Course description
Programme description
- Multidisciplinary programme taught by staff from the Schools of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Medicine and Physical Sciences & Engineering.
- Balanced integration of computational, biological and medical aspects in the teaching curriculum.
- Access to advanced facilities and cutting-edge research projects supervised by members of the Bioinformatics Centre (which spans both the Physical Sciences & Engineering and Biomedical & Health Schools at King's).
Our programme reflects bioinformatics as a multidisciplinary field involving research, development and application of computational tools for storing, organising and analysing the large amounts of biomolecular data now available (eg genomic, gene expression arrays, protein-protein interactions, protein and nucleic acid structures).
Examples of topics covered are algorithm design and analysis in computational molecular biology; protein structure analysis and prediction; introduction to statistics for bioinformaticians; microarray data analysis; protein/gene interaction networks; systems biology methods. In addition, students with a biology background will be introduced to programming and computer science and students with a computational background will be introduced to molecular biology. All students on the MSc will also undertake a research project in an academic or industrial laboratory.
Programme format and assessment
The MSc programme consists of eight taught modules, assessed by written examinations, and an individual project, assessed mainly on the basis of written dissertation. The taught modules may contain an obligatory coursework component. Successful completion of only the taught part of the programme (first nine months) leads to a postgraduate diploma, and of the whole programme to an MSc degree.