Program Overview

Microbiology BSc

Overview

This course is accredited by the Royal Society of Biology. You will spend a lot of time in our £5 million Super Lab gaining hands-on lab experience. Practical learning and laboratory experience starts early in semester one of the first year. Your lab skills will improve throughout the first and second years. In your final year, you will become a member of a research laboratory and carry out your own year-long research project. Some students have even had their work published in scientific journals.

What You Will Study

Microbiologists play an important role in helping to prevent disease, develop new treatments, clean up the environment, and keep food safe. You will study the micro-organisms which affect the environment, human, animal and plant health, and find out how to use microbes to make medicines and vaccines.

Course Structure

• Year One:
  • Essential Study Skills
  • Foundation Science for Bioscientists
  • An Introduction to Biotechnology
  • An Introduction to Genetics and Biochemistry
  • Micro-organisms and Disease
  • Microbes and You
  • The Physiology of Microbes
• Year Two:
  • Analysis of Bacterial Gene Expression
  • Bacterial Biological Diversity
  • Fundamentals of Immunology
  • Medical Microbiology
  • Microbial Mechanisms of Foodborne Disease
  • Research Techniques for Microbiologists
  • Virology
  • Optional modules:
    • Bacterial Genes and Development
    • Computer Modelling in Science: Introduction
    • Fundamental and Applied Yeast Physiology
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Microbial Biotechnology
    • Molecular Biology of the Cell
    • Structure, Function and Analysis of Genes
    • Structure, Function and Analysis of Proteins
    • The Genome and Human Disease
    • Yeast and Fermentation Technology
• Year Three:
  • Undergraduate Research Project
  • Optional modules:
    • Ageing, Sex and DNA Repair
    • Omics: At the Forefront of Biotechnology
    • Environmental Biotechnology
    • Microbial Fermentation
    • Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • Molecular Microbiology and CRISPR Systems
    • Molecular Parasitology
    • Pathogens: Vaccines and Therapeutics
    • Plant Cell Signalling
    • Plant Pathology
    • Rapid Methods in Microbiology
    • Microbial Isolation and Identification Methods
    • Virology and Cellular Microbiology

Entry Requirements

• A Levels: AAB, including two science-based A Levels from: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Geography, Geology, Applied Science, Human Biology.
• IB Score: 32 points overall or 665 in 3 HL certificates.
• GCSEs: Mathematics and English at grade 4 (C) or above are required.
• Alternative Qualifications: We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education. We treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis.

Tuition Fees

• UK Students: £9,535 per year.
• International Students: £30,750 per year.

Careers

This hands-on lab experience will give you skills to work in a laboratory when you graduate. You could work in healthcare and medical research, or the pharmaceutical or food industry. Microbiologists work in hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, regulatory and environmental agencies, the food industry, research institutes and universities, pharmaceutical and food industries, healthcare and medicine research and development, agricultural and environmental disciplines, biotechnology research, advisory and management roles in government agencies.

Campus

Sutton Bonington Campus encompasses world-leading laboratories and specialist facilities from Microbiological containment laboratories, the University Farm, to the paperless Super Lab, specialist glasshouses, food processing and molecular analytic facilities.