Deadline: 5 August 2022

Teagasc and partners are seeking an MSc candidate to undertake a project to investigate the effect of dairy ingredients on the metabolic activity in organs. The work will be undertaken in the Digestive-Characteristics of Dairy Product-Platform within the €40 Million VistaMilk Research Centre  and the Nutrition, Biomarkers and Health Research group in University College Dublin (UCD).

The MSc student will conduct a specified programme of taught and research training and development under the supervision and direction of two Principal Investigators.

Tissues do not function in isolation, but rather communicate with one another to sustain life. We have shown that this communication can be influenced by dairy ingredientsby changing the metabolism of nutrients in tissues. Thisnew project aims to determine the mechanismsfor the dairy effects using various metabolomic and metagenomic platforms and gene expression analyses, with the view to developingnovel dairy ingredients that can improve tissue functions, their communication and thereby reduce diet-related diseases such as obesity.

I.Requirements

• A minimum of 2.1 Honours degree in Nutrition, Microbiology, Physiology, Biotechnology, Molecular Biologyor a related field.
• Experience of working in a research environment.
• The successful candidate should be enthusiastic, self-motivated, and who will interact well within a larger research team, and contribute to VistaMilk activities

II. Award

The funding will commence on 3rd of October 2022 and is €24,000 per annum. This include University EU fees of up to a maximum of €5,500 and student stipend at a flat rate of €18,500per annum and is tenable for 2years.

III. How to Apply?

A curriculum vitae and contact details of two referees should be sent before the deadline to Dr. Kanishka Nilaweera ([email protected]) and Professor Lorraine Brennan ([email protected]

IV. VistaMilk Centre

VistaMilk Centre is hosted by Teagasc in partnership with the Tyndall National Institute, Ireland’s national microelectronics institute, the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group at Waterford Institute of Technology and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics (at UCD, NUIG and DCU). VistaMilk is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)