In this multi-disciplinary project, you will gain expertise in plant cell wall and lignin biochemistry and biophysics, and develop skills and experience in advanced solid-state NMR as well as related experimental and computational approaches.
Yielding insight into structure and dynamics at atomic scale in complex biological systems is a major challenge for analytical science. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful probe of structure and dynamics that exploits the inherent magnetism of atomic nuclei. NMR will be applied in the solid state to understand the role of lignin in plant cell walls, in particular with the aim of better understanding enzymatic breakdown pathways that target the lignin; this is of key importance for improving the process of freeing up energy from plant biomass, but has more general relevance for enhancing our understanding of plant cell wall make-up more widely.
This project builds upon world-leading expertise in experimental solid-state NMR, plant cell walls and lignin breakdown enzymes in the groups of Professors Brown and Bugg in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, respectively, at the University of Warwick and our key collaborator, Professor Dupree in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. You will access state-of-the-art infrastructure in the University of Warwick solid-state NMR laboratory that hosts the UK High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (a 1.2 GHz instrument, the highest magnetic field for NMR in the UK, is at field since 2025). 13C labelling is a pre-requisite for the application of advanced solid-state NMR methodologies to plant cell walls. This project will focus on the spatial relationship between lignin and polysaccharides in cell walls: the Cambridge laboratory will provide samples grown in 13C CO2. There is scope to complement experimental work with calculations based on molecular dynamics and density-functional theory.
Applicants will apply via the links on our application page: Application.
