PhD Studentship: Making drugs out of sunlight and “thin air”

Primary Supervisor: Dr Michael Stephenson 

Could you uncover a hidden pathway to medicinally important plant molecules? 

Plants are extraordinary chemists, producing a diversity of complex molecules, many with valuable medicinal properties. But how they make some of these compounds remains a mystery. 

Join us at the University of East Anglia (UEA) to solve a puzzle in plant natural product biosynthesis: how are sesquiterpene coumarins, a rare and medicinally promising class of natural products, formed? 

This project will investigate a new hypothesis: that plants produce these compounds using an unexpected family of enzymes, related to the oxidosqualene cyclases involved in triterpene biosynthesis. Success will reveal an unknown biosynthetic mechanism and change our understanding of how these molecules evolved. 

Working at the interface of organic chemistry, synthetic biology and bioinformatics, you will search for and characterise these enzymes, investigate their evolutionary origins, and explore their potential to produce valuable natural products sustainably. 

You will use a plant-based expression platform, enabling you to investigate enzyme function, engineer biosynthetic pathways and produce compounds with potential pharmaceutical applications. 

Why should you apply? 

This project offers the opportunity to make a discovery while developing expertise across several advancing areas of chemical and biological research. 

Based in UEA's School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, you will work with an interdisciplinary supervisory team with strong links to the wider Norwich Research Park, including the John Innes Centre. 

You will gain hands-on experience in techniques spanning bioinformatics, computational chemistry, molecular and synthetic biology, enzyme engineering, natural product chemistry and structural elucidation. From identifying candidate genes and engineering enzymes to isolating and characterising complex molecules, you'll develop a versatile skill set at the interface of chemistry and biology. 

If you're excited by molecular discovery, curious about how nature creates complex chemistry, and keen to develop new approaches to producing medicinally valuable compounds, apply now. 

Entry requirements

The minimum entry requirement is 2:1 in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, or related subjects.

Mode of Study: Full-time

Start date: 1 October 2027

Additional Funding Information

This PhD project is in a competition for a Faculty of Science funded studentship. Funding is available to UK applicants and comprises ‘home’ tuition fees and an annual stipend for 3 years. The current UEA / institutional PhD stipend rate is £21,805 and will be subject to any agreed inflationary uplift for 2027/28.