4-year PhD studentships: Statistical Mechanics approaches to Systems Biology

Statistical Mechanics approaches to Systems Biology

Several 4-year BBSRC-funded studentships available

We expect to have a number of BBSRC-funded studentships available in the area of Systems Biology, focussing on the mathematical analysis of dynamical processes on biological networks (e.g. protein interaction networks) using techniques from Statistical Mechanics. Projects will be supervised in close collaboration between members of the Disordered Systems group in the Department of Mathematics at King’s College London, and members of the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics and of the Bioinformatics group in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics

The proposed projects cover topics including

* Mathematical theory of gene regulation networks – from interacting microscopic components to macroscopic behaviour

* Statistical mechanics of complex formation in large molecules

* How do we account for what we don’t know? – The effects of incomplete knowledge on the dynamics of protein interaction networks: from statistical physics and machine learning to experiment

Further details and project descriptions can be found at http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/~psollich/BBSRC/

Suitable candidates for these studentships should have a first or upper second class degree in mathematics, theoretical physics or a related discipline with a strong mathematical component. They must be U.K. citizens or have another relevant connection with the U.K., which normally amounts to having been resident in the U.K. for 3 years or more (see http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/studentships/studentship_eligibility.pdf). Studentships are fully funded and provide all course fees for the 4-year Ph.D. programme, as well as a stipend of around GBP15,000/year.

The deadline for applications is expected to be in late December 2009, or early January 2010. In the mean time, interested candidates are encouraged to contact the 1st supervisors for the proposed projects for further information (see http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/~psollich/BBSRC/); please attach a CV. At the time of application, students would also need to provide a list of three projects in order of preference. Studentships will be awarded competitively following shortlisting and interviews, after which allocation of students to projects will be finalized. Studentships would be expected to be taken up in Sept 2010.