Student research project
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor David Greening and Dr Alin Rai
Project summary
Recent advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics technology now allow the sensitive identification of very deep proteomes, and the ability to monitor the proteome of individual cells (i.e. single-cell proteomics). The heart is a central human organ and its diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, but an in-depth knowledge of how cardiomyocytes, a major cell type in the heart, are altered following cardiac dysfunction remains unknown.
This study aims to develop ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry approaches to present a first view of cardiomyocytes, their response after myocardial infarction, and to better understand cell heterogeneity. To gain a deeper insight into how cardiomyocytes are regulated by this pathological process, this technology-focused project will develop approaches for sample preparation, pre-fractionation, chromatography and mass spectrometry contributing towards the ultra-sensitive analysis of a unique cellular protein regulation in this context.
This project is suitable for a PhD student.