Qualification: PhD

Department: Cardiovascular Sciences

Application deadline: 6 May 2019

Start date: September 2019

This project is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrated Midlands Partnership for Biomedical Training (IMPACT) doctoral training partnership (DTP). It is also part of the Industrial Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (iCASE) studentship scheme.

Project overview

Heart failure is a leading cause of death and hospitalisations in the elderly. Early diagnosis and accurate differentiation of pathologies in addition to risk stratification are needed for personalised treatment.

Much research has been done to try to understand the mechanisms of the condition at the molecular and genetic levels, but metabolite profiles and their contribution has not been fully understood. Therefore, we hypothesise that unique metabolite patterns will provide additional diagnostic and prognostic information of heart failure. We also hypothesise that short chain fatty acids will play a role in regulating energy metabolism in the heart.

This study will utilise blood-based metabolomics approaches to analyse metabolite profiles from samples collected from heart failure patients. The first phase of the study is a discovery phase, using the high definition mass spectrometersto analyse and characterise the metabolite profiles of patients, and further differentiate these profiles according to clinical information. The metabolites of interest will be further identified and validated quantitatively using stable-isotope dilution technique using a high sensitivity triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (UHPLC-TQ MS). The relevant metabolic pathways will also be investigated further to understand the pathogenesis of heart failure at the metabolite level.

Supervisors

Professor Toru Suzuki, tsuzuki@leicester.ac.uk
Professor Leong Ng, lln1@le.ac.uk
Dr Chris Titman (Shimadzu)

Funding

Studentship provides tuition fees and stipend for 3.5 years to UK applicants. EU applicants who do not meet the RCUK residency criteria can apply for a fees only award.

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.