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Details Understanding how the speed and sequential order of events is temporally coordinated during embryogenesis remains a fundamental challenge in biology. Biochemical oscillations, which are widely observed from single cells to whole organisms, provide a mechanism to both coordinate population behaviour and control temporal transitions if the number of oscillations can be counted, or changes in frequency or amplitude can be measured. Extensive theory has outlined general principles underlying oscillatory systems and suggests they can have rich information coding potential (e.g. in the phase, frequency, or amplitude) could be evolutionary advantageous. However, the molecular interactions that produce robust oscillatory behaviours, or how oscillations actually coordinate behaviour remain poorly understood. This project aims to combine quantitative modelling and experiments to generate a systems level understanding of the role and regulation of a classic biological oscillator – cAMP signalling in Dictyostelium discoideum . The rich history of genetic and theoretical studies in this system, together with recent advances in genetic manipulation, live cell imaging and multi-omics will offer you a unique opportunity to determine the molecular interactions that generate and sustain oscillations, and to understand the role of biochemical rhythms in the temporal coordination of collective behaviour and differentiation during multicellular development. Project outline Aim 1: Modelling oscillatory signalling D. discoideum lives as single amoebae when food is plentiful but transition to collective behaviour when starved. Thousands of cells aggregate together to form a multicellular slug and ultimately a fruiting body consisting of spore and stalk cells6 . This transition is marked by the appearance of waves of periodic cAMP production, secretion, and sensing. The development of fluorescent cAMP sensors and microfluidics has also revealed that single cells exhibit intrinsic dampened cAMP oscillations when stimulated, suggesting an intrinsically excitable signalling system . We recently demonstrated that this causes single cells to initially exhibit stochastic pulses, but when coupled between cells drives the emergence of synchronised collective behaviour (Brimson et al, Developmental Cell, 2025). However, current mathematical models are unable to explain how simple molecular interactions result in single cell or population-wide cAMP oscillations. • You will develop a mathematical model for oscillatory cAMP signalling that incorporates well-established interactions and reconciles key recent or overlooked observations Aim 2: Understanding temporal information coding and decoding In D. discoideum , the developmental programme results in coordinated changes in transcription, cAMP excitability, chemotaxis, differentiation and morphogenesis within 24 hours. This is likely driven by changes in the amplitude and frequency of cAMP oscillations. In other systems, differences in promoter activation kinetics, TF dwell time and chromatin state can translate oscillation frequency or amplitude into distinct gene expression responses. Consistent with this idea, two key cAMP responsive transcription facors Hbx5 and GtaC differ in their timing of activation and sensitivity to cAMP. However, the mechanism underlying how changes in cAMP oscillations encode information, or how this is decoded remain unknown. • You will use microfluidics, live cell imaging and transcriptomic approaches to determine how oscillatory signalling encodes temporal information, identify the genes that decode it, and uncover their molecular regulation. The project is co-supervised by Chris Thompson (University College London), (molecular genetics, computational genomics) and Kabir Hussein (University College London, (Mathematical modelling). Interested applicants should contact Professor Chris Thompson Please upload your application: • Curriculum vitae • A short supporting statement ( as a single PDF at the following address https://www.dropbox.com/request/ghcrp9f5que2wluntjki Funding Notes The studentship is funded for 4 years, and unfortunately is only available for home fees (uk citizens or pre/settled candidates). Funding is available for lab work as well as travel to conferences.