Molecular Medicine – (M.Sc.)

Contents

The programme is only offered as a full-time, one year course and leads to the MSc degree. The course is comprised of two parts, a taught component, which is given over the first two terms, and a research component that will be given over the remainder of the session.

The taught component will include lectures, laboratory practicals, tutorials and student presentations. Laboratory based practicals will be held throughout terms 1 and 2. A full time laboratory based research project will be carried out, in one of the Departments associated with the MSc course, from the beginning of March until the end of August (approximately 6 months).

The titles of the research projects, offered by prospective supervisors will be made available in term 2. On completion of the project a written report will be produced and submitted for an examination followed by a viva in September with an internal and external examiner. The overall pass mark is 50% and the coursework, written examinations and the research project contribute 10%, 45% and 45%, respectively.

Term 1

All students attend a core induction week, followed by a module of core basics of molecular and cellular biology, together with molecular biology technologies, including molecular genetics, DNA sequence analysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

This is followed by specific programmes centred on cancer, haematology and infectious diseases Practical sessions will cover Isolation and preparation of genomic DNA, Southern blotting, screening of bacteriophage libraries, plasmid cloning, restriction enzyme mapping, PCR and DNA sequencing. Tutorials and student presentations are held every 2 weeks.

Term 2

Specific lectures on molecular genetic diseases (diabetes, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, complex trait analysis and gene mapping), transgenic research and microarray analysis.

Practical sessions on protein expression and western blot analysis, and DNA sequence analysis of cDNA clones are held. Tutorials and student presentations are held every 2 weeks. There are three written examinations, one short answer question (SAQ) & paper critique paper, one essay paper and one practical data analysis paper.

Term 3

The individual, full-time research project begins a week after the final examination (usually from the beginning of March until the end of August). The projects are conducted at Imperial College´s Hammersmith Campus site (or other associated IC sites, such as South Kensington). On completion of the project a written report will be produced and submitted for examination.

The titles of the research projects, offered by prospective supervisors will be made available in term 2. On completion of the project a written report will be produced and submitted for an examination followed by a viva in September with an internal and external examiner, prior to the MSc Examination Board meeting in late September.