +353 91 492343
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics
Has project been agreed with head (or
nominee) of proposed registration school?
Yes
Research Centre / group affiliation:
Bioinformatics
Research group / centre website:
http://bioinf.nuigalway.ie/
PI website / link to CV:
http://www.maths.nuigalway.ie/~cathal/
Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max):
Genomics and epigenetics, including analysis of gene expression, mRNA splicing and chromatin
structure using deep sequencing data. Probabilistic models of evolution – development and
application of models to identify immune epitopes in viruses.
Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web):
Systems genetics of transcriptomic quantitative traits. The importance of mutations with a
quantitative effect on gene expression and post-transcriptional processing is increasingly clear.
Many complex diseases are the result of perturbations of regulatory networks that can occur at the
level of transcription initiation, post-transcriptional regulation or translation. We will investigate
quantitative traits of the human transcriptome from a systems biology perspective to discover the
relationship between genetic perturbations of regulatory mechanisms and the robustness
properties of the corresponding networks. Regulatory networks often include feedback mechanisms
that result in robust control of protein expression level and network topology can influence the
response of the network to perturbations. Allelic differences in gene regulation at multiple levels
can now be assessed through the analysis of publicly available short-read sequencing data (allelespecific expression, splicing, epigenetic modification, decay and translation/ribo-seq). We will model
these data with a view to understanding allelic effects on gene regulation and the response of
regulatory networks to genetic perturbations.
Unique selling points of PhD project in NUI Galway:
Bioinformatics at NUI Galway is located in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied
Mathematics, but with strong links across all of the life sciences. This project will benefit from the
biological knowledge of collaborators and the strong applied statistical expertise within the School.
Graduate coursework options are available in several relevant areas including genomics and
Bayesian statistical analysis.
Version 2
Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above: NA
Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply:
Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Mathematics, Life Sciences (but some evidence of
quantitative and computational skills).
Ciência sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Priority Area:
Please indicate the specific programme priority area under which the proposed PhD project fits- choose only
one (tick box):
Engineering and other technological areas
Pure and Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry)/Physical Sciences (Mathematics,
X
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geosciences)
Health and Biomedical Sciences / Clinical, Pré-clinical and Health Sciences
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Computing
Aerospace
Pharmaceuticals
Sustainable Agricultural Production
Oil, Gas and Coal
Renewable Energy
Minerals, Minerals Technology
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology and New Materials
Technologies for Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Disasters
Bioprospecting and Biodiversity
Marine Sciences
Creative Industry
New technologies in constructive engineering
Please indicate which of the following applies to this project (referring to Science Without Borders
arrangements):
Suitable only as a Full PhD (Y/N): _ _Y___
Available to candidates seeking a Sandwich PhD arrangement (Y/N): __N___
Suitable for either/Don’t know: _____