Biomedical Science Major: Medical Laboratory Sciences Option (B.S.)

Program Overview

The Biomedical Science (BMS) program with a Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) option is a four-year program that prepares students to become certified Medical Laboratory Scientists. The program includes core coursework in chemistry, biology, and biochemistry, as well as specialized courses in immunology, microbiology, and molecular diagnostics. Graduates are in high demand in laboratories, research facilities, and other healthcare settings.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The Biomedical Science (BMS), Medical Laboratory Sciences option (MLS) is a full-fledged four-year academic program.

Program Objectives

• Understanding human diseases through diagnostic testing
• Gaining hands-on experience with immunologic, biochemical, molecular, and microbiological practices for the treatment, prevention and diagnosis of ailments

Outline:

The program consists of core coursework and an array of electives. Core coursework comprises:

Foundation courses

• CHEM 403: General chemistry I
• CHEM 404: General chemistry II
• CHEM 545 & 546: Organic chemistry and Organic chemistry laboratory
• Statistics (Select one):
• BIOL 528: Applied Biostatistics I
• PSYC 402: Statistics in Psychology
• SOC 402: Statistics
• MATH 439: Statistical Discovery for Everyone

Bioscience Core Courses

• BMS 508: Human Anatomy and Physiology II
• GEN 604: Principles of genetics
• BMCB 658 & 659: General biochemistry and General Biochemistry Lab
• Select one:
• BMS 503 & 504: General Microbiology and General Microbiology Laboratory
• BMS 501: Microbes in Human Disease
• Select one:
• BMS 507: Human Anatomy and Physiology I
• BIOL 411: Introductory Biology:
Molecular and Cellular
• CHEM 403 fulfills the physical science Discovery requirement
• Students preparing for health professions require a full year of Organic chemistry, Introductory Biology and English (ENGL 502 or 503 is suggested)
• Statistics fulfills the Quantitative Reasoning Discovery requirement
• BIOL 411 fulfills the Biological Science Discovery requirement, Discovery Laboratory requirement and the Discovery Inquiry requirement

BMS-MLS Core Courses

• BMS 401: Professional Perspectives in Biomedical Sciences
• BMS 560 & 561: Body fluids and Body fluids Laboratory
• BMS 602 & 603: Pathogenic Microbiology and Pathogenic Microbiology Laboratory
• BMS 642 & 643: Clinical Immunology and Serology and Clinical Serology Laboratory
• BMS 650: Molecular diagnostics
• BMS 720: Mycology, parasitology and virology

BMS-MLS Major Electives

• Select two major electives with a lab
• BMS 623: Histology: Microscopic cellular structure and function
• BMS 644 & 645: Clinical hematology and Clinical Hematology Laboratory
• BMS 656 & 657: Immunohematology and Blood Banking Laboratory
• BMS 658 & 659: Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry Laboratory
• BMS 706 & 708: Virology and virology laboratory
• BMS 721: Mycology, parasitology and virology Laboratory
• BMS 725: Cell phenotyping and tissue engineering laboratory
• Choose three electives without a lab from the list below (four if BMS 721 is counted as a laboratory course)
• BMS 610: Biomedical Lab Management
• BMS 623: Histology: Microscopic cellular structure and function
• BMS 635: Preceptorial in Prehospital care
• BMS 640: Phlebotomy theory
• BMS 641: Phlebotomy clinical internship
• BMS 644: Clinical Hematology
• BMS 644 & 646: Clinical Hematology and clinical Hemostasis
• BMS 656 & 657: Immunohematology and Blood Banking Laboratory
• BMS 658 & 659: Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry Laboratory
• BMS 702: Endocrinology
• BMS 703: Infectious Disease and Health
• BMS 704: Pathological basis of disease
• BMS 711: Toxicology
• BMS 719: Host-Microbe interactions
• BMS 730: Ethical Issues in Biomedical Science
• BMS 740: Human Microbiome
• BMCB 605: Principles of Cell Biology
• BMCB 753: Cell Culture
• GEN 706: Human Genetics
• GEN 721: Comparative Genomics
• SOC 635W: Medical Sociology

Other internships

• BMS 644 & 645: Clinical hematology and Clinical Hematology Laboratory
• BMS 751: Advanced clinical microbiology internship
• BMS 752: Advanced Hematology Internship
• BMS 753: Advanced immunohematology internship
• BMS 754: Advanced clinical chemistry internship

Careers:

Graduates from the MLS program are in high demand and find employment in:

Laboratories

• Hospitals and medical centers
• Research laboratories
• Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies
• Biomedical research facilities
• Forensic laboratories
• Hospital reference laboratories

Other Positions

• Secondary school teachers (with additional coursework in education)
• Diagnostic product development
• Sales and marketing
• State and federal government agencies (e.g., U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
• Professional health programs
• Medical school
• Allied health programs (physician assistant, pathologists’ assistant, pharmacy)
• Graduate programs
• Microbiology
• Biomedical science
• Biochemistry
• Nursing
• Public health
• Business administration