Advanced Optical Techniques to Probe the Effect of Molecular Crowding on Lipid Membrane Dynamics

The state-of-the-art single-molecule technologies developed in York can now, for the first time, be
applied to address previously intractable biological questions involving vesicle conformation and activity.
Furthermore, the PhD student will work closely with Quinn to establish a new ultrafast spectroscopy facility within
the Department which will also serve to benefit internal (Krauss, Wang, Cavill, Kröger) and external (Johnson, Leech,
Moore, Baumann) academics. The work will also seed a major EPSRC Early Career Fellowship in support of Quinn
(2022), at least 2 EPSRC responsive mode bids (ca. £500k each) in EPSRC priority areas and will afford a
sustainable collaboration between Leake and Quinn over a 3+ year timeframe. We also require a PhD student to
complete experiments in support of at least 1 imminent high impact paper and 2-4 future publications. This project
will also add substantive value to the department given the recent growth of the Physics of Life team and new
laboratories, and will strengthen links with the York Biomedical Research Institute, as well as others across multiple
departments. At the time of writing, we have received four applications from potential PhD students, all of whom are
highly motivated and competent individuals, and three of whom are on target for excellent 1st class awards. All
candidates are, however, reliant on funding. Please note at the time of writing this application, Dr. Steve Quinn is in
the process of supervising his first PhD student at York (2020- 2023) and Prof. Leake will act in capacity of supporting
him and the candidate throughout this exciting programme of research.