RNA viruses represent major pathogens of animals and humans, including SARS-CoV-2, norovirus, and pathogens with pandemic potential such as MERS-CoV and ‘Disease X’. Positive-sense RNA viruses, such as those above, replicate by generating a long polyprotein that is post-translationally cleaved by viral and in some cases cellular proteases into various fully- and partially-cleaved forms that come together to regulate viral infection. An additional layer of regulation can come from post-translational modification of viral proteins, such as phosphorylation, methylation or nucleotidylation. In this project you will build on and extend the groups extensive data to characterise post-translational modifications of viral and cellular proteins throughout positive-sense RNA virus infection, and characterise the pro- and antiviral roles they play, and if they serve a regulatory purpose in the viral life cycle.

There is flexibility in how this project develops, with two key directions this project can go – the viral characterisation aspect, or developing LC-MS/MS methods to better characterise rare PTMs. In the former case this would suit candidates with prior virology experience, and in the latter case with prior LC-MS/MS experience.

You will be based in Ed Emmott’s lab, part of the Centre for Proteome Research, and the Department of Biochemistry, Cell & Systems Biology at the University of Liverpool, with access to cutting-edge equipment including a cellenONE for single-cell sample preparation, containment level 3 laboratories, and the latest generation Orbitrap Astral Zoom for mass spectrometry analysis.

RNA viruses represent major pathogens of animals and humans, including SARS-CoV-2, norovirus, and pathogens with pandemic potential such as MERS-CoV and ‘Disease X’. Positive-sense RNA viruses, such as those above, replicate by generating a long polyprotein that is post-translationally cleaved by viral and in some cases cellular proteases into various fully- and partially-cleaved forms that come together to regulate viral infection. An additional layer of regulation can come from post-translational modification of viral proteins, such as phosphorylation, methylation or nucleotidylation. In this project you will build on and extend the groups extensive data to characterise post-translational modifications of viral and cellular proteins throughout positive-sense RNA virus infection, and characterise the pro- and antiviral roles they play, and if they serve a regulatory purpose in the viral life cycle.

There is flexibility in how this project develops, with two key directions this project can go – the viral characterisation aspect, or developing LC-MS/MS methods to better characterise rare PTMs. In the former case this would suit candidates with prior virology experience, and in the latter case with prior LC-MS/MS experience.

You will be based in Ed Emmott’s lab, part of the Centre for Proteome Research, and the Department of Biochemistry, Cell & Systems Biology at the University of Liverpool, with access to cutting-edge equipment including a cellenONE for single-cell sample preparation, containment level 3 laboratories, and the latest generation Orbitrap Astral Zoom for mass spectrometry analysis.