PhD project proposal template 2011-12
Please submit completed proposal forms to pgbio@warwick.ac.uk
This PhD project is suitable for:
BBSRC remit
NERC remit
MRC Imaging DTG
Yes
Yes
Yes
Note: All projects will also be advertised as available for students who have a
scholarship, plan to apply for a scholarship or who can self-fund.
Principal Supervisor name and department:
Dr. Yin Chen, School of Life Sciences
Second Supervisor name and department:
Dr. Harpal Randeva, Warwick Medical School
Dr. Jing Chen, Warwick Medical School
PhD project title:
Gut flora metabolism of dietary choline and the health effects
Project description (max 500 words):
Everyone knows that a bad diet can lead to health problems, including heart disease,
obesity and diabetes. Intestinal microbes hold entre stage for their role in digesting
food and intake of key nutrients. However, recent progress in the study of human gut
flora (microorganisms that inhabit the digestive tracts) has pointed out an intriguing
correlation between the metabolism of phosphatidylcholine (PPC, also called lecithin)
by gut microbes and cardiovascular disease (Wang et al., 2011).
PPC (or lecithin) is present in all cellular organisms, being a major component of the
phospholipid portion of cell membranes, and is particularly rich in some human diet,
including eggs, milk, red meat and fish. PPC is also used clinically for treating liver
disorders. Using isotope labelled PPC, it has been shown that increased intake of PPC
from diet leads to increased trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in plasma and greater
plaque development in the arteries. Gut flora play an important role in the
metabolism of PPC to TMAO since intake of broad-spectrum antibiotics abolished
TMAO production from PPC, however, it remains unclear how PPC is metabolized in
the gut and the gut microbes involved in PPC metabolism remain unknown.
The aim of this PhD project is to therefore to identify the key microorganisms in
the gut which are responsible for PPC metabolism. We will use an animal model
(mouse) to investigate the impact of diet on gut microbial diversity and activity. This
involves the use of cutting edge stable isotope probing techniques, next generation
sequencing and metagenomic techniques (Chen & Murrell, 2010; Chen et al., 2011).
This exciting project will also provide excellent training in molecular microbiology
techniques, including real time PCR and mRNA analyses. It also benefits from having
two experts at Warwick Medical School as co-supervisors who possess excellent
experience of cell biology and biochemistry.
PhD project proposal template 2011-12
Key experimental skills involved:
metagenomic data analyses
next generation sequencing techniques
stable isotope probing
real time PCR
References:
Chen et al., 2011 PNAS 108:17791-17796.
Chen & Murrell 2010 Trends in Microbiology 18:157-163.
Wang et al., 2011 Nature 472:57-63.
Keywords (these will help your project to show in search listings on e.g.
FindAPhD.com):
metagenomics
gut flora
stable isotope probing
choline
cardiovascular disease
obesity
Contact details for application enquiries:
Dr. Yin Chen
Email: Cheny98@gmail.com
Phone: 024 765 28976
PhD project proposal template 2011-12
FindAPhD Research Areas
Please check up to 10 individual subject areas to accurately describe your PhD.
Biological & Medical Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Biochemistry
Bioinformatics
Biomedical Engineering
Biophysics
Biotechnology
Botany / Plant Science
Cancer / Oncology
Cell Biology / Development
Dentistry
Ecology & Conservation
Endocrinology
Evolution
Food Science / Nutrition
Genetics
Immunology
Marine Biology
Medical / Biomedical Physics
Medical / Clinical Science
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Neuroscience / Neurology
Obstetrics, Gynaecology &
Reproduction
Parasitology
Pathology
Pharmacology / Toxicology
Physiology & Sports Science
Psychology & Psychiatry
Public Health & Epidemiology
Structural Biology
Veterinary Medicine
Virology
Zoology / Animal Science
Chemical Sciences
PhD project proposal template 2011-12
Agricultural Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
Biochemistry
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Toxicology
Computational Chemistry
Electrochemistry
Environmental Chemistry
Food Chemistry
Geochemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Macromolecular Chemistry
Materials Science
Organic Chemistry
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Synthetic Chemistry
Physical Sciences
Applied Physics
Astrophysics
Atmospheric Physics
Atomic Physics
Biophysics
Condensed Matter Physics
Fluid Dynamics
Geophysics
Low-temperature Physics
Materials Science
Medical / Biomedical Physics
Metrology
Nuclear Physics
Optical Physics
Particle Physics
Plasma Physics
Radiation
Semiconductors
Theoretical Physics
Earth Sciences
PhD project proposal template 2011-12
Agronomy & Soil Science
Atmospheric Physics
Climatology & Climate Change
Ecology & Conservation
Ecotoxicology & Pollution
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Science
Geochemistry
Geography
Geology
Geophysics
Meteorology
Oceanography
Engineering
Acoustics
Aeronautical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil & Structural Engineering
Electrical & Electronic
Energy
Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering
Nanotechnology
Nuclear Engineering
Semiconductors
Software Engineering
Telecommunications
Maths & Computing
Applied Mathematics
Bioinformatics
Computational Chemistry
Computer Science & IT
Data Analysis
Information Science
Mathematics
Operational Research
Software Engineering
Statistics