1st year MSc (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research). The student will be assigned to a PhD project prior to the 2nd year of study.

T细胞是我们免疫系统的重要组成部分，它可以消除感染，使我们在不断接触病原体的情况下保持健康。T细胞包含一个复杂的信号网络，决定我们身体的细胞是否被感染，但有时这个决策过程是无效的，导致疾病。目前的许多药物都是为了操纵这些信号通路来改善对感染或癌症的免疫反应。虽然在识别这些网络的各个部分方面已经取得了很大的进展，但我们还必须了解它们之间的动态联系，以了解这些疗法是如何起作用的，并有希望改善它们。然而，对于大多数信号网络来说，这方面的知识仍然非常有限。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了新的分子工具，通过光响应的工程输入来研究T细胞信号网络的动力学，使我们能够在空间和时间上精确控制信号。在这个项目中，我们将探索T细胞如何将不同的输入信号组合在一起来控制下游输出响应。我们将开发和实施新的工具，在机制层面调查这个问题。了解T细胞如何“整合”信息具有重要意义，因为目前用于癌症免疫治疗的许多“检查点”抑制剂药物破坏了这一过程，因此阐明它们的工作原理是改善其临床功能所必需的。承担该项目的博士生将掌握一系列生物化学和细胞生物学技术，以使用定量方法调查与医学研究相关的问题。该学生还将在使用计算和数学方法的数据集建模的原理和应用方面获得良好的基础，这将提供强大的跨学科技能培训。

T cells are an essential part of our immune system that eliminate infections to keep us healthy despite constant exposure to pathogens. T cells contain an intricate signalling network that decides whether the cells of our body have become infected, but sometimes this decision-making process is ineffective and leads to disease. Many current drugs are designed to manipulate these signalling pathways to improve the immune response to infection or cancer. Whilst great progress has been made in identifying the parts of these networks, we must also understand the dynamic connections between them to know how these therapies work and hopefully improve them. However, for most signalling networks this knowledge remains very limited. To address this, we develop new molecular tools to investigate the dynamics of the T cell signalling network by engineering inputs that are light-responsive, giving us precise control over signalling in space and time.In this project, we will explore how different input signals are combined together by T cells to control the downstream output response. We will develop and implement new tools to investigate this question at the mechanistic level. Understanding how T cells 'integrate' information has important consequences, as many of the 'checkpoint' inhibitor drugs currently used for cancer immunotherapy disrupt this process, so elucidating how they work is required to improve their clinical function.The PhD student undertaking this project will master an array of biochemical and cell-biological techniques required to investigate questions relevant to medical research using quantitative approaches. The student will also get an excellent grounding in the principles and application of dataset modelling using computational and mathematical approaches from the second supervisor, which will provide strong interdisciplinary skills-training.