PhD Studentship in Plant Science/Biotechnology
Advert
Supervisor
Prof. Stephen C. Fry FRSE, The Edinburgh Cell Wall Group, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, The
University of Edinburgh, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK
Tel 0131 650 6520
E-mail [email protected]
http://fry.bio.ed.ac.uk//
Starting on or before 1 September 2017
Cellulose as a food additive and as an architectural component of
living plants
Funding
Fully funded for 3 years by a major UK food company.
This opportunity is only open to EU, including UK, nationals.
Candidates should have expertise in some or all of: carbohydrates, enzyme assays, ‘wet
biochemistry’, chromatography, or studies of the function of plant cell walls. Training in
the other relevant areas will be provided on the job.
Interested students may e-mail Prof. Fry for a preliminary discussion. Formal
applications should then be submitted, by 28 February 2017, through the University’s
EUCLID site, following the instructions found there:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/applying
Summary of project
The biological role of cellulose is as a major cell-wall component, contributing to the
architecture of all plants. However, the plant’s exact architectural needs vary during
growth and development. For example, the walls of young plant tissues need to be tough
but stretchable, in order to accommodate growth, whereas older tissues may require
rigid walls that resist wind damage etc. There are important differences between young
and old tissues in the properties of their cellulose.
In biotechnology, cellulose can be used as a food additive, including chocolate: it is a
relatively inert, tasteless, bio-compatible polymer that can be used to enhance their
physical properties (e.g. texture, including ‘mouth feel’) and health benefits (e.g. fibre
content) of certain foods. Different preparations of cellulose differ in their suitability for
this purpose, but the basis for these differences is not yet understood.
In this project the PhD student will test the hypothesis that celluloses serving different
biological roles in vivo possess biotechnologically different properties. The work will be
supervised by Prof. Stephen C. Fry, in collaboration with a large food company, and will
aim:
•
•
to define the properties of several commercial cellulose samples which, in
preliminary work, we have observed to differ in suitability for mixing with chocolate;
to explain the changes in food-relevant properties that have been noted when
cellulose samples are partially or completely dried;
•
to explore how the properties of cellulose in the living plant relate to the plant’s
changing needs during growth and development.
The project is thus a collaboration between pure and applied plant science, focused on
cellulose — the world’s most abundant organic material. The methodology will exploit
relatively simple techniques of ‘wet biochemistry’, intelligently applied to explore the
biological and biotechnological questions outlined above.
This studentship, in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, will run concurrently with
a related project on the properties of cellulose in the Department of Physics, located in
an adjacent building. The student in the IMPS laboratory will also have the opportunity
to gain experience of the food industry, in discussions with our industrial sponsors.
It is expected that the successful candidate will attend suitable conferences in order to
present the work as posters and/or seminars. He/she will also be expected to contribute
to the Edinburgh Cell Wall Group’s in-house seminar series.
Personnel and Laboratory
The project presents an ideal challenge for a PhD student, who would be able to benefit
not only from making a technological contribution to understanding the chemical basis of
the physical properties of celluloses as important food additives, but also from providing
new methodology and biological insight into cellulose as a component of the living plant
cell.
Prof. Fry’s laboratory (The Edinburgh Cell Wall Group, within IMPS) currently includes
two postdocs, 3 PhD students, and one technician. We routinely also accommodate 1–2
undergraduate project students annually, 1 MSc student, and a non-UK undergraduate
intern.
Fry has published 206 refereed original papers and 73 review articles, mostly concerning
plant cell-wall biochemistry.
Representative publications
Fry SC (2000). ‘The Growing Plant Cell Wall: Chemical and Metabolic Analysis’. Reprint Edition, The Blackburn Press,
Caldwell, New Jersey. Pp. xviii + 333 [ISBN 1-930665-08-3].
Airianah OB, Vreeburg RAM, Fry SC (2016). Pectic polysaccharides are attacked by hydroxyl radicals in ripening fruit:
evidence from a fluorescent fingerprinting method. Annals of Botany, 117: 441–455.
Simmons TJ, Mohler KE, Holland C, Goubet F, Franková L, Houston DR, Hudson AD, Meulewaeter F, Fry SC (2015).
Hetero-trans-β-glucanase, an enzyme unique to Equisetum plants, functionalises cellulose. Plant Journal, 83: 753–769.