Program Overview

M1 - Interface-Biology-Physics (International)

This training program is an extension of the Masters "Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire" at Sorbonne University. It is dedicated to the interdisciplinary interface between biology and physics. Biology and Physics have a long and fruitful history, to this day when concepts and technologies stemming from Physics keep influencing studies in Biology.

Training Objectives

The program is designed for students with a background in Biology who are interested in delving into the world of Physics. Biology keeps leaning on ever more quantitative approaches, many of which from concepts and technologies stemming from physics. The wide range of complementary knowledge that students will master after this program will greatly enrich their prospects for any further program they would wish to tackle afterward.

Organisation

The program will be broken down into two semesters.

First Semester

The first semester is broken down into 3 blocks of roughly one month each. The total number of credits over the semester is 30 credits.

• Block 1:
  • MU4BM001 Ateliers de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (12 credits)
• Block 2:
  • MU4BM011 Biological Physics (6 credits)
  • MU4LVAN1 English for French speaker or French for English Native Speakers (3 credits)
• Block 3:
  • MU4BM012 How Instrumentation illuminates Biology at micro/macroscales (6 credits)
  • MU4B019 Biostatistics (3 credits)

Second Semester

The second semester consists of two mandatory classes:

• 2 month INTERNSHIP (9 credits)
• MU4BMOIP (3 credits) And a choice of 3 among 8 different elective classes (6 credits each):
  • MU4BM112 Molecular biology of eukaryotes
  • MU4BM113 Established and emerging model organisms for marine science
  • MU4BM142 Theoretical and practical introduction to epigenetics
  • MU4BM169 Introduction to stem cell biology
  • MU4BM148 Embryonic models for genetic diseases and cancer
  • MU4BM123 UE Immunologie fondamentale et intégrée
  • MU4BI033 Python for Physiology modeling

Skills and Competencies

Disciplinary Knowledge

• Main notions concepts and techniques from molecular and cellular biology
• Fundamentals of modern physics involved in biological processes or linked to quantitative analysis
• Deep understanding of a few specialized domains of physics with important applications in biology
• Being able to use abstract reasoning
• Using mathematical and statistical tools
• Multidisciplinary approach
• Knowing multiple current and historical instrumentation techniques
• Set up an experimental approach to address a scientific question
• Use acquisition and data analysis softwares

General Skills

• Using a programming language
• Using information and communication technologies
• Efficient information search
• Communicating the results of your work in both the oral and written form
• Teamwork
• Planning a project
• Integrating oneself in a research team or any professional environment
• Understanding and being understood in a foreign language

Target Audience & Admission Criteria

This program welcomes students after the completion of L3 as well as students from engineering schools with a biology background.

Application

There are three ways to submit your application, depending on your profile.

1. If you reside in one of the listed countries: You must follow the "Etudes en France" procedure.
2. If you are an English-speaker from France or any other country not listed: You have to apply through the eCandidat platform.
3. If you are a French-speaker from France or any other country not listed: You have to apply through the MonMaster platform.

What's Next

This program is a springboard to a wide range of M2 programs either in biology alone or at the interface between Biology and Physics. A natural follow-up to this M1 program is the M2 « Systèmes Biologiques et Concepts Physiques » at Sorbonne Université, but it also opens the door to many M2 programs within Sorbonne Université or elsewhere.