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3-year PhD studentship available from October 2011
Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences and School of Biological Sciences University of Reading Project title:
Optimisation of prebiotic galactooligosaccharide production through enzyme engineering
Project overview:
Prebiotic oligosaccharides are compounds with potential health benefits, and as such have found various commercial applications as nutraceutical supplements or food ingredients. The
aim of this project is to substantially improve the current process for the production of galactooligosaccharides (GOS), which involves the enzymatic synthesis of it from lactose using a b-galactosidase from
Bifidobacterium, expressed in E. coli. The specific objectives of the project are to engineer the enzyme through site-directed mutagenesis and rational design in order to increase the production yields and the ratio of oligosaccharides with a
high degree of polymerisation in the product mixture, and to optimise the fermentation and purification process for its production.
The PhD candidate will develop expertise in a range of techniques and methodologies including enzymology, protein engineering, protein _expression_, fermentation, purification,
preparative and analytical chromatography. Supervisors:
Dr Dimitris Charalampopoulos (Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences), Dr Kim Watson (School of Biological Sciences)
Funding Details:
Studentship will cover Home/EU Fees and pay the Research Council minimum stipend (£13,590 for 2010/11) per year for a period of up to 3 years.
Eligibility:
Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent. Please note that due to restrictions on the funding, this studentship is for UK/EU applicants only.
How to apply:
Eligible candidates should complete a University of Reading postgraduate application form available from http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/apply/pg-applicationform.aspx. This should be
submitted with supporting documents either to scipg@rdg.ac.uk or to: Postgraduate Office Joint Faculty Office for Science and Life Sciences Geography Building University of Reading, PO Box 227 Reading, RG6 6AB
Application Deadline: Thursday, 31 March 2011
Further Enquiries:
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Dimitris Charalampopoulos d.charalampopoulos@reading.ac.uk or Dr Kim Watson k.a.watson@reading.ac.uk.
For application enquiries please contact Jonathan Lloyd j.d.lloyd@reading.ac.uk
http://www.reading.ac.uk/research/res-pgr-degrees/FundingOpportunities/res-pgstudlife |