Overview
Neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders are among the most pressing health challenges worldwide. By 2050, dementia alone is expected to affect 150 million people, costing the global economy nearly $17 trillion annually. Psychiatric disorders also contribute significantly to disability and reduced quality of life. Despite this enormous burden, the development of new therapies remains slow, costly, and often unsuccessful.
About this opportunity
A promising and cost-effective alternative is drug repurposing—using medicines developed for one condition to treat another.
This PhD project will investigate whether specific anti-diabetic drugs can be repurposed to prevent or treat neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions. The ultimate goal is to generate translational evidence that could accelerate therapeutic development and improve brain health using existing, widely prescribed medications.
The project will combine epidemiology, data science, pharmacology, and genetic approaches to address this research question through three key stages:
- Evidence synthesis – Conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing data on anti-diabetic drugs and neurological or psychiatric outcomes.
- Observational analyses – Using large real-world datasets (e.g., UK Biobank, CPRD) to explore associations between anti-diabetic drug use and the onset or progression of brain-related diseases.
- Causal inference analyses – Applying advanced methods such as Mendelian randomization and Target Trial Emulation to assess whether these drugs exert protective or harmful effects on the brain.
The student will benefit from the following training and development opportunities:
- Advanced epidemiological and statistical techniques
- Causal inference and genetic epidemiology methods
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Use of large-scale population and electronic health record data
- Opportunity to present findings at national and international conferences
- Be part of a research group with UK-based and cross-country collaborations
They will have access to world-leading resources, including the UK Biobank and Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) data, and will be embedded in a vibrant research environment spanning epidemiology, psychiatry, genetics, pharmacology, and data science. The supervisory team provides complementary expertise and a strong mentorship framework, offering guidance in both academic and non-academic career pathways.
Benefits of being in the DiMeN DTP:
This project is part of the Discovery Medicine North Doctoral Training Partnership (DiMeN DTP), a diverse community of PhD students across the North of England researching the major health problems facing the world today. Our partner institutions (Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, York and Sheffield) are internationally recognised as centres of research excellence and can offer you access to state-of-the-art facilities to deliver high impact research.
We are very proud of our student-centred ethos and committed to supporting you throughout your PhD. As part of the DTP, we offer bespoke training in key skills sought after in early career researchers, as well as opportunities to broaden your career horizons in a range of non-academic sectors.
Being funded by the MRC means you can access additional funding for research placements, training opportunities or internships in science policy, science communication and beyond.
Further information on the programme and instructions on how to apply, including a link to the application portal, can be found on our website https://www.dimen.org.uk/
Further reading
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36669000/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35112465/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33464682/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35229024/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37657738/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40952016/