Program Overview

 Biomedical science is about deepening our understanding of the human body in health and disease, helping to develop treatments that can save and improve lives.

 The MSc Advanced Biomedical Science provides the skills and knowledge to create wide-ranging opportunities for employment in fields such as hospital science, biomedical and pharmaceutical industries or public health laboratories within the NHS. The opportunity to develop your research skills, explore specialist areas, and complete an independent research project, provides preparation for careers in research or teaching or to pursue studies towards a PhD. The course aims to produce postgraduates who have the knowledge and skills to become professional biomedical scientists and operate at an advanced level. Core modules will develop knowledge of the biological aspects of disease processes while introducing cutting edge analytical skills.

Our extensive links with NHS and private laboratories, ensure course content is kept up to date and relevant to employers. You are introduced to some of the contemporary issues facing the industry. The course provides hands-on practical experience of both laboratory and bioinformatics techniques. You are trained in biotechnology research strategies and gain a sound understanding of the nature of business based on bioscience knowledge and research, their opportunities for innovation and regulatory requirement constraints, intellectual property and ethical issues. The course develops comprehensive knowledge and understanding of biomedical science in the 21st century. It focuses on genomics and bioinformatics together with emerging clinical biochemistry and diagnostic techniques. You also have the option to explore pathobiology of genetic disorders or neurodegenerative disease or infectious diseases in great depth.

The course is delivered at the University’s National Horizons Centre (NHC), a new £22m research, teaching and training facility which addresses the growth needs of the bio-based industries set to transform the UK economy, including biologics, industrial biotechnology and bio-pharmaceuticals.

The centre’s imaginative design includes a blend of teaching, learning and collaboration spaces, hi-tech laboratories and a state-of-the-art computing suite. Open innovation spaces provide businesses with the tools for project development using data analytics, modelling and simulation, visualisation and process improvement and control. Next to CPI’s National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and the University’s Centre for Professional and Executive Development, the NHC is at the heart of an ecosystem of life science excellence. Our extensive links with NHS and private laboratories, ensure course content is kept up to date and relevant to employers, meaning students are introduced to some of the contemporary issues facing the industry.

The NHC offers state-of-the-art analytical and digital infrastructure supporting basic and applied research in the biosciences and across disciplinary boundaries, aligned to academic excellence and industry needs. It exposes students to a significant internationally competitive research and innovation capability that is responsive and engaged with industry needs to develop sustainable relationships with regional and national partners to power growth and innovation in the bioscience sector.

• Facilities in the centre enable students to engage with a range of advance and innovative research themes including:
• Provision of a comprehensive genomic, proteomic, metabolomics data acquisition, processing and modelling capability with internationally competitive instrumentation, software and technical support.
• Studies of disease pathways including biomarker discovery, treatment monitoring, development of diagnostics and screening. Supported by bioinformatics modelling and development of predictive models.
• Biopharmaceutical research including product characterisation, metabolism and drug interaction studies.
• Protein structure/function studies including aggregation, modification, activation and inhibition.
• Use of advanced cellular imaging capabilities, including live cell imaging, using light, confocal and Raman, which among other topics, enables the study of; molecular interactions, conformational changes, drug interactions with living cells, tissue characterisation.

To qualify at master’s level, you undertake a research project/dissertation, which may be carried out in the University labs or in the workplace if you are currently employed. We offer a range of projects in biomedical science as well as more specialist research areas.