Master of Science - Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutics

The Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutics MSc is a dynamic master’s programme, allowing students to gain hands-on experience as they delve into present-day medical understanding and try to create real advances in disease treatment and prevention. Students will choose a specialist biomedical area and will learn about the molecular mechanisms leading to major human diseases and their current treatments. They will also work towards identifying medical advancements and possible innovative therapeutic approaches using technological developments. The specialist areas to choose from include cancer biology and therapy; genomic technologies; vaccine and immunisation; or radiation, toxicology and pollution. Students will identify areas where there are knowledge gaps in current medical understanding. Throughout the course they will be encouraged to address these gaps by looking at existing research and literature and conducting their own research. At Brunel they recognise that strong practical skills in all fields of biomedical sciences are important to employers. For this reason they have a large practical element to the course. Students gain experience of different modern laboratory techniques and consider the legislative and ethical aspects linked to the discipline. Students will learn computational skills and be trained on critical analyses of the molecular problems leading to human disease and to identify intervention opportunities. In addition, they’ll receive training in statistics and bioinformatics which are fundamental to the biomedicine sector. In Brunel's 'Scientific Communication' module students will learn how to disseminate medical information to a range of audiences. Their writing skills will be developed to target a diverse range of audiences, from medical practitioners through to the general public. Students will learn to write their research findings in an academic style and a journalistic style - skills which will be invaluable in a range of biomedical careers. Dean’s International Scholarship: This course is eligible for a £2,000 fee waiver, per academic year, subject to availability. This Scholarship is for full-time international students only. Scholarship eligibility will be automatically considered and the scholarship will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.