[Fully funded 4-year PhD CASE studentship with payment of tuition fees, annual stipend of £20,780 (2025/6 rate), and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per year.] This fully funded PhD studentship at the University of East Anglia offers an exciting opportunity to investigate how alternative splicing shapes cell–cell communication in key biological niches. Supervised by Dr Iain Macaulay, the project will focus on the bone marrow stem cell niche and tissue-resident immune cells, exploring how receptor and ligand proteins are edited through alternative splicing to produce functionally distinct isoforms. The research will employ advanced single-cell long-read RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to uncover the complexity of cellular interactions and build high-resolution maps of receptor-ligand communication.

Students will develop tools to study these interactions at the isoform level, gaining expertise in cell sorting, sequencing technologies, and computational biology. The project is supported by an interdisciplinary team and provides access to world-class facilities at the Earlham Institute and Imperial College London. Training will cover genomics, immunology, and clinical research, preparing graduates for careers in both academic and applied research. The studentship is part of the Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme (NRPDTP), which offers a comprehensive professional development curriculum and a three-month professional internship placement (PIPS) to enhance employability.

The CASE studentship, in partnership with Inspiralis Limited, covers tuition fees, a generous annual stipend (£20,780 for 2025/6), and a research training support grant (£5,000 per year). Applicants should have a background in biological or biomedical sciences and a keen interest in gene regulation and immune function.

The application deadline is 2 December 2025, with interviews for shortlisted candidates scheduled for early February 2026. For further details on eligibility and application procedures, visit the NRPDTP website.