Aging sub-cellular powerstations

About the project

About the Project Student Background: Theoretical Physics, Mathematics/Statistics, Bioinformatics, Electrical Engineering, Computing (Biological knowledge not required). We have been investigating (genetic) variation in cellular power stations (mitochondria), an article about our work is here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/264393/cryptic-mitochondrial-dna-mutations-reveal-hidden/ Our group's goal is to understand human ageing and to develop therapies to combat disease. You can read more about our recent work in our blog: http://systems-signals.blogspot.co.uk/ or links via https://bsky.app/profile/syssig.bsky.social . As part of a 5-year multimillion pound collaboration between Imperial Mathematics, Imperial Chemistry, Glasgow and Bristol, and part of ARIA's Bioenergetic Engineering opportunity space https://aria.org.uk/opportunity-spaces/bioenergetic-engineering/ we have a fully funded 4-year studentship to start in ~Sept/Oct 2026 or earlier. The student can explore a range of topics from single cell informatics, to novel statistical genetics to topics in polymer physics with the unifying goal of helping engineer new mtDNA and understanding how mtDNA mutations can spread through cells. The project aims to generate the next generation of mitochondrial therapeutics and models. The student will work alongside an experienced Research Fellow. As computational and theoretical scientists we believe this is a particularly exciting area to study for two reasons. Not only does 1) mitochondrial (dys)function have deep connections to therapies for conditions like Parkinsons, Diabetes, ageing and Cancer (and we are working on these) it is 2) a topic that, though poorly understood, might be susceptible to the very basic (though mathematically nuanced) models that one constructs in theoretical and mathematical physics/ statistical genetics. This is an area where students can explore a new scientific direction since the medical promise and scientific opportunities easily exceed the number of computational and theoretical scientists. Students can develop new evolutionary computation, informatics and theory while also contributing to therapeutic design. We will place a substantial emphasis on single-cell sequencing and single-cell transcriptomics (these are among the most active areas of modern biomedicine): this involves aspects of machine learning/AI and bioinformatics. We will be building stochastic models that link to the results of our inference from the transcriptomics. We also link information about cellular state to cellular mutational state using tools from (Bayesian) Machine Learning. Though the project has experimental collaborators the project does not require experiments by the student nor assume any biological background. We are looking for passion and scientific intuition. We specifically welcome students from underrepresented groups and really do value a kind environment prioritising purposeful happiness. You can learn about the research of the systems and signals group on our site: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/nick.jones/research.html and from our blog: http://systems-signals.blogspot.co.uk/ or twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/syssig.bsky.social Further enquiries - contact with a CV detailing academic performance (i.e. including as detailed as possible information about grades/marks or equivalent): Nick Jones (Imperial Mathematics) https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/nick.jones

Research areas