PhD Studentship, Departments of Pathology & Microbiology

Applications are sought for a three year PhD Studentship to start November 2006 onwards on the following project:

Phenotypic and comparative phylogenomic analysis of selected isolates of Y. enterocolitica

Yersinia enterocolitica is an enteric pathogen causing diarrhea, low grade fever and abdominal pain, following consumption of contaminated food, milk and water. Non enteric complications include post-infective arthritis and other immunological reactions, and contamination of blood for transfusion. The organism is widely distributed in nature and is found in animal and aquatic reservoirs. Pigs are the main animal reservoirs identified and consumption of pork products is a recognised risk factor for infection. No information relating to the epidemiology of Y. enterocolitica in the Irish food chain exists. As part of a major national study establishing the prevalence of Y. enterocolitica in various parts of the food chain in Ireland, the student will apply conventional biochemical typing procedures and novel molecular methods, including genomic microarray DNA hybridisation, to characterise food-source isolates and relate them to isolates from infected humans. The work will be carried out in the Department of Microbiology, UCC, and the Veterinary Food Safety Laboratory,Cork County Council,Inniscarra, Co. Cork.

PhD Studentship €17000 + EU student fees only.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For further details contact:

Professor Michael Prentice, m.prentice@ucc.ie  
Professor of Medical Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, UCC
http://www.ucc.ie/ucc/depts/microbio/mp.html

Dr Brenda P. Murphy, Brenda.Murphy@CorkCoCo.ie
Senior Research Scientist,Veterinary Food Safety Laboratory,
Cork County Council,Inniscarra,Co. Cork  

Closing date:  Wednesday, 01 November 2006

PhD studentship funded by Department of Agriculture and Food (Food Institutional Research Measure)

University College Cork is an Equal Opportunities Employer