The Vacancy
Background: Parasitic helminth infections are ubiquitous in grazing livestock throughout the world, causing significant economic and animal health burdens. Treatment and control of these parasites rely on a limited number of anthelmintic classes, but resistance to all classes is now widespread. There is increasing concern about the fate of anthelmintics in the environment once excreted from treated animals, where subtherapeutic and off-target exposure may perturb soil microbial and invertebrate communities and select for resistance in free-living stages of parasites. Anthelmintics have a degree of broad-spectrum activity against both non-target nematode species and other invertebrates. Notably there is well documented anthelmintic activity against dung beetles and flies; the macrocyclic lactones, including ivermectin and moxidectin, have well-established detrimental impacts on dung fauna. Soils host ~60% of all known diversity represented by a range of functional taxa that mediate key soil processes delivering essential ecosystem services including support for agricultural production, and climate change mitigation. Lacking is knowledge on the impact, if any, of anthelmintic activity on these non-target soil taxa. This studentship seeks to address this knowledge deficit by bringing together expertise from two Scottish Main Research Providers, The James Hutton Institute and Moredun Research, and the University of Glasgow.
Aim: To understand the impact, if any, of anthelmintic exposure on the (functional) biodiversity of key soil taxa (bacteria, fungi, nematode and in doing so the studentship seeks to test the overarching hypothesis that natural spatial and temporal variation of soil taxa is greater than detectable effects of anthelmintics.
Methods/Approach: Using controlled and field experimentation coupled with an ‘omics approach, the proposed studentship will measure drug residues in the environment with mass spectrometry, and characterise nematode, bacterial and fungal populations in faeces and soil with amplicon metabarcoding alongside anthelminthic resistance markers in the nematode population.
This 3.5yr PhD project is a competition jointly funded by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Glasgow. This opportunity is open to UK students and will provide funding to cover a stipend and UK level tuition. International students may apply, but must fund the difference in fee levels between UK level tuition and international tuition fees. Students must meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in the UKRI guidance on UK and international candidates. Applicants will have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent).
Our Commitment to Equality and Diversity
We will not consider the use of 3rd party recruitment agencies for the sourcing of candidates for this position.
The James Hutton Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
The James Hutton Institute is a: Stonewall Diversity Champion; Athena SWAN Silver Status Holder; Disability Confident Committed Employer and a Living Wage Employer.
The James Hutton Institute is Happy to Talk Flexible Working.