Fully funded PhD Position Available

1
Fully funded PhD Position Available
What role does the immune system play in the
increasing vulnerability of the ageing nervous
system? We aim to use a fly model to
investigate the link between stress, immunity
levels and neurodegeneration. Fruit flies
(Drosophila melanogaster) in nature vary in
their immunity against parasites and pathogens
and immunity has been shown to carry costs. The
student will use this naturally-occurring
variation in Drosophila immunity by establishing
genetic lines with high and low levels of
immunity to parasitism. He or she will then ask
how immunity in these lines trades off with
lifespan and resistance to stress and how models
of age-related neurodegeneration behave in a high
and low immunity background. The first phase of
the project will involve characterisation of the
basic demography of ageing of the high and low
Immunity flies, in order to determine whether
high immunity trades off with life span. High and
low immunity lines have already been established
by artificial selection for parasite resistance.
Lifespan will be assessed by isolating flies in
small vials, in which they have access to water
and food, and scoring time to death. The lines
will then be tested for differences in response
to ageing-related stressors including caloric
restriction, oxidative stress, and heat shock.
They will also be characterised at the gene
level for ROS production, SOD and for the insulin
and heat shock pathways. These experiments will
reveal the general base-line effects of immune
system state on lifespan and stress. In the
second phase of the project will assess the
effects of immunity levels on neurodegeneration.
For this, we will create transgenic flies that
model aspects of neurodegeneration in a low and
high immunity background. The demography and
stressor experiments will be redone exactly as
above to see which stressors interact with which
potential neurodegenerative disease. Dr Amrit
Mudher - Dr Joel Parker - Dr Alex Kraaijeveld
(http//www.sbs.soton.ac.uk/) For further
information please contact sbsgradi_at_soton.ac.uk
Creating the bioscientists of the future

Drosophila larva
Pathology in Drosophila model of Alzheimers
Disease
Drosophila melanogaster
Normal brain vs Alzheimers Disease brain