Elucidating the signalling pathways important for antibody production and secretion in CHO cells

Constitutive secretion is a fundamental cellular process required for the delivery of newly
synthesised proteins and lipids to the cell surface as well as the exocytosis of physiologically
important molecules such as antibodies, cytokines and extracellular matrix proteins. This pathway
is conserved in all cell types and underpins biomanufacturing in CHO cells so has significant
financial importance. Constitutive secretion has been extensively studied over the last 40 years so
we have a good understanding of the molecular machinery that acts on this pathway. However, it
is not well understood how this machinery is coordinated and regulated by extracellular signals.
The overarching aims of this project are to: 1) identify which extracellular signals regulate antibody
production and secretion; 2) determine how these signalling pathways change during antibody
production in CHO cells and 3) manipulate these pathways to enhance antibody production and
performance of CHO cells. This project will provide training in advanced mass-spectrometry and
state of the art, high-throughput, automated systems for cell culture and phenotypic analysis at
GSK.
This project is a collaboration between the University of Sheffield and GSK Biopharmaceutical
Process Research, Stevenage so the student will spend a significant period of time based with the
company. Candidates should have a strong academic degree in biological sciences. The
successful candidate will be highly motivated, work effectively in a team setting and be interested
in cell biology, signalling and biomanufacturing. This studentship is available starting October 2020
and is a 4 year BBSRC-funded Industrial CASE PhD studentship. Applicant eligibility criteria for the
studentship can be found at www.bbsrc.ac.uk/documents/studentship-eligibility-pdf/ and you must
identify that you fit these criteria prior to application.