Year 1: Whichever Medical Sciences degree you apply for, your first year will be the same: five compulsory modules covering the four areas in which you can specialise. Throughout the first year, you will gain practical experience in the laboratory classes associated with each module and have the opportunity to discuss topics in the tutorials that form an integral part of the learning process.
Throughout the first year, you will gain practical experience in laboratory classes as well as discussing topics in tutorials. Having built a sound foundation of knowledge across different areas of the medical sciences, you will be well prepared to start focusing your studies in Year 2.
Modules:
Biochemistry
Microbiology and Cell Biology
Genes
Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Medical Biosciences
Year 2: In Year 2 you will steer your degree towards one of our four specialist degrees by picking the designated modules for that subject. You will also study a Research Topic this year.
If you choose to specialise in Biochemistry, you will deepen your understanding of the dynamic processes occurring within a cell and the ways in which cells can respond to various signals, either from elsewhere in the body or from the wider environment. You will see how errors in these processes play crucial roles in the development of disease. You will also look into the control of gene expression, look in more detail at the amazing roles fulfilled by proteins, and consider issues related to molecular medicine, rational drug design, and the ethical implications of new developments in biomedicine.
Modules:
Core modules:
Biochemistry 1: From Genes to Proteins
Biochemistry 2: Molecular Cell Biology
Biochemistry 3: Cellular Regulation of Energy and Metabolism
Targeting Biochemical Knowledge to Medical Problems
Option modules, choose one option module from:
Genes, Development and Inheritance
Microbiology 2
Physiology and Pharmacology 2
The other specialisms are:
Genetics
Microbiology
Physiology
Year in Industry or Abroad (optional): If you want to, you can spend your third year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions or working in an industrial placement. Alternatively, you can opt to continue studying at the University and complete your degree in three years.
Final Year: In your final year you will pick four modules, continuing the specialism which you began in Year 2. You will also undertake a lab-based or library-based research project - an in-depth study of a specific topic that interests you, under the supervision of an acknowledged expert in the field.
Modules:
Core modules:
Biochemical Mechanisms of Human Disease
Option modules, choose three option modules from this list. At least two must be from the modules marked [B]
Cancer Cell and Molecular Biology [B]
Gene Expression: Molecular Basis and Medical Relevance [B]
Genes and Development
Infection and Immunity
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Protein Complexes: From Cells to Molecules [B]
Understanding Disease - An Integrated Approach
Virology