Unlocking new avenues to target the ‘undruggable’ proteome

Application deadline midday (GMT) 9 January 2026, late applications will not be considered.

Using drugs that ‘glue’ proteins together, or ‘molecular glues’, is a powerful, alternative therapeutic strategy to modulate protein-protein interactions which are disrupted in disease. Measuring how well these drugs glue proteins together is challenging and knowledge on how the good ‘glues’ work is lacking, preventing us from designing better ones. This project will involve gaining knowledge on how molecular glues are designed (at Biotech company, Ternary Tx), and then testing these ideas out. To evaluate their performance, we will adapt, refine and use techniques called native mass spectrometry and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry. Both technologies have been recently developed and applied by the Leney and Doveston laboratories to study molecular glues and both have exciting potential for speeding up molecular glue discovery.

The project will focus on the design and optimisation of glues for targets that are in high clinical need. These targets include cancers, inflammation and fibrosis. Together, the highly interdisciplinary project will provide world-class training in native mass spectrometry techniques, chemical biology and computational drug design, including using the latest AI and ML methods, that will provide excellent foundations for a successful career within the pharmaceutical industry and beyond.

We welcome applications from home, EU and international applicants. Due to stipulations from the funders, recruitment for international applicants to the DTP is capped at 30% of the whole cohort. Further information including the application form and information as to is on the MRC AIM website https://more.bham.ac.uk/mrc-aim/phd-opportunities/ .