JBU Self-funded PhD Studentships
(example)
Project Title
Homeostatic mechanisms in human urothelium: balancing of tissue regeneration and differentiation with implications for regenerative medicine and cancer
The urothelium is the self-regenerating epithelium that lines the bladder, where it is highly specialised to function as a urinary barrier. Although normally a mitotically-quiescent tissue, urothelium shows a rapid and highly regenerative response to damage. Whether there is a specific progenitor or stem cell population remains controversial, as no such cell has been unequivocally identified. An alternative hypothesis is that all cells remain capable of switching into a regenerative phenotype, irrespective of differentiation state. The project will examine this hypothesis in a well-established cell culture system, using a combination of cell and molecular biology approaches to examine the role of cell:cell interactions, downstream signal transduction and epigenetic regulation.
Supervisor: Professor Jennifer Southgate (Biology JBU)
Please contact Professor Jennifer Southgate: j.southgate@york.ac.uk if you would like to discuss this or other self-funded projects that may be available.