Development and testing of chemotherapy resistance genes to protect therapeutic immune cells

Application process

A completed online application must be submitted by 4.30 pm 22 September 2025. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Any required supporting documentation (including references) must also be received by 4.30 pm on the closing date in order for the application to be considered.

Project number

117

Project description

Cell-based immunotherapies, such as CAR T-cell therapies, have transformed the treatment of certain blood cancers, yet their broader clinical application remains limited by several key challenges. One barrier is that CAR T-cells cannot be readily combined with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies, lest the cytotoxics prevent CAR T-cell expansion or persistence.

The project aims to discover and engineer enzymes capable of detoxifying chemotherapy drugs, with the longer-term goal of enabling these enzymes to be expressed in therapeutic immune cells to protect them from chemotherapy.

The student will work under the supervision of Dr Abigail Sharrock to identify, characterise and engineer enzyme candidates that show chemoprotective activity in a bacterial screening strain. As required, these enzymes will be evolved through directed evolution and assessed in a model human cell line.

Prospective applicants should contact Dr Sharrock prior to applying.

This project is for a single student.