Dek Woolfson

PhD opportunity in Engineering Biology at the University of Bristol , offered in collaboration with Prof Dek Woolfson through the SWBio DTP . The project is titled Engineering co-translational protein assembly using de novo designed proteins (Project ID: 3544). It asks how proteins assemble while being synthesised on the ribosome, building on advances in protein structure prediction such as AlphaFold and focusing on the folding and assembly of de novo designed coiled-coil proteins during translation. This is a strong fit for candidates interested in biochemistry , protein design , structural biology , and biophysics . The work sits at the interface of fundamental molecular biology and engineering biology, with opportunities to develop skills in protein design and engineering , solution NMR spectroscopy , structural biology , and ribosome engineering . Applications are open now. The post states that the application should be made via the SWBio website , and the deadline is midday (GMT) on Wednesday 2 December 2026 . Ideal applicants are those excited by interdisciplinary PhD research and by the challenge of uncovering how nascent proteins fold and assemble during translation, with potential to inform the design of new protein architectures and functions.