Vaccine development for important spirochaetal diseases of cattle
- Funding
- Self-funded
- Study mode
- Full-time
- Apply by
- Start date
- Year round
- Subject area
- Veterinary Science
This proposed studentship would use functional and immunological analyses to pursue identification and characterisation of protein vaccine candidates and seek to engineer targets using artificial intelligence (AI) to enable development of designer vaccines, enabling effective control strategies for these important infectious diseases of cattle.
Bovine digital dermatitis (DD) is a severe, infectious, foot skin disease affecting cattle worldwide. This disease causes severe pain resulting in ruminant lameness and impacts animal welfare. Bovine DD results in reduced milk yield and poor reproductive performance costing the UK dairy industry £74 million/year. Existing DD treatments are relatively ineffective. Anaerobic Treponema are considered causal of DD and the University of Liverpool (UoL) currently has substantial experience investigating these microorganisms and is currently working towards development of a vaccine for prevention and control of this important infectious disease.
Leptospirosis is a worldwide infectious disease affecting a wide range of different host species with notable severity in ruminants and humans. The greatest disease burden for leptospirosis is within tropical/sub-tropical regions where, the causal agents, leptospires can be highly diverse. Bovine leptospirosis (BL) has substantial animal health and welfare costs as well as economic losses estimated at £22.3 million/year in the UK and vastly larger implications for countries with higher disease morbidity. Moreover, BL is a zoonotic threat to man and antimicrobial stewardship issues abound with similar antibiotics used in man and animal. Current vaccines for BL are typically bacterins with limited protection across multiple pathogenic species/serovars that could be causal of disease in tropical regions.
The development of efficacious, cross-protective vaccines to protect against both bovine DD and leptospirosis would be ideal and likely result in approaches that could be applicable to multiple afflicted host species.
This proposed studentship would use functional and immunological analyses to pursue identification and characterisation of protein vaccine candidates and seek to engineer targets using artificial intelligence (AI) to enable development of designer vaccines, enabling effective control strategies for these important infectious diseases of cattle.
This studentship builds on our synergistic programme which uses novel systems approaches linking AI, in silico methods and synthetic biology with immunology to deliver an efficacious vaccine for these severe diseases. The UoL team are in a strong position to deliver this study due to recent uptake of reverse vaccinology approaches and ability to culture fastidious spirochetes. This PhD studentship, based in the Department of Infection Biology and Microbiomes (Leahurst Campus), would collaborate with and basic scientists (with AI and protein structure expertise) from UoL Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology and veterinary clinician scientists and pathologists at the University of Liverpool (UoL) Veterinary School to ensure a successful outcome.
This is a highly interdisciplinary project that sits at the interface between biochemistry, molecular microbiology and vaccinology. You will be primarily based at University of Liverpool Leahurst campus, with some work undertaken at the University of Liverpool main, city centre campus. The student will be able to attend University-run courses in relevant topics and interact with postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Substantial training will be provided during the project enabling the student to gain a wide range of core and translational skills that should strategically enable development for a career in a range of different sectors.
This project is open to self-funded UK and international applicants. You must hold First Class or 2.1 honours degree (or international equivalent) in a relevant subject, such as Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biological/Biomedical/Bioveterinary/Veterinary Sciences, or a closely related discipline. This studentship would be for a duration of 3-4 years.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the listed supervisor directly to discuss their application and the project. Please email your cover letter and CV (listing 2 referees) to Professor Nicholas Evans: evansnj@liverpool.ac.uk.
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Your tuition fees, funding your studies, and other costs to consider.
Full-time place, per year - £5,006
Full-time place, per year - £31,250
Fees stated are for the 2025-26 academic year.
We understand that budgeting for your time at university is important, and we want to make sure you understand any costs that are not covered by your tuition fee. This could include buying a laptop, books, or stationery.
Find out more about the additional study costs that may apply to this project.
The studentship is unfunded (self-funded). If seeking funding from a relevant scheme to support self-funding to undertake this studentship, assistance can be given. The successful applicant will be expected to provide the funding for tuition fees and living expenses as well as research costs of £8,000 per year.
If you're a UK national, or have settled status in the UK, you may be eligible to apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan worth up to £30,301 to help with course fees and living costs.
There’s also a variety of alternative sources of funding. These include funded research opportunities and financial support from UK research councils, charities and trusts. Your supervisor may be able to help you secure funding.
My qualifications are from United Kingdom.
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If you’re awarded this prestigious scholarship, you’ll receive significant funding to support your postgraduate research. This includes full payment of your PhD fees and a cash bursary of £17,000 per year while you study. One award is available in each academic year.
If you’re a UK student, either born in or with strong family connections to Merseyside, you could be eligible to apply for financial support worth up to £12,000 per year for up to three years of full-time postgraduate research (or up to five years part-time pro-rata).
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