Molecular Biosciences (Bioinformatics) MSc

Unlock the power of biological data to answer some of the biggest questions in health, medicine and the environment.

Designed in consultation with clinical and industrial partners, this course brings biological and computational sciences together, giving you the specialist skills to analyse the vast datasets transforming modern biosciences. You’ll learn how bioinformatics can be used to investigate everything from bacterial epidemiology and genomic medicine to healthy ageing, evolution and conservation.

Throughout the course, you'll develop your expertise through units such as Advances in Bioinformatics and Applied Data Science in Biology, building your scripting skills and learning to work with big biological datasets generated by technologies such as next-generation sequencing and omics.

Research is central to the course and you'll have the chance to undertake two substantial projects, working with researchers in Bath’s Department of Life Sciences. Recent projects have included analysing gastrointestinal pathogen surveillance data using whole-genome MLST and investigating the pan-genome of Covid-19 and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

You’ll graduate with sought-after skills for careers at the interface of biology and computing, with recent graduates progressing into roles including healthcare scientist, analyst and bioinformatics postgraduate researcher. You can also choose the professional placement route, gaining valuable experience in an industry or research environment.

Course highlights

* Study at a consistently ranked Top 10 University (The Guardian, Complete University Guide, The Times and The Sunday Times) on a course designed in consultation with clinical and industrial partners to give you the skills employers are looking for.

* Gain extensive research experience by carrying out two separate research projects.

* Further strengthen your employability with a project addressing the challenges of global environment sustainability, applying skills related to either entrepreneurship, teaching, media and communication, or public engagement.

* Work in dedicated postgraduate labs to give you the laboratory exposure and specialist skills required by industry.

* Live and study in a beautiful world heritage city.

Specialise in bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is an exciting and rapidly growing field in biology offering career opportunities at the interface of biological and computational sciences. This interdisciplinary field applies computational approaches to analyse large biological datasets generated by the revolutionary technological advances in the field, including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and omics-based technologies.

* You’ll learn to apply computational methods to answer biological questions ranging from bacterial epidemiology, healthy ageing and genomic medicine to evolution and conservation biology.

* You'll have access to our bioinformatics sessions, enabling you to develop your scripting skills and study big data.

Research projects

You'll undertake two research projects; a group computational project and a computational project working with a researcher in the department. These projects will give you extensive research experience, helping you stand out when applying for jobs or a PhD.

Examples of projects include:

* Analysis of Gastrointestinal pathogen surveillance sequencing data using whole genome MLST

* Pan-genome assembly in Covid-19 and/or Staphylococcus epidermidis

Career prospects

You’ll graduate with the specialist knowledge and sought-after skills for a career in further research, such as a PhD, or roles in academic, clinical, industrial or commercial sectors anywhere in the world. Our dedicated careers team offers individual guidance and help you decide between employment and further study.

Recent examples of graduate roles include healthcare scientist, analyst, and bioinformatics postgraduate researcher.