A PhD studentship in macromolecular transport at the blood-brain-barrier

该项目的目的是确定血脑屏障（人体最重要的代谢屏障之一）大分子转运调节的分子机制。因此，它通过表达专门的转运蛋白和受体来严格控制特定货物的内吞和转胞吞作用。虽然已经在血脑屏障中鉴定了几种转胞吞途径和受体，但关于是什么支配和控制这些途径进入、细胞内旅行和最终退出大分子仍然是未知的。为了解决这些问题，该项目将开发独特的纳米探针，对特定途径具有高度特异性，并应用于不同的体外血脑屏障模型，包括新型器官型3D和干细胞衍生系统。这是参与真正跨学科研究的独特机会，涵盖分子工程、物理生物学、合成生物学和纳米医学。

The aim of the project is to define molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of macromolecule transport at the blood-brain-barrier, one of most important metabolic barriers in the human body. It therefore tightly controls endocytosis and transcytosis of specific cargos by the expression of specialised transporters and receptors. Whilst several transcytosis pathways and receptors have been identified at the blood-brain-barrier, there are still unknowns about what governs and controls these pathways regarding entry, intracellular travel and eventually exit of macromolecules. To address these questions unique nanoprobes will be developed within the project, engineered to be highly specific for particular pathways, and applied to different in vitro blood-brain-barrier models including novel organotypic 3D and stem cell derived systems. This is a unique opportunity to participate in truly interdisciplinary research covers molecular engineering, physical biology, synthetic biology, and nanomedicine.