Program Overview

Learn about the molecular foundations of life itself with BSc Biochemistry with Foundation.

Are you keen to take our BSc Biochemistry course but haven’t taken the necessary A level subjects? Our BSc Biochemistry with Foundation is a four-year programme that includes a year of foundational study and leads directly into the three-year course.

Molecules are at the centre of all life from the smallest virus to the largest animal. Biochemists seek to understand how molecular processes control life at various levels; how do molecules make cells work, how do these cells coordinate in an organ and finally, how do these organs signal and work together for life to function? Biochemistry is at the forefront of understanding how molecules control and affect life, and an appreciation of these concepts allows biochemists to answer life’s fundamental questions and contribute to resolving critical biological problems such as designing drugs to treat cancer or even bacteria that can clean up an oil spill.

Through your lectures at Reading you will explore and discuss these biochemical concepts accumulating in an in-depth understanding of the subject. You will have the opportunity to study your subject in a layered approach where you will focus on the molecular and cellular concepts of biochemistry in Year 1, followed by discussions of the organ and organism effects of these biochemical processes in Year 2. Finally, in Year 3 you will study topics at the forefront of biochemistry from cutting-edge research to human disease and structural biology. During Year 3, you will also take part in an 11-week research project where you will draw on all your skills and knowledge to tackle a biochemical research question.

Our new £60m Health and Life Sciences building will open in 2020. As the new home of the School of Biological Sciences, it will offer state-of-the-art research and teaching laboratories, seminar rooms, and plenty of study and social space, including a café. The building will also house the Cole Museum of Zoology. The collection, featuring over 3,500 natural history specimens, provides a fantastic resource for biological scientists and the wider community.