PhD and Student Internship Opportunities

FAO final-year undergraduate and PGT students:

PhD Opportunity:  

A fully-funded PhD studentship, funded by the Anatomical Society, is available in the lab.  For more details, see the School of Biosciences PhD opportunities page, and search for Supervisor = Whitfield. 

We are holding an online information session for applicants on Thursday 19th February at 2 pm.  The meeting will be an informal opportunity for applicants to meet Professor Whitfield and Dr Noël, ahead of any formal application.  We will explain the background to the project and we can give an overview of PhD study in the School of Biosciences.  There will also be an opportunity to ask questions.  Please drop me an email (t.whitfield@sheffield.ac.uk) if you are interested in the project and would like to join the session.

Closing date for applications: Friday 27th Feburary.

Internship Opportunity:  

We are looking for a final-year student to join our small and friendly research team for a 70-hour funded internship as a Student Experience Technical Assistant. The main aim of the internship is to provide a rewarding experience working alongside a lab technician in a technical support role within a laboratory setting.

You will help with routine tasks in a developmental biology lab such as collection, sorting and preparation of samples for microscopy or genotyping, and assistance with general lab 'housekeeping' duties (routine preparation of solutions, ordering and recording stock, sustainable working etc). The work will include some straightforward interpretation of information, data collection and calculations. You will be required to keep careful electronic records of your work throughout the internship. You will gain insight into the smooth running of a research laboratory and gain skills and experience of working with others in a small team. Towards the end of the internship, you will prepare a short reflective report of your experience for presentation to the rest of the team.

The internship could be completed as a full-time position after the exams, or as a part-time position during term-time.

Please have a look at the lab webpage for more information about the lab.

If you would like to apply, this link will take you to this specific internship — I look forward to seeing your applications. 

Closing date: Friday 27th February

Eligibility: This is an exclusive internship open to current final year undergraduate students and final year postgraduate taught students from the University of Sheffield.

January 2026

 Happy New Year!

Congratulations to Anna Tythacott, who has graduated with an MSc in Biomedical Science!

Nahal hosted five Y12 students from High Storrs School, giving them a tour of the labs and facilities and an opportunity to observe zebrafish embryos.  They also explored the University of Sheffield campus and joined in a lab meeting.

November–December 2025

Getting ready for Xmas early with sparkly jumpers and paper hats.  
Thanks to Nahal for organising Xmas lunch for the C21 labs!

Spinning the disks! - Training session on the spinning disk confocal microscope

Tanya and Freek van Eeden ran another successful MSc practical class in Developmental Genetics, where students got to learn zebrafish CRISPR injection.

Lab outing for pizza!

October 2025

Nahal and Aaron spent a rewarding morning talking to students at High Storrs School at their Careers Day about further study and careers in the Biosciences.

September 2025

Ethan presented a poster, and Tanya gave a talk, at the 1st UK Zebrafish meeting, held at Exmouth and the Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter.  It was a lively meeting, full of excellent science and discussions, and we enjoyed meeting up with friends, colleagues and collaborators.  Many thanks to the local organisers Steffen, Soojin, Greg, Nik and Carol for such a great meeting!

Nahal returns to join the lab as a postdoc, continuing her work on disease modelling and characterising new CRISPR-generated mutants with interesting ear phenotypes!  

Nahal ran the Sheffield 10K in support of Crohn's and Colitis UK.

Our collaborative paper on zebrafish olfactory ionocytes is now out in Chemical Senses.  Former PhD student King Yee Cheung, jointly supervised by Suresh Jesuthasan, shares first authorship with Júlia Peloggia, a former PhD student in the Piotrowski lab.

August 2025

Many congratulations to Nahal Shahidan, who successfully passed her PhD viva, and gave an excellent pre-viva talk.  Many thanks to Emily Noël and Graham Ladds (University of Cambridge) for examining.  Nahal now takes a well-earned rest before returning to the lab as a postdoc in September.

Congratulations also to Anna Tythacott, who has completed her MSc research project in the lab, supervised by Nahal.  Anna gave an excellent poster presentation of her work as part of the MSc examination.

July 2025

Tanya gave a lecture on the use of zebrafish chemical screening for drug discovery at the 44th European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC), in beautiful Urbino, Italy.  Many thanks to the organisers for the invitation, and to all the students for their hard work and enthusiasm on the course!

In Sheffield, we hosted a visit from our collaborator Dr Giselle Wiggin from Nxera Pharma, a GPCR-based drug discovery company based in Cambridge.  Giselle gave a seminar and met with lab members, in addition to discussing collaborative projects. 

Later in the month, Nahal paid a reciprocal visit to the Nxera Pharma labs in Cambridge.  She gave a talk on her PhD project on the adhesion GPCR Adgrg6, and enjoyed a day of discussions with colleagues there.  She also met up with former PhD student Anzar Asad, who is now employed at the company and doing well:

Anzar -- Nxera Pharma team -- Nahal

We also enjoyed two excellent one-day meetings held in Sheffield: a BSDB Northern Developmental Biology meeting, at which Haseeb gave a talk, and a symposium for the Bateson Centre for Disease Mechanisms.

Congratulations to former undergraduate summer project student Isabella Russell-Smith, who graduated with a First Class MBiomedSci degree this month.  Issi will be soon be starting a PhD at Imperial College London (UK Dementia Research Institute) supervised by Dr Samuel Barnes, with the aim of developing new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.