PhD Studentship: The Cardiac Positioning System – How Do Heart Progenitors Find Their Way?

Primary Supervisor - Professor Andrea Munsterberg

The first organ to develop in vertebrate embryos is the heart, when two streams of cardiac progenitor cells undertake an epic migration before reuniting at the heart field – the site of future heart formation. How do cardiac progenitors achieve this feat? What clues guide them along the way and how do they “read” them?

In this exciting PhD project, you will use live cell imaging to track migration of cardiac progenitor cells as they navigate towards the embryonic heart field. You will learn molecular functional approaches to identify the cellular apparatus used by these remarkable cells to interpret a complex cell signalling landscape.

Experimentally, you will gain skills in molecular biology to clone candidate genes for mis-expression, or knock them down using CRISPR/Cas9 approaches in migrating cardiac progenitors and map their perturbed migration trajectories. This will reveal how specific gene products influence cell migration and fate decisions during heart formation.

You will join a collaborative supervisory team at UEA (Andrea Münsterberg, Tim Grocott, James Mccoll), gaining skills in developmental biology, molecular genetics, live imaging/microscopy, and computational biology. This multi-disciplinary project offers the opportunity to make fundamental discoveries about the molecular control of heart development.

Contact a.munsterberg@uea.ac.uk or t.grocott@uea.ac.uk for more information.

The Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme (NRPDTP) is offering fully funded studentships for October 2027 entry. The programme offers postgraduates the opportunity to undertake a 4-year PhD research project whilst enhancing professional development and research skills through a comprehensive training programme. You will join a vibrant community of world-leading researchers. All NRPDTP students undertake a three-month professional internship placement (PIPS) during their study. The placement offers exciting and invaluable work experience designed to enhance professional development. Full support and advice will be provided by our Professional Internship team.

This project has been shortlisted for funding by the NRPDTP. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th February 2027.

This project is awarded with a 4-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD DTP studentship. The studentship includes payment of tuition fees (directly to the University), a stipend to cover living expenses (2026/27 stipend rate: £21,805, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000pa for each year of the studentship.

Our partners value diverse and inclusive work environments that are positive and supportive. Students are selected for admission without regard to gender, marital or civil partnership status, disability, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age or social background.

To maximise accessibility and attract students from underrepresented groups to our programme we have introduced bespoke templates for applicant Personal and Research statements which will enable every applicant to fully represent themselves through providing suitable examples and evidence. These forms are on the NRPDTP website and must be used for these sections of the application form.

Entry requirements

At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1. English Language requirement (Faculty of Science equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category).

Mode of study

Full-time

Start date

1 October 2027