[Lfm] MRC NW-DMS PhD opportunity – Merino Lab, University of Liverpool

[Merino, Marisa]

Dear Drosophila Colleagues,
I hope you are doing well.
We currently have an MRC NW-DMS PhD project available in our lab at the University of Liverpool, co-supervised with Prof Dan Palmer. I would be very grateful if you could share this with any suitable candidates.
The project asks how different liver cancer states become dependent on extracellular signalling, combining human HCC tissue, 3D spheroids and in vivo Drosophila genetics 🪰 to connect tumour biology with fundamental mechanisms of morphogen signalling.

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4-year PhD
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MRC NW-DMS competition-funded studentship
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Open to UK and international applicants
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Deadline: 27 November 2026

If interested, candidates are very welcome to contact me with a CV and brief cover letter:
📩 marisa.merino at liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:marisa.merino at liverpool.ac.uk>
Full project details:
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/mrc-nw-dms-dla-programme-state-selective-dependence-on-smoc-regulated-extracellular-signalling-in-hepatocellular-carcinoma/?p201596
📚 Background literature:

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Vuilleumier et al., Nat Cell Biol (2010) – secreted feedback control of Dpp
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Harmansa et al., Nature (2015) – Dpp spreading and tissue growth
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Merino et al., Nat Cell Biol (2022) – morphogen scaling and cell fitness
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Merino & Gonzalez-Gaitan, Trends Cell Biol (2023) – cell death decisions from morphogen fields
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Simon et al., eLife (2024) – extracellular control of Dpp stability

Many thanks in advance, and please do let me know if you have any questions.
BW,
Marisa.

Marisa M. Merino, PhD
Lecturer and Research Group Leader
Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
Department of Molecular & Clinical Cancer Medicine
University of Liverpool
Crown St
Liverpool
L69 7ZB
Tel: +44(0)151 7954989
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7003-3890

[cid:55e7451d-dfbf-4949-805f-1ed0d8dc50db]

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