Application deadline: 17th June 2018
This unique professional training programme has been designed and developed in collaboration with the multinational Contract Research Organisation, Covance.
The course is 20 months long, covering campus-based taught modules in the first six months, followed by a 12-month guaranteed paid placement in industry where you can expect to earn around £20,000.
During your training you’ll gain an integrated understanding of the full biological drug development pathway and the regulatory framework. The focus will be on large molecule drugs: monoclonal antibodies like Herceptin, bio-similars and antibody-drug conjugates; gene therapies and the technologies that underpin the discovery and development pathway.
You’ll be taught by leading industrialists and internationally renowned academics working at the forefront of their fields in the areas of science that support drug development. The curriculum is delivered primarily via project work in teams, and is assessed with outputs that are commonplace in industry, including presentations and reports to clients, regulators, investors/sponsors etc.
To prepare you for work in industry, you’ll also have access to cutting-edge practical technologies and gain hands-on practical training in protein purification, characterisation, formulation and assessment of binding function. In addition, you’ll use cell-based assays to look at drug potency, all performed in a strict regulated environment.
This course will help give you the experience and skills to become highly employable. Many pharmaceutical companies are expanding their biopharmaceutical capability, which is creating demand and opportunities for talented, well-trained people. At the same time, these companies report difficulties in recruiting employees with relevant skill sets and those with broad industrial experience are greatly sought after.
This course will provide you with an understanding of biological drug development focusing on each of the major steps of the process:
The course is 20 months long, covering the campus-based taught elements in six to seven months, followed by a 12-month guaranteed paid work placement involving a research project where you’ll experience at first hand the working environment of this industry.
Work placement: an integral part of your training
An integral part of this course is your first paid job in industry. This is a 12-month guaranteed work and research experience in industry or placement hosted within the university research laboratories developed and co-supervised with industry. Students can expect to earn up to £20,000 over the duration of their placement.
The placements will all include a practical research project where you will gain in-depth practical experience of at least one technical function of the drug development process (discovery, manufacturing, pre-clinical testing, clinical safety and efficacy).
You will commence your project in May, six-months after the start of the programme and will be completed by the following April. Graduation is scheduled immediately thereafter, making you available for employment immediately after your placement.
These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.
Year 1
Over the first six to seven months starting in September you will study 100 credits worth of taught modules.
Compulsory modules:
Year 2
Seven months after the start of the course (April/May), you will start a 12-month industrial placement where you will undertake a research project worth 80 credits.
Compulsory modules:
The learning and teaching on the course has been constructed to align with activities performed in industry, preparing you to be work-ready immediately after you finish.
You’ll have access to the very best learning resources and academic support during your studies. We’ve been awarded a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF, 2017), demonstrating our commitment to delivering consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for our students.
This course will challenge you to think creatively, solve problems and develop strong communication and teamwork skills. You’ll experience a wide range of teaching methods, including formal lectures, interactive workshops, practical classes and industry site visits.
You’ll extensively use of real-life, industry specific case studies to illustrate theoretical and practical concepts and multiple opportunities to work in teams, including the opportunity to lead a team. A wide range of ‘authentic’ assessments will be used that students will experience in the workplace including submissions to regulatory authorities, client reports and presentations to industry panel members.
Your first steps into an industrial career
The course is designed to train talented scientists wishing to pursue a career in drug development in the international biopharmaceutical industry.
You’ll be exposed to senior industrialists working as tutors throughout the course and can take this opportunity to obtain career advice. You’ll also work in industry full time for 12 months, which is an outstanding opportunity for you to develop a competitive career plan.
With this degree, you’ll have the relevant knowledge and experience to fast-track your career as, for example, an analytical scientist, project manager, or coordinator, in areas such as research, quality control, manufacturing, project management, non-clinical, clinical, and market access.
As a student on this course you’ll have unique access to an industry-mentor and a personal tutor (academic member of staff) for the duration of your studies. You’ll also get support in planning your career through sessions that develop your CVs and applications.
Engineering organisms and processes to generate the products of the future
Many everyday products are generated using biological processes. Foods such as bread, yoghurt and beer rely upon microscopic organisms to generate their structure and flavour. Many drugs are made using cells, such as insulin used to treat diabetes and many anticancer chemotherapy drugs. In the future, more products will be made using biological processes as they are typically ‘greener’ than traditional chemical processes – they are less energy intensive and generate fewer harmful chemical by-products. Biological processes are also responsible for many environmentally-friendly biofuels, which aim to reduce fossil fuel use.
Biological processes are key to many UK companies, from small contract manufacturers of protein and DNA drugs to large companies making fuels, commodity chemicals, foods and plastics. Biochemical engineering is an area that is essential to UK, European and Worldwide industrial development.
This is a highly multidisciplinary subject, requiring the integration of engineering and bioscience knowledge. If you are interested in pursuing a career in industrial biotechnology, biochemical engineering, biotechnology or bioprocessing, then this programme will provide you with the basic knowledge and skills required. Optional modules expand your horizons to include specific product areas (such as pharmaceuticals) and other skills required for a career in the area (such as business skills).
Birmingham is a friendly School which has one of the largest concentrations of chemical engineering expertise in the UK. The School is consistently in the top five chemical engineering schools for research in the country.
It has a first-class reputation in learning, teaching and research, and is highly placed in both The Guardian and The Times league tables.
Biochemical Engineering concerns the use of biological organisms or processes by manufacturing industries. It is a multidisciplinary subject, requiring the integration of engineering and bioscience knowledge to design and implement processes used to manufacture a wide range of products; from novel therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies for treating cancer, vaccines and hormones, to new environmentally-friendly biofuels. It is also essential in many other fields, such as the safe manufacture of food and drink and the removal of toxic compounds from the environment..
This course will provide you with the skills you need to start an exciting career in the bioprocess industries, or continue research in the area of bioprocessing or industrial biotechnology.
Industry involvement
Academics working at Birmingham have strong links with industry, through collaborative projects, so allow students to make contact with companies. Graduates from the MSc programme have gone on to careers in biochemical engineering world-wide, in large and small companies working in diverse areas.
There are also guest lectures from academics working at other institutions.
Practical experience
You will gain practical experience of working with industrially applicable systems, from fermentation at laboratory scale to 100 litre pilot scale, in the Biochemical Engineering laboratories. Theory learned in lectures will be applied in practical terms. In addition, theoretical aspects will be applied in design case studies in a number of modules.
All MSc students complete a summer research project, working on a piece of individual, novel research within one of the research groups in the school. These projects provide an ideal experience of life as a researcher, from design of experimental work, practical generation of data, analysis and communication of findings. Many students find this experience very useful in choosing the next steps in their career.
Special Features
The lecture courses are supplemented with tutorials, seminars and experimental work. Industrial visits and talks by speakers from industrial and service organisations are also included in the course programme.
Pilot Plant
The Biochemical Engineering building houses a pilot plant with large-scale fermentation and downstream processing equipment. The refurbished facility includes state-of-the-art computer-controlled bioreactors, downstream processing equipment and analytical instruments
Course structure
The MSc is a 12-month full-time advanced course, comprising lectures, laboratory work, short experimental projects and a research project. You will take an introductory module, four core modules, and then choose 50 credits of optional themed modules. The course can also be taken on a part-time basis. The Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) lasts for 8 months from the end of September until June.
For the first eight months you have lectures, tutorials and laboratory work. Core module topics include:
There are numerous optional modules available across three themes:
From June to September you gain research training on your own project attached to one of the teams working in the bioprocessing research section.
Related links
The MSc is a 12-month full-time advanced course, comprising lectures, laboratory work, short experimental projects and a research project. You will take an introductory module, four core modules, and then choose 50 credits of optional themed modules. The course can also be taken on a part-time basis. The Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) lasts for 8 months from the end of September until June.
For the first eight months you have lectures, tutorials and laboratory work. Topics include:
You also have practical experience of working in the newly-refurbished pilot plant of the Biochemical Engineering building
From June to September you gain research training on your own project attached to one of the teams working in the bioprocessing research section.
Accredited by the the Institution of Chemical Engineers
Develop the essential skills for a career in bioindustry or for further advanced research in next-horizon biotechnologies. You’ll learn from world-class researchers, including staff from Biomedical Science and Materials Science and Engineering. Our graduates work in biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and bioprocess organisations.
Our teaching is grounded in specialist research expertise. Our reputation for innovation secures funding from industry,
UK research councils, the government and the EU. Industry partners, large and small, benefit from our groundbreaking work addressing global challenges.
You’ll have access to top facilities, including modern social spaces, purpose-built labs, the Harpur Hill Research Station for large-scale work, extensive computing facilities and a modern applied science library. There are high-quality research facilities for sustainable energy processes, safety and risk engineering, carbon capture and utilisation, and biological processes and biomanufacturing.
Contact us for current information on available scholarships.
Four core modules including research project, a conversion module, and three optional modules.
Conversion modules:
We use a combination of lectures, tutorials, examples classes and coursework assignments.
Assessment is based on assignments for each module, formal examination of core modules, dissertation and oral presentation of the laboratory-based research project.
If you are interested in working entrepreneurially, whether that is in a large multinational, your own business, or as a business consultant or analyst, this course is designed for you.
You will take our cutting-edge Ingenuity module where you will consider how to solve problems by thinking differently, as well as taking modules in leading entrepreneurial growth, launching new ventures and entrepreneurial creativity.
Your new knowledge is then deployed through a 'live' consultancy project with a fast-growing, local business where you will develop a report to show how the business can exploit new market opportunities – which is one of the things our students most like about the course.
Our approach is not to tell people how to become entrepreneurs, but to really engage them in practice so they develop their own entrepreneurial capabilities. You will cover core subjects in creativity, launching new ventures, and entrepreneurship in context, along with leading entrepreneurial growth and the unique Ingenuity project. You will also have a wide variety of options to tailor the course to your career aspirations.
Cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship courses are also available:
Academic English preparation and support
If you require additional support to take your language skills to the required level, you may be able to attend a presessional course at the Centre for English Language Education, which is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK. Students who successfully complete the presessional course to the required level can progress to postgraduate study without retaking IELTS or equivalent.
Specialist business and management courses are available and you could be eligible for a joint offer, which means you will only need to apply for your visa once. Students who enter via the CELE route are exempt from paying the school's £2,000 reservation fee. For more details, please contact us.
Key facts
Across the autumn and spring semesters, you will take 120 credits of taught modules including a 30-credit entrepreneurship consultancy project. Each module typically consists of 10 two or three hour sessions.
You will complete a 60-credit 14,000-word dissertation or business plan over the summer, and will be allocated an appropriate dissertation supervisor who will oversee your progress.
Assessment
You will be assessed through a combination of individual essays or group projects and written exams.
Semester one
Core modules
Semester two
Core module
Optional modules
If you want to specialise, the pathways below include modules which create depth and understanding in a particular area. If you choose two modules from either the Sustainability Pathway or the International Business Pathway, along with a dissertation in the same area, you have the option for the pathway to appear on your final transcript and degree certificate.
Entrepreneurship pathway
Sustainability pathway
International Business pathway
The modules we offer are inspired by the research interests of our staff and as a result may change for reasons of, for example, research developments or legislation changes. This list is an example of typical modules we offer, not a definitive list.
Career destinations for our postgraduates include accountants, finance and investment analysts, higher education teaching professionals, investment bankers, IT business analysts, management consultants, marketing professionals, public relations professionals and university researchers.
Postgraduate careers team
Taught students benefit from the support of our postgraduate careers team who will help you to explore your career options and develop your career management skills. Our weekly MSc Advanced Career Leaders Programme is complemented by individual careers consultations, networking events and access to a wide range of employer presentations, volunteering activities and work experience opportunities.
Through a combination of your academic studies and the careers support on offer, you will be in an excellent position to enhance your career prospects and move onto the next stage of your career.
Employability and average starting salary
82.1% of postgraduates from Nottingham University Business School who were available for employment secured work or further study within six months of graduation. £28,500 was the average starting salary, with the highest being £50,000.*
* Known destinations of full-time home postgraduates 2015/16. Salaries are calculated based on the median of those in full-time paid employment within the UK.
Career and professional development
Whether you are looking to enhance your career prospects or develop your knowledge, a postgraduate degree from the University of Nottingham can help take you where you want to be.
Our award-winning Careers and Employability Service offers specialist support and guidance while you study and for life after you graduate. They will help you explore and plan your next career move, through regular events, employer-led skills sessions, placement opportunities and one-to-one discussions.
The Biopharmaceuticals MSc is an advanced study programme that will provide chemical, life science and pharmacy graduates with the scientific knowledge and expertise in the areas of biopharmaceutical discovery and development needed for careers in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, research institutes or regulatory authorities.
This course was designed to address the growing needs of the Biotech industry. The Biopharmaceuticals MSc course is an interdisciplinary course of study with the aim of developing medicines for the future. The subject areas will include drug delivery & disposition and pharmaceuticals analysis followed by more specialised studies on the discovery of peptides, proteins and antibody therapeutics and their development into medicines.
An integral component of the course is a laboratory research dissertation worth 60 credits where you will work in a research laboratory involved with independent research supervised by experts in the field.
Teaching
We use lectures, seminars and group tutorials to deliver most of the modules on the programme. You will also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study.
Assessment
You are assessed through a combination of the following methods:
Production of research paper (50%)
The study time and assessment methods detailed above are typical and give you a good indication of what to expect.
Regulating body
King’s College London is regulated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Recent graduates have gone on to work in research and development laboratories in the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Industries. Employers include Pfizer, GSK and Novartis and small Biotech companies. Overseas students have returned to similar positions in their home countries. Other graduates choose to continue to study towards a PhD.
The MSc in Cancer Medicine will provide students with new knowledge of how precision medicine can improve and shape future healthcare. Students will gain hands-on experience of molecular techniques and the equipment/devices used in a modern molecular laboratory; the course will provide training in laboratory and research skills that are applicable across multiple scientific disciplines in a supportive learning environment. Students will be able to evaluate how novel therapeutic approaches can be used to stratify patients into treatment groups for better clinical management (stratified / precision medicine). They will observe the delivery of precision medicine through tours of the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre.
There are optional modules in the second semester allowing students to explore.the fundamental principles of Carcinogenesis and the translational approaches (including cutting edge technologies) which allow cancer scientists and clinicians to advance our understanding and treatment of cancers. The Precision Cancer Medicine stream provides a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the Hallmarks of Cancer from the role of genetic/epigenetic alterations, cell cycle control and metastases/angiogenesis to the development of applications to help diagnose cancers earlier, improve treatments, rationally design clinical trials and reduce chemotherapy drug resistance.
The Radiation Oncology stream will develop skills in understanding the biological principles of radiotherapy and its clinical applications in the treatment of cancer. This will include the physical and chemical basis of radiation interactions and the biological consequences of radiation exposures. Clinical aspects of Radiation Oncology will be covered including principle of advanced radiotherapy delivery, cancer imaging techniques and biomarker discovery.
Importantly, both streams show how our improved understanding of the molecular processes driving cancer growth and spread can be ‘translated’ through research-intensive MSc projects to improve the treatment and survival of cancer patients.
For further information email [email protected] or send us a message on WhatsApp
The strong links between us and the biotech and biopharmaceutical sectors provides a stimulating translational environment, while also expanding your career opportunities.
GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES
INDUSTRY LINKS
WORLD CLASS FACILITIES
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED EXPERTS
Semester 1
Research Translational: from Concept to Commercialisation (Full Year)
Diagnosis and Treatment (Semester 1)
Cancer Biology (Semester 1)
Students will make a selection from the following modules:
OR
Clinical Radiation
Building on the biological basis of radiotherapy, this module will develop knowledge and skills in understanding clinical radiotherapy and medical imaging. Through the delivery of a multidisciplinary taught programme, students will cover clinical tumour and normal tissue biology, radiological imaging and the design of radiotherapy treatment plans. This will develop the clinical rationale for radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer and highlight emerging treatment combinations and techniques for biomarker discovery in radiation oncology.Biology and Imaging
Research Project
You will undertake a project in the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology.
Dissertation
This module comprises the write-up contribution to the overall research element of the programme, with the Research Project (SCM 8067). The Dissertation will represent the student’s personal studies in the literature, a description of their experimental execution of their project, data presentation, analysis and interpretation, followed by critical discussion and conclusions.
For further information email [email protected] or send us a message on WhatsApp
