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Closing date: 13th December
The University of Bristol offers a funded PhD investigating how sub-clinical heart injury relates to blood-brain barrier damage, cognitive decline and dementia.
Funded PhD – Investigating the causal relationship and molecular mechanisms that underpin sub-clinical cardiac injury, cognitive decline, and dementia
Institution: University of Bristol, School of Psychology and Neuroscience
Supervisors: Dr Scott Miners, Dr Jonathan Blackman, Dr Neil Goulding, Dr L Coulthard
Application deadline: Sunday, December 13, 2026
Funding type: Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
Subject areas: Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Cardiology, Epidemiology, Neuroscience
About the project
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide. Heart failure and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) increase the risk of dementia by up to 55% and reducing CVD risk factors, for example by intensive blood-pressure control, can effectively lower dementia rates. Both CVD and AD have long pre-clinical phases offering a window of opportunity for diagnostic marker development and therapeutic intervention. However, the molecular mechanisms and pathophysiological processes linking CVD and dementia remain poorly understood.
Recent studies have shown that baseline circulating sub-clinical markers of cardiac injury, including elevated levels of serum cardiac-specific troponins and NT-proBNP, predict steeper cognitive decline and are related to brain atrophy and increased risk of dementia at 10-year follow-up (reviewed(1)). Reduced cerebral blood flow (hypoperfusion), and blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakiness, which are likely to be influenced by cardiac dysfunction, accelerate cognitive decline beginning in the sub-clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease (reviewed(2)). We have recently shown that CSF, and blood-markers of cerebrovascular injury and BBB damage are elevated in the pre-clinical AD and are closely related to the onset of cognitive decline and AD pathological change(3).
Aims and objectives
The aim of the PhD studentship is to map the temporal relationship between blood markers of CVD, BBB leakiness, and neuronal damage in relation to the onset and progression of cognitive decline and dementia pathology.
Using a multi-disciplinary lab-based and quantitative approach, we will investigate the following:
- Objective (i) Determine if sub-clinical markers of cardiac injury in blood are related to blood-based markers of BBB breakdown, neuronal injury, and AD pathology in large well-characterised clinical and population cohorts.
- Objective (ii) Determine if sub-clinical markers of cardiac injury in blood are predictive of cognitive decline and precede changes in circulating levels of neuronal injury and AD specific markers in longitudinal cohorts.
- Objective (iii) Determine if sub-clinical markers of cardiac injury in blood are related to neuropathological hallmarks of dementia using post-mortem brain tissue and bloods collected in life from the same donors.
Methods
The study will capitalise on existing longitudinal collections of blood samples from participants with extensive cognitive and cardiovascular health data collected as part of routine clinical dementia clinics (Research into Memory, the Brain and Dementia), neuropathological studies (Brains for Dementia Research (BDR)) and population-based cohorts including the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Circulating levels of markers of cardiac injury (NT-proBNP, cardiac troponins), cerebrovascular and BBB injury (sPDGFRβ, ANGPT2, TIE-2, PlGF, and albumin), neuronal injury (pentraxin, NFl) and Alzheimer’s disease pathology (ptau217, AB42/40 ratio) will be measured by ELISA. The temporal relationship between the blood-based markers will be assessed in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies and disease modelling will be performed to assess if circulating markers of cardiac injury are predictive of subsequent cognitive decline. The student will also determine whether circulating markers of cardiac injury are related to Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological change by exploring the relationship in donors with matched bloods and post-mortem brain tissue in the BDR cohort. Finally, the student will use disease modelling and mendelian-randomisation to determine if circulating markers of cardiac injury are related to cognitive decline and dementia risk using large UK biobank data.
This inter-disciplinary research programme builds upon growing evidence of the bi-directional relationship between the heart-brain axis as a major contributor to cognitive decline and dementia and will create an invaluable resource for future research within this field.
How to apply
Before applying, please check the entry requirements.
Submit your application via the University of Bristol portal. Search for and then select ‘Neuroscience (PhD)’. Click ‘Apply’ for September 2027 start.
You must provide the following in your application:
- A CV
- Two referees (add to the Reference section of your application form)
- A personal statement highlighting your motivation for applying for this PhD, and any relevant experience and/or skills (maximum of one side of A4, font size 11). We are keen to support applicants from minority and under-represented backgrounds (based on protected characteristics) and those who have experienced other challenges or disadvantages. Please use your personal statement to ensure we can take these factors into account.
- Certificates and transcripts
- Enter the project title and the supervisor names as they appear on this advert in the Research section.
- A research statement/proposal is not required. You should upload a blank document in this section.
- In the funding section, choose ‘Grand Challenge Scholarship’.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Read the list above carefully and ensure you have uploaded all required documents by the deadline. If you have yet to complete your degree, please supply an interim transcript where possible.
You can find more information on how to prepare your application and what we are looking for at the “PhD Application Workshop” which will be held on Teams on Monday 23rd November at 2pm (GMT): PhD Application Workshop.
Applications will be shortlisted in January 2027 with interviews in February 2027. The anticipated start date for this scholarship is September 2027.
Please visit our website for more information on PhD opportunities in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.
Further enquiries
Project-specific queries: scott.miners@bristol.ac.uk
Application queries: uob-pgradmissions@bristol.ac.uk
Funding Notes
The University of Bristol is one of the most popular and successful universities in the UK, ranked 51st globally (QS 2026), top five in the UK for research (THE analysis of REF 2021), and 6th most targeted by UK employers (High Fliers 2026).
This is a four-year scholarship covering tuition fees, a UKRI-rate stipend (£21,805 in 2026/27, updated annually), and £10,000 annual research costs.
The scholarship is available to home (UK) students only.
References
[1]. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.125.047458
To apply for this job please visit www.findaphd.com.
