Dr Victoria McAneany from the RSCI, Dublin will deliver a seminar on her research entitled "Rapid Actions of Aldosterone in the Renal Cortical Collecting Duct -From Receptor to Effector”
SFI funded PhD Studentship available
Candidates are invited to apply for a PhD position to study role of interstitial cells of Cajal in the corpus cavernosum.
Erectile dysfunction affects around 10% of all men and up to 50% of diabetic men over 50 years old. Although not life threatening, this disorder threatens the quality of life, causing loss of self-esteem and placing severe strain on relationships.
Moreover, up to 40% of male diabetics are unresponsive to treatments with PDE5 inhibitors such as sildenafil (Viagra). At present these people must retain the hope that a wider range of treatments will be developed in future. One problem is that, despite recent improvements in the understanding and treatment of erectile dysfunction, the basic cellular mechanisms that contribute to penile erection have still not been fully elucidated. By rectifying this gap in knowledge, intervention at new levels may become be possible.
This study will be the first to provide a detailed account of the signalling behaviour of a newly discovered cell type in the erectile tissue of the penis. We hypothesize that these ‘Interstitial Cells of Cajal’ (ICC) either act as the primary pacemakers responsible for corpus cavernosum contraction, act as conducting pathways which co-ordinate activity between different muscle bundles, or have a modulatory role in contraction. We will study the role of these cells by using single cell patch clamp, confocal Ca2+ imaging and Ca2+ imaging in small tissue segments to distinguish between these possibilities.
The successful candidate will work with the Smooth Muscle Research Centre in Dundalk Institute of Technology, County Louth, Ireland. We are a dynamic team of researchers who occupy newly built laboratories with state of the art facilities. The proposed project will provide full training to a student in electrophysiology, Ca2+ imaging and molecular biology techniques and will therefore make them extremely marketable in a future scientific career.
The study is funded on a project grant under Science Foundation Ireland’s Research Frontiers programme and will provide the successful candidate with living expenses, fees, travel to domestic and international meetings as well as all of the running costs of the project.
Applicants should have a 2:1 or 1st Class Honours Degree (or equivalent) in physiology, biochemistry, biomedical science or another appropriate biological science subject.
Applicants should forward a full CV and detail any research experience gained to date to Dr Keith Thornbury: keith.thornbury@dkit.ie
Starting date 1st September 2007