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Prospectus

Life Sciences
 
All Life Sciences academic staff are encouraged to participate in research, and projects are funded from a variety of sources – including research councils, the European Union and charitable and industrial sponsors. We have an exceptional programme of training through a specialist course: Postgraduate research skills in science, technology, maths and computing (STM895) that provides an organised and structured means by which students can both assess their research skills and plan the development and acquisition of these skills during the course of their PhD.
 
Supervisors in the Life Sciences Department will consider applications for part-time study that fall broadly within their areas of expertise, even if they don’t correspond exactly with the topics described below. It’s unlikely that laboratory facilities can be made available to part-time students, so you should not consider laboratory-based projects unless you already work in a laboratory that would allow facilities for your research, or unless you can make arrangements to use other laboratory facilities in your vicinity.
 
The Department of Biological Sciences provides a lively and expanding research environment for postgraduate research students. There are over 111 people in the department, including 33 academic staff. Research is in the areas of neuroscience, immunology and cell biology, molecular genetics, ageing, animal behaviour, biopsychology, cognitive psychology, biodiversity, ecology and evolution. Our research is supported by the BBSRC, MRC, Royal Society, MS Society, NERC, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, the European Union and others.
 
The department has a full suite of recently modernised laboratories with extensive behavioural facilities, cell culture facilities, electron and confocal microscopes, image analysis and histological facilities. The laboratories are equipped for genetic manipulation, cell and molecular biology including DNA sequencing and quantitative PCR, electrophysiology, tissue culture, FACS analysis and standard biochemical techniques. The laboratories and equipment are supported by a team of twelve specialist technicians and project officers.
 
Cognitive psychology research facilities support both lab-based and web-based data collection, each mode supported by its own participant panel. Laboratory facilities include state-of-the-art sound-proofed booths, a suite of general purpose computers equipped with EPrime, and ancillary equipment. The virtual participant panel for online studies is an innovation providing access to large numbers of students and other participants at a distance.
 
The department holds several seminar and journal club series, and monthly research-in-progress meetings. All students have full access to computing equipment, facilities for preparing material for presentations, and well-stocked central and departmental libraries. As part of a structured PhD training programme, students receive full training in both research skills and specialist techniques. You can find details of all laboratory facilities, research groups and currently available positions at the departmental website www.open.ac.uk/science/biosci/research
 
Approximately six full-time studentship positions are advertised annually. Each of these studentships is allocated to specific projects and supervisors. Applicants should respond to advertisements directly to the department. Unless otherwise stated, these studentships will be based at the Walton Hall campus in Milton Keynes, and funding may not be available for other projects. We do not normally accept part-time students for laboratory-based projects. Preliminary enquiries concerning studentships in biological psychology/cognitive sciences should be addressed to psych-res-apps@open.ac.uk.
 
Departmental contact Heather Holden
Phone +44 (0)1908 653225
 
 
Centre for Biomedical Research
 
Neuroscience Research Group
Professor Michael Stewart, Dr Jill Saffrey, Dr Radmila Mileusnic, Dr Kerry Murphy, Dr Duncan Banks, Dr Paul Gabbott, Dr James Phillips, Dr Payam Rezaie
 
Research areas include:
  • morphological basis of neural plasticity and learning in the mammalian CNS
  • molecular biology of learning; gene activation in memory formation
  • biochemical basis of learning and memory in the chick
  • electrophysiological studies of the synaptic and cellular basis of learning and memory deficits in neurodegenerative disease (current focus on Huntingdon’s disease) histological markers of neurodegnerative changes in diseased brain
  • use of flash photolysis of caged-compounds to unravel the dynamic molecular events that subserve learning and memory in the mammalian brain
  • behavioural models for exploring memory formation
  • the relative physiological efficacies of delta and mu opiate agonists
  • the central control of movement
  • development and ageing of the mammalian enteric nervous system
  • tissue engineered repair of peripheral nerves and the spinal cord
  • 3-dimensional cell culture modelling of the nervous system damage and repair environment
  • exploring Alzheimer’s disease
  • neural networks and synaptic circuits in the prefrontal cortex and related brain areas
  • anatomical connectionist modelling of the cerebral cortex.
  • normal and abnormal development of the human and rodent brain.
  • neuropathology of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, including autism
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Immunology and cell biology research group
Professor David Male, Professor Caroline Pond, Dr Jane Loughlin, Dr Ignacio Romero, Dr Hilary MacQueen, Dr Payam Rezaie, Dr Jon Golding
 
Research areas include:
  • selective production and expression of chemokines by endothelia from different vascular beds
  • the control of endothelial cell differentiation by transcription factors
  • the control of leukocyte migration into different tissues by chemokines
  • molecular mechanisms mediating inflammation and myelination in the central nervous system
  • alterations of blood–brain barrier function by HIV-1 and HTLV-1
  • effects of diet and age on interactions between adipose tissue and the immune system
  • the physiological basis for the anatomical distribution of white adipose tissue in mammals and birds
  • the cellular pathology of CNS diseases and conditions
  • patterning of cell migration and cell fates
  • potential therapeutic uses of neural crest stem cells to repair adult nerve injury
  • transport of beta-amyloid across the blood-brain barrier.
  • origin, development and differentiation of microglial cells.
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Molecular genetics research group
Dr Mark Hirst, Dr Robert Saunders, Dr Carol Midgley
 
Research areas include:
  • molecular genetic modelling of the pathways of triplet repeat instability in human disease
  • analysis of human disease-related triplet repeat sequences in Drosophila melanogaster
  • molecular basis of chromosome structure and function
  • ageing and oxidative stress in Drosophila melanogaster
  • WRN helicase and ageing
  • role of mitotic kinases in cell division
  • identification of novel proteins involved in cell division
  • control of the cell cycle in mammalian cells and Drosophila melanogaster.
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Psychology in Science Group
Professor Fred Toates,  Dr Ilona Roth
(Contact for group via psych-res-apps@open.ac.uk)
 
Research areas – cognition, cognitive science and biological psychology
 
Research includes:
  • cognitive psychometrics
  • normative and web-based studies of cognitive processes
  • concepts, categorisation and word meaning; compositionality and complex concepts; deference and expertise
  • language acquisition, word learning, naming
  • memory, including organisation of knowledge, retrieval processes
  • visual cognition, especially visual attention
  • biopsychology of psychotic disorders
  • biology of individual differences
  • the theory and modelling of motivation, emotion and learning
  • cognition and emotion
  • cognitive biases of attention and interpretation in anxiety
  • problem solving and skill acquisition, including assessment of complex skills
  • individual differences in learning and problem-solving performance, protocol analysis
  • neural network and symbolic models of cognition
  • connectionist models of learning, with particular reference to the simulation of selective attention and inferencing in categorisation
  • socio-cognitive skills and deficits in autism spectrum disorders
  • imagination and creativity: theoretical and individual
  • difference approaches
  • non-conscious semantic priming
  • hypnosis.
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Psychology postgraduate opportunities are also available in the Psychology in Social Sciences group (main topics social, forensic, occupational and theoretical psychology), and the Centre for Childhood, Development and Learning, Faculty of
Education and Language Studies (main topics developmental and educational psychology).
 
Centre for Biodiversity
 
Ecology and evolution research group
Professor Jonathan Silvertown, Dr David Gowing, Dr Mike Gillman
 
Research areas include:
  • gene flow and local adaptation of plants
  • genetic variation within subdivided populations
  • ecological and evolutionary studies in the Park Grass Experiment
  • nutrient availability in floodplain habitats
  • response of grassland communities to water and nutrient availability
  • sensitivity of plants to soil moisture status
  • water use by floodplain vegetation
  • orchid population dynamics and conservation
  • ecological role of amino acids in nectar
  • tropical butterfly communities.
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Animal behaviour and conservation
Dr Miranda Dyson, Dr David Robinson
 
Research areas include:
  • sexual selection, reproductive behaviour and physiology, especially of amphibians
  • conservation and captive breeding of amphibians
  • sound communication in animals
  • production and reception of ultrasound in bush crickets
  • mate choice and intrasexual competition in bush crickets
  • acoustic behaviour in birds and amphibians
  • acoustic aspects of sexual selection and mate choice in frogs.
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