Biomedical Science Master of Science - MSc (UG)

Tailor your MSc training by choosing a specialist pathway in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, or Cell Biology and Drug Development, ready to make a difference across biomedicine in academia, healthcare and industry.

Course description\
Biomedical science research aims to understand how the human body functions in health and disease, allowing scientists to develop treatments that can improve and save lives.

This course will build on your background in eukaryotic molecular or cellular biology, developing you into a capable laboratory scientist, ready for your next step towards a PhD, or specialist roles in pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, or the NHS.

You’ll focus on one of two specialist pathways, equipping you with core knowledge and practical skills in the area of cutting-edge biomedicine that most interests you.

Our Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine pathway is perfect if you’re considering a career in cell therapy or tissue engineering. You’ll be trained how to culture, manipulate and analyse human stem cells, learning directly from our experts in the Centre for Stem Cell Biology. You’ll also develop your practical and analytical skills in 3D organoids and animal models.

Our Cell Biology and Drug Development pathway allows you to explore cell and animal models and cutting-edge techniques used in the drug discovery industry. Through hands-on training, you’ll develop real-world skills from programming liquid handling robotics for drug discovery to the fundamentals of cell culture, biomedical assays and high-throughput drug screening.

On both pathways you’ll also study lecture modules that will give you a deep understanding of the core concepts underpinning the pharmaceutical industry. You’ll develop your scientific, analytical, and critical thinking skills, too. We’ll teach you how to present your science in writing and other media, use R statistical analysis software and critically interpret scientific literature.

Explore your modules in detail

Your research project is the biggest part of the course. Here you’ll spend up to five months embedded in one of our research laboratories, working closely with our academics and scientists, using our state-of-the-art facilities to perform your own biomedicine research. These facilities include light microscopy and electron microscopy, purpose-built zebrafish, mouse and fly facilities, and proteomics and single cell omics facilities. You could even be based in our Bateson Centre where our researchers study model organisms to understand human disease pathways at the physiological and molecular level.

Examples of previous student research projects include:

* Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine

* Characterisation of subpopulations of otic progenitors derived from human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs)

* Defining the signalling pathways regulating the induction, differentiation and maintenance of human neuromesodermal progenitors

* Patched 1 function in skeletal muscle stem cells and its implication in muscle wasting

* Cell Biology and Drug Delivery

* Remodelling of the cell surface proteome by the palmitoyl-acyltransferase DHHC5

* Identifying Potential Drug Binding Sites in Condensin II

* Immunosenescence: a novel mechanism by which pathogenic bacteria evade innate immunity

Gain extra experience

We’re home to the Julia Garnham Centre, an NHS badged genomics facility, partnered with the Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

As a postgraduate student in the School of Biosciences, you'll have the opportunity to volunteer in the centre alongside your studies. You can work with NHS scientists and academics, learn how to diagnose genetic disorders such as cancer or rare inherited disease, and get involved with NHS genomic research projects.

Please see our University website for the most up-to-date course information.