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University of Warwick

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PhD in Predicting Influenza Antigenic Escape for Better Vaccines University of Warwick in United Kingdom

Degree Level

PhD

Field of study

Computer Science

Funding

Funded PhD project for students worldwide.

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Country

United Kingdom

University

University of Warwick

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Keywords

Computer Science
Data Science
Virology
Biology
Medical Science
Statistics
ML

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About this position

PhD opportunity at the University of Warwick in Coventry, United Kingdom, focused on influenza evolution, antigenic escape, vaccine design, machine learning, virology, and computational biology.

The project, titled “Outsmarting influenza evolution: predicting antigenic escape for better vaccines,” is part of the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership and is supervised by Dr Craig Thompson and Dr Alexander Baker. It investigates how influenza A viruses evolve changes in haemagglutinin (HA) that allow immune escape while preserving essential viral function. The research aims to identify antibody-targeted regions that are difficult for the virus to alter, predict mutations that enable escape, and test whether these predictions can improve broader vaccine design.

The student will work across machine learning, viral sequence data, protein structures, and antibody measurements to predict important sites and viable variants. Experimental work includes synthesising selected variants, testing them with archived sera from humans, poultry, and wild birds, running virus neutralisation assays, and evaluating selected variants in mice to see whether they induce antibodies with broader recognition of H3 and H7 viruses.

This is a funded PhD project and is advertised for students worldwide. The post does not list a deadline in the provided text. Applicants should be interested in interdisciplinary research spanning computational modelling and wet-lab virology, with an emphasis on influenza, immune escape, and vaccine development.

Funding details

Funded PhD project for students worldwide.

What's required

Applicants should be interested in influenza virology, vaccine design, machine learning, viral sequence analysis, protein structures, and antibody/neutralisation assays. The project involves combining computational and experimental approaches and testing variants in mice, so candidates should be comfortable with interdisciplinary research.

How to apply

Visit the FindAPhD listing and follow the institution website/application route for this funded PhD project. Review the project details and apply through the University of Warwick/MIBTP process if eligible.

More information can be found here

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