PhD Studentship: Reductive Dearomatisation through New-to-Nature Biocatalysis

Application deadline: 28/02/2027 Research theme: Biocatalysis and enzyme engineering This 4-year PhD project is fully funded by the School of Natural Sciences; students who are eligible to pay tuition fees at the Home rate are eligible to apply. The successful candidate will receive an annual tax-free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27) and tuition fees will be paid. We expect the stipend to increase each year. The start date is October 2027. We recommend that you apply early as the advert may be removed before the deadline. The Buller group have co-pioneered the development of a new cofactor that substitutes the central iron atom on haem for cobalt, CoPPIX.1,2 Recently, we have reported that this new cofactor can perform enantioselective metal-hydrogen atom transfer (MHAT) catalysis, a reaction of superb synthetic utility in organic synthesis. We are working to expand the scope of transformations possible via MHAT. For this project, we will focus on a new mode of reductive dearomatization discovered originally on highly electron-deficient anisoles.3 The project will use directed evolution to increase activity on increasingly inert substrates, with the ambitious goal of achieving activity on mono-substituted benzenes and substituted heteroaromatic systems. Success will yield both a new suite of catalysts for MHAT transformations and access to chemical building blocks for use in materials and medicinal chemistry research. Engineered enzymes themselves serve as tools to study how mutations can tune CoPPIX reactivity. This project may use AI tools to model sequence-activity relationships and offers comprehensive training in laboratory enzyme engineering research. Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.