Based on the indicative curriculum of Health Education England, NHS England and Genomics England LTD, the MSc in Genomic Medicine will equip research scientists and Health Care Professionals with; knowledge and skills to understand and interpret genomic data, an understanding of genetic and genomic techniques in a clinical setting, bioinformatic approaches required for analysis of genomic data, advanced knowledge and skills, preparing graduates to develop and deliver personalised health care.
MSc in Genomic Medicine students will be introduced to:
Subsequent study will build on these foundations. Specific modules on the MSc in Genomic Medicine focus on:
The Genomic Medicine course is primarily informed by the design developed to equip graduates, and a diverse range of healthcare professionals, with an appreciation and education in genomics and genomic technology. As an emerging field of expertise this knowledge and understanding of genomics will prepare Genomic Medicine graduates to translate their newfound knowledge of genomics into the clinical setting to inform patient care.
The MSc in Genomic Medicine has been developed in line with Health Education England, NHS England and Genomics England Ltd.
Genomic Medicine students will be introduced to the fundamentals of human genetics and genomics along with techniques required for DNA and RNA sequencing to study genomic variation observed in the clinical setting. A third module entitled Data Analysis for Health and Medical Sciences, will introduce the bioinformatic approaches required for the analysis of genomic data.
Students will learn and be taught through a variety of methods including: lectures, workshops, tutorials, practical sessions, work-based learning and guest lectures by professionals, practitioners and respected academics.
Employability is key to the Genomic Medicine programme. Our students will be able to enhance their employability skills through their education and training in genomic medicine, transforming both the specialist and general workforce within the NHS. Furthermore, for non-NHS funded students, the MSc in Genomic Medicine will prepare graduates for careers in the clinical setting for which a knowledge of genomics will improve service delivery to patients.
The masters’ element of this programme will require students to complete a Research Project or in depth literature review. Genomic Medicine students will be encouraged to undertake their research project within the NHS, either within the students hosting NHS department or where they may expect to work following graduation.
Please note: fees of accepted, eligible NHS-based applicants will be paid by the Workforce Education and Development Services (WEDS).
Workforce Education and Development Services (WEDS) funding: WEDS is offering to pay the tuition fees for eligible staff working for the NHS in Wales, to study for the MSc, PG Dip or PG Cert in Genomic Medicine (part-time only).
The Genetics of Human Disease MSc aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of molecular genetics, quantitative and statistical genetics and human disease and how this can be applied to improve healthcare through the development and application of diagnostic tests and therapeutic agents.
The programme provides a thorough grounding in modern approaches to the understanding of the genetics of disease alongside the cutting-edge research methods and techniques used to advance our understanding of development of disease. Core modules provide a broad coverage of the genetics of disease, research skills and social aspects, whilst specialised streams in Inherited Diseases, Pharmacogenetics and Computational Genomics, in which students can qualify, and the research project allow more in-depth analysis in areas of genetics.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of four core modules (60 credits) and two specialist modules (30 credits) and a research project culminating in a dissertation (90 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma consisting of six modules (four core modules in term one and two modules within the selected stream in term two) is offered, full-time nine months.
A Postgraduate Certificate consisting of four core modules in term one (60 credits) is offered, full-time three months.
Core modules
Specialist modules
In term two you will take specialist modules depending on the specialist stream you select: Inherited Disease (A); Pharmacogenetics (B); Computational Genomics (C).
Dissertation/report
Students undertake an original research project investigating topical questions in genetics and genetics of human disease which culminates in a dissertation of 12,000 to 14,000 words and an oral presentation.
Teaching and learning
Students develop their knowledge and understanding of genetics of human diseases through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, presentations and journal clubs. Taught modules are assessed by unseen written examination and/or, written reports, oral presentations and coursework. The research project is assessed by the dissertation and oral presentation.
Further information on modules and degree structure available on the UCL Genetics Institute website.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Genetics of Human Disease MSc
Advanced training in genetic techniques including bioinformatic and statistical approaches positions graduates well for PhD studentships in laboratories using genetic techniques to examine diseases such as heart disease, cancer and neurological disorders. Another large group will seek research jobs in the pharmaceutical industry, or jobs related to genetics in healthcare organisations.
Recent career destinations for this degree
Employability
The MSc in Genetics of Human Disease facilitates acquisition of knowledge and skills relevant to a career in research in many different biomedical disciplines. About half of our graduates enter a research career by undertaking and completing PhDs and working as research associates/scientists in academia. Some of our graduates go on to jobs in the pharmaceutical industry, while others enter careers with clinical genetic diagnosis services, particularly in molecular genetics, in healthcare organisations and hospitals around the world. Those graduates with a prior medical training often utilise their new skills as clinical geneticists.
Careers data is taken from the ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013–2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.
UCL is in a unique position to offer both the basic science and application of modern genetics to improve human health. The programme is a cross-faculty initiative with teaching from across the School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) at UCL.
Students will be based at the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI), a world-leading centre which develops and applies biostatistical and bioinformatic approaches to human and population genetics. Opportunities to conduct laboratory or computational-based research projects are available in the laboratories of world-leading geneticists affiliated to the UGI.
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.
The following REF score was awarded to the department: Division of Biosciences
82% rated 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’)
Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.
Our programme gives graduates the scientific knowledge and practical skills to carry out research in the emerging area of animal science and ‘One Health’, by providing foundation knowledge about the functioning of the animal body. We explore applications of basic animal sciences to veterinary and human medicine, the livestock industry and food security.
The programme is held in the world-famous Roslin Institute, which is housed in a state-of-the-art research building on the Easter Bush campus, adjacent to the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. As a member of staff at the Institute, you will benefit from our world-class reputation for research in a vibrant, successful academic community.
You will acquire expert scientific knowledge and practical skills in animal sciences, veterinary and human medicine, the livestock industry and food security.
The programme involves courses that are a blend of lectures, guided practical studies and independent research. You will also complete your own dissertation.
Courses include:
Dissertation
You will prepare a research proposal based on your laboratory or bioinformatic research project and will carry out this project under the supervision of a staff member of the Roslin Institute.
This programme develops theoretical knowledge and practical skills, giving graduates a number of potential career development options in academia or industry.
We envisage that at least 50 per cent of our graduates will find a PhD placement after this MSc.
Our programme has been tailored to fulfil industry demand in vivo skills and a wide range of our industrial partners have told us that graduates from this programme will be attractive employees.
This course is for biosciences graduates looking to open up a route into industry, and for practising professionals seeking to widen their experience and qualifications, and extend their knowledge of applied molecular biology/bioinformatics. It provides a sound understanding of the subject’s key principles, as well as how these can be effectively applied to a wide range of industrial and environmental applications. You will benefit from working with excellent technology and research equipment in our state-of-the-art laboratories, and you also receive a thorough grounding in the necessary computing skills needed to access important online databases, such as the human genome. You will be challenged to look to the frontiers of (and even beyond) current thinking in the subject, and to be aware of how your studies impact on your future career/professional role. To complement this, you will gain essential intellectual and transferable skills such as independent planning, hypothesis formulation and testing, and the importance of originality.
Typical modules may include:
The University of Wolverhampton has a long-standing reputation for the provision of training in Molecular Biology at all levels. The course is has been at the forefront in the identification of bioinformatic skills and has lead to graduates achieving high profile employment as bioinformaticians. This course addresses the rapidly developing field of modern genetics and prepares them for the post- genomics era. The research-active staff who are associated with the Research Institute in Healthcare Science (research evaluated as of national and international excellence at the last Research Assessment Exercise) provide a highly research-focused environment which informs both teaching and the students’ own research projects.
Career paths vary from technical to managerial in the industrial, educational, health and research sectors - typically, you will be heading for a role in the areas of general molecular biology, biochemical science, medical science and biotechnology (including pharmaceuticals). You may prefer to go into postgraduate research at an academic or private sector institution, or embark on a science teaching career.
This Masters in Bioinformatics (formerly Bioinformatics, Polyomics and Systems Biology) is an exciting and innovative programme that has recently been revamped. Bioinformatics is a discipline at the interface between biology, computing and statistics and is used in organismal biology, molecular biology and biomedicine. This programme focuses on using computers to glean new insights from DNA, RNA and protein sequence data and related data at the molecular level through data storage, mining, analysis and graphical presentation - all of which form a core part of modern biology.
Bioinformatics helps biologists gain new insights about genomes (genomics) and genes, about RNA expression products of genes (transcriptomics) and about proteins (proteomics); rapid advances have also been made in the study of cellular metabolites (metabolomics) and in a newer area, systems biology.
‘Polyomics’ is an intrinsically systems-level approach involving the integration of data from these ‘functional genomics’ areas - genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics - to derive new insights about how biological systems function.
The programme structure is designed to equip students with understanding and hands-on experience of both computing and biological research practices relating to bioinformatics and functional genomics, to show students how the computing approaches and biological questions they are being used to answer are connected, and to give students an insight into new approaches for integration of data and analysis across the 'omics' domains.
On this programme, you will develop a range of computing and programming skills, as well as skills in data handling, analysis (including statistics) and interpretation, and you will be brought up to date with recent advances in biological science that have been informed by bioinformatics approaches.
The programme has the following overall structure
Additional information about the programme can be found in the Bioinformatics MSc Programme Structure 2017-18.
Please note: students undertaking the three month PgCert will also be required to take two exams in March/April.
Most of our graduates embark on a University or Institute-based research career path, here in the UK or abroad, using the skills they've acquired on our programme. These skills are now of primary relevance in many areas of modern biology and biomedicine. Many are successful in getting a PhD studentship. Others are employed as a core bioinformatician (now a career path within academia in its own right) or as a research assistant in a research group in basic biological or medical science.
A postgraduate degree in bioinformatics is also valued by many employers in the life sciences sector - eg computing biology jobs in biotechnology, biosciences, neuroinformatics and the pharma industries.
Some of our graduates have entered science-related careers in scientific publishing or education. Others have gone into computing-related jobs in non-bioscience industry or the public sector.
The course is especially designed for healthcare professionals from a range of backgrounds. It follows a syllabus specified by Health Education England (HEE) for training NHS staff in Genomic Medicine, and HEE has ring-fenced funding to allow NHS staff to study for the MSc (Genomic Medicine) at accredited provider institutions, including Birmingham.
Further information about HEE funding is now available. You can choose to study for the full Masters, the intermediate qualifications of Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate, or select individual modules as CPD.
The course is also suitable for other Home/EU or international students who wish to learn about the advances in genomics and bioinformatics particularly as relevant to medical applications, and the challenges of introducing the technology into a healthcare system.
The Programme aims to equip you with the knowledge, understanding and skills relating to genomics that will empower you to help lead the holistic integration of genomic technology into patient care within the National Health Service, including via the ambitious Genomics England Ltd (GeL) 100,000 Genomes Project which commenced in 2015.
The course begins with a brief revision of DNA, genes and genetics and updates these concepts to the scale of contemporary, whole-genome information. It will introduce to you the technologies for generating genome-wide data, and how the resulting vast quantities of data can be approached and interrogated to generate meaningful information that can be useful for families affected by inherited conditions, or for patients with acquired diseases including cancer and infections.
You will learn how to interrogate genomic data using bioinformatic tools to identify and investigate the pathogenicity of genetic variants, and relate these to real-life case-studies. The core modules also include consideration of the ethical, legal and social issues that surround genomic medicine, which can be further explored in an optional module. Other options include counselling skills and advanced bioinformatics.
Finally, you can choose either a 60-credit research project (which could be a computer-based bioinformatics project, a lab-based or clinically-based project, either in Birmingham or at your home institution), or a 30-credit dissertation (combined with additional taught modules), to hone your research skills while exploring a genomics-related project of your choice.
As a Birmingham student, you will be joining the academic elite and will have the privilege of learning from world-leading experts, as well as from your peers. From the outset you will be encouraged to become an independent and self-motivated learner. We want you to be challenged and will encourage you to think for yourself.
The course combines face-to-face teaching in lectures, tutorials, workshops, student presentations etc. with independent or group learning, which can be done remotely, using published papers or online resources. Following a 2-day Induction, the face-to-face teaching of most modules is delivered over 5 days, either consecutive (for the two introductory modules), or spread over 5 weeks for most others.
You will have access to a comprehensive support system that will assist and encourage you, including personal tutors and welfare tutors who can help with both academic and welfare issues.
The course is especially designed for healthcare professionals working within the National Health Service, to improve their capabilities and support career progression. It could be similarly beneficial for those working or aspiring to work in other healthcare systems.
Students who are not healthcare professionals would acquire knowledge, understanding and skills that should help them gain employment or PhD positions especially in the expanding fields of genomics, bioinformatics, or other medically-related research and development in either academia or the pharmaceutical industry.
We have gathered some profiles to give you an idea of the breadth of students we have on our programme.
Our research aims to enhance understanding of disease processes in animals and to translate that understanding into improved therapies for both animal and human disease.
Research focuses on:
Most of our research is carried out within The Roslin Institute, which is incorporated with the School and is the major centre of research.
Studentships are of 3 or 4 years duration and students will be expected to complete a novel piece of research which will advance our understanding of the field. To help them in this goal, students will be assigned a principal and assistant supervisor, both of whom will be active scientists at the Institute.
Student progress is monitored in accordance with School Postgraduate (PG) regulations by a PhD thesis committee (which includes an independent external assessor and chair). There is also dedicated secretarial support to assist these committees and the students with regard to University and Institute matters.
All student matters are overseen by the Schools PG studies committee. An active staff:student liaison committee and a social committee, which is headed by our postgraduate liaison officer, provide additional support.
Students are expected to attend a number of generic training courses offered by the Transkills Programme of the University and to participate in regular seminars and laboratory progress meetings. All students will also be expected to present their data at national and international meetings throughout their period of study.
The Veterinary Campus at Easter Bush includes the new “state-of- the-art” Roslin Institute Building, the Small Animal and Large Animal Hospitals, the Riddell-Swan Cancer Imaging Centre as well as the New Vet School. Our facilities include: rodent, bird and livestock animal units and associated lab areas; comprehensive bioinformatic and genomic capability; a range of bioimaging facilities; extensive molecular biology and cell biology labs; café and auditorium where we regularly host workshops and invited speakers.
Normal growth of an animal, from the fertilised egg through to end of life maturity, requires concerted action of all the genes found in the animal genome. Not all genes are active at any one stage or in any one cell type. Gene expression is dynamic yet programmed. Sometimes this programming goes awry and disease ensues. Research in the Division of Developmental Biology aims to characterise, understand and ultimately exploit the ever changing profile of gene expression found in mammals. This will allow the development of a better understanding of biology which in turn will enable new biotech, agricultural and biomedical advances to become reality.
We believe that a supported, active and innovative post-graduate student community is essential if we are to deliver our goals. This community represents the scientists, entrepreneurs, communicators and regulators of the future.
Research in the Division of Developmental Biology aims to enhance fundamental knowledge of the control of cellular growth and differentiation aiming to underpin the development of better disease intervention strategies.
We will advance our understanding of function in these essential biological processes through mechanistic studies at the cell, tissue and whole animal level with particular focus on:
Within the Division of Developmental Biology we have 19 Group Leaders plus 2 Career Track Fellows who supervise about 30 students at any one time.
Studentships are of 3 or 4 years duration and students will be expected to complete a novel piece of research which will advance our understanding of the field. To help them in this goal, students will be assigned a principal and assistant supervisor, both of whom will be active scientists at the Institute. Student progress is monitored in accordance with School Postgraduate (PG) regulations by a PhD thesis committee (which includes an independent external assessor and chair). There is also dedicated secretarial support to assist these committees and the students with regard to University and Institute matters.
All student matters are overseen by the Schools PG studies committee. The Roslin Institute also has a local PG committee and will provide advice and support to students when requested. An active staff:student liaison committee and a social committee, which is headed by our postgraduate liaison officer, provide additional support.
Students are expected to attend a number of generic training courses offered by the Transkills Programme of the University and to participate in regular seminars and laboratory progress meetings. All students will also be expected to present their data at national and international meetings throughout their period of study.
In 2011 The Roslin Institute moved to a new state-of-the-art building on the University of Edinburgh's veterinary campus at Easter Bush. Our facilities include: rodent, bird and livestock animal units and associated lab areas; comprehensive bioinformatic and genomic capability; a range of bioimaging facilities; extensive molecular biology and cell biology labs; café and auditorium where we regularly host workshops and invited speakers.
