School of Neurological and Cardiovascular Sciences (College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine), University of Edinburgh
Project Supervisors: Dr Nicola Romano, Dr J Walker, Dr G Whyte
Application deadline: Monday, November 16, 2026
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Cells in the body are constantly exposed to environmental signals that vary in strength, duration, and frequency. Understanding how cells interpret time-varying signals to make appropriate decisions is a major challenge in biology and is essential for grasping how complex physiological systems operate in health and disease.
This project will focus on understanding how this happens in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls the hormonal stress responses. This relies on two hormones, CRH and AVP, released by the brain in response to stress to drive ACTH secretion from pituitary cells called corticotrophs. ACTH, in turn, controls the release of the stress hormone cortisol from the adrenal glands.
Despite the enormous range of diverse stressors an organism can encounter, the HPA axis relies on this same pair of chemical messengers to transmit the information. This project will test the hypothesis that corticotrophs decode stress information through the temporal pattern and relative ratio of CRH and AVP input, rather than solely their concentration.
You will join a multidisciplinary team across biology (Dr Nicola Romanò), mathematics (Dr Jamie Walker) and engineering (Dr Graeme Whyte) to develop a microfluidic platform enabling precise, programmable delivery of dynamic patterns of CRH and AVP to pituitary cells.
In the first phase of the project, you will establish and validate this platform.
This will involve:
- Designing the microfluidic chips and setting up appropriate cell culture conditions for their use.
- Testing fluorescent biosensors to simultaneously measure key signalling pathways (PKA, PKC, calcium) in these cells.
- Developing a novel biosensor for ACTH secretion to quantify the final output of the system.
Once this platform is validated, you will apply it to study the behaviour of primary rat pituitary cells, characterising how CRH and AVP inputs translate into ACTH output. You will use simple mathematical models and your own data to generate testable predictions that will drive the design of further experiments, in an iterative, hypothesis-driven loop between experimental and computational/theoretical results.
You will receive training to develop a unique set of skills at the interface between biology, mathematics and engineering. Practical training will include microfluidic device fabrication and operation, live-cell fluorescence imaging, primary cell culture and mathematical modelling. Emphasis will also be placed on training in experimental design, presentation skills and rigorous quantitative data analysis.
This project suits a student who wants to develop strong interdisciplinary, technique-driven, and transferable research skills.
This 4 year PhD project is part of a competition funded by EASTBIO BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). Detailed guidance on the application process, and the EASTBIO Application and Reference Forms can be found at How to Apply | Biology.
Please send your completed EASTBIO Application Form along with a copy of your academic transcripts (as a pdf) to INCR.PostgraduateRecruitment@ed.ac.uk. You should also contact your referees and ask them to submit their references (on the EASTBIO reference form template) to INCR.PostgraduateRecruitment@ed.ac.uk by the application deadline of 16th November 2026.
Funding Notes
This opportunity is open to UK and international students and provides funding covering stipend and UK level tuition fees. The University of Edinburgh covers the difference between home and international fees meaning that the EASTBIO DTP offers fully-funded studentships to all appointees. There is a cap on the number of international students the DTP recruits. It is therefore important for us to know from the outset which fees status category applicants will fall under when applying to our University.
Please refer to UKRI website and Annex B of the UKRI Training Grant Terms and Conditions for full eligibility criteria.