PhD project: Identification of novel fungal enzymes involved in agrochemical oxidation

PhD Award summary

A 3.5 year Warwick Industrial PhD Fellowship through a partnership between the University of Warwick and the agrichemical company Syngenta.
Applications are open to Home (UK) students only.
The studentship will pay an annual tax-free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27; subject to annual uplift), and paid tuition fees.
The PhD will start 5 October 2026.

Supervisory team

You will join a friendly, collaborative lab with expertise in fungal genetics and biocatalysis, and work closely with Syngenta scientists on real industrial challenges. The project will be jointly supervised by a multidisciplinary team comprising Dr Fabrizio Alberti and Dr Lijiang Song (University of Warwick), and Dr Matt Bennett and Dr Andrew Gomm (Syngenta).

Application deadline: 31 March 2026

Interview date: to be confirmed

Why this project matters: Join a project at the interface of synthetic biology and sustainable agriculture that will allow you to gain skills in genomics, fungal engineering, and analytical chemistry.

Entry requirements:

At least bachelor’s 2:1 or master’s degree in Biochemistry or a related subject (e.g. Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Medicinal Chemistry).
You must be able to provide 2 satisfactory academic references

PhD project overview

Agrochemicals are compounds used in agriculture as fertilisers and crop protection agents. Once released in the environment, they undergo chemical modifications, such as breakdown and oxidations, which alter their structures and consequently their properties. Toxicological studies are required to assess agrochemical metabolites for regulatory approval and risk management.

Through this PhD project, you will discover and characterise enzymes that fungi use to transform agrochemicals into their corresponding metabolites, which can be used for analytical and toxicology studies. Ultimately, the outcomes of your work will support the development of improved agrochemicals for crop protection, where expensive and often inefficient chemical methods will be replaced by greener, more sustainable approaches.

During the project you will:

1. Screen a panel of fungal strains for the oxidation of commercial agrochemicals into their corresponding metabolites, the production of which will be assessed using LC-HRMS.

2. Perform genome sequencing and annotation of selected fungal strains identified for oxidation capability, followed by transcriptomics-aided genome mining of genes of interest.

3. Express genes of interest in phylogenetically related heterologous hosts using tools and protocols that have been developed (e.g. [1]) and/or are routinely employed in the Alberti lab [2, 3].

4. Optimise and develop methods for the scale-up of selected biotransformations for structure elucidation using NMR spectroscopy of purified compounds.

Overall, you will deliver recombinant cell factories for the efficient expression of fungal biocatalysts, which will expand on Syngenta’s capability to produce agrochemical metabolites to be used for analytical and toxicology studies.

Training opportunities

You will graduate as a multidisciplinary bioscientist trained in genomics, fungal engineering, and analytical chemistry – skills highly sought after in the biotechnology sector. During your PhD, you will have access to the excellent facilities of the School of Life Sciences and the Department of Chemistry of the University of Warwick. You will also undertake fully sponsored placements at Syngenta’s Jealott's Hill International Research Centre, where you will be trained on the use of cutting-edge equipment and techniques, e.g. high-throughput screening platforms.

Key experimental skills involved: genomics, transcriptomics, genetic engineering of fungi, LC-HRMS, HPLC, NMR spectroscopy

References:

1) Jin & Alberti (2025) STAR Protoc 6, 103668. Doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2025.103668.

2) Pahirulzaman et al. (2012) Methods Enzymol 517, 241. Doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-404634-4.00012-7.

3) Alberti et al. (2017) Nat Commun 8, 1831. Doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01659-1.

 

How to apply

• If you’re excited by the idea of discovering new fungal enzymes and applying them to sustainable agriculture, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to email Dr Fabrizio Alberti with any questions via email

• Queries about completing the application form can be sent to: .
• Complete the online application formLink opens in a new window selecting course code: P-C1PB - PhD Life Sciences.
  In the Funding section, select 'STUDENTSHIP Scholarships Selected: Other/Not Listed'. Add these details: Contact: Nikki Glover, Email: , 100% funded. In the Research Proposal section you can simply add 'Applying for an advertised PhD studentship and upload any document e.g CV. A research proposal is not required.
• Upload a transcript from your current or previous study and any other documents that you feel would support your application.
• Ask your referees to submit a reference for you. Note: when you submit your application, an email will automatically be sent to your referees requesting a reference for you. This email will contain a secure link for your referee to upload a reference for you.
• The deadline for applications is 31 March 2026

For further information about applying to Warwick see the application FAQ'sLink opens in a new window

Keywords: Fungi; agrochemicals; microbiology; biocatalysis