Course description
Microbiology is an important and wide-ranging discipline within the life sciences, covering a range of subjects that are relevant to both human health and disease, environmental studies and industrial/biotechnological applications. It is a subject that includes traditional aspects such as the laboratory culture and isolation of specific microbes alongside more contemporary aspects, including molecular biology and bioinformatics.
The course builds upon Northumbria University's research strengths in microbiology, which include:
* Diagnostic microbiology (e.g. developing and evaluating novel media
* Molecular microbiology (e.g. investigating biomolecules in the cell envelope of Gram-positive pathogens and other bacteria)
* Microbial systematics (e.g. characterisation of microbes of industrial and biotechnological significance)
* Environmental microbiology (e.g. studying responses of microbes to environmental stress, including biocides, antibiotics and disinfectants)
* Microbial enzymology (e.g. characterising the enzymes that act as virulence factors in pathogenic streptococci and other bacteria).
The course has been specifically designed to enhance your career prospects if you are working in industry or in academic research. The flexible structure of the course will enable you to select modules and a project of relevance to your own personal, professional and academic interests. Great care is taken to ensure that the course provides knowledge and skills and uses tools, techniques and methods which are immediately useful to employers, both in the UK and overseas. You will develop transferable skills during the course with the emphasis on personal time management, problem solving abilities and life-long independent learning.
Graduate Science Research Methods
This module will provide you with an opportunity to develop your skills in the use of literature and quantitative methods. You will learn how to evaluate and contribute to scientific literature and to interpret and disseminate scientific information as well as assessing scientific data and tests of hypotheses. You will appreciate the desirable properties of research design, will be able to select an experimental design appropriate to a given system and create the design matrix. You will be able to select, apply and interpret the output from statistical methods of data analysis and evaluate the results of statistical analyses as applied to a given data set.
Subject Exploration
This module is designed to provide you with an opportunity for advanced exploration into a subject area of interest so that you can develop a critical appreciation of primary research within a relevant field and apply your pre-existing scientific/technical knowledge. It will also enable you to further develop your key skills including information retrieval, evaluative, analytical, and problem solving skills, together with group-based written and oral communication skills.
Medical Microbiology
This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to extend your knowledge and understanding of method principles and clinical significance of laboratory results in the investigation, diagnosis and monitoring of disease, with specific reference to medical microbiology.
Research Proposal
This module is designed to help you to understand a specific research area. You will identify an individually tailored program with your academic supervisor. Directed reading, guided and independent study will be used to enable you to gain a more sophisticated awareness of your chosen area.
MRes Project
This project is a research-based dissertation which may encompass a wet-laboratory based, computer-based or theoretically-based project. All projects will include development of research skills and discussion of results as well as an opportunity to compose a written dissertation.
Further details about these core modules and all optional modules are available via the Module Information link.
MODULE INFORMATION
Year 1 Modules
CH0908 WORK BASED LEARNING IN APPLIED SCIENCES (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0909 PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0910 BIOINFORMATICS (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0911 SUBJECT EXPLORATION (CORE, 20 Credits)
CH0913 Animal Biotechnology (M) (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0916 MRes Project (CORE, 90 Credits)
CH0919 Research Proposal (CORE, 10 Credits)
CH0920 Bioethics (M) (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0923 Graduate Science Research Methods (CORE, 20 Credits)
CH0926 Molecular Biology (OPTION, 20 Credits)
Year 2 Modules
CH0908 WORK BASED LEARNING IN APPLIED SCIENCES (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0909 PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0910 BIOINFORMATICS (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0913 Animal Biotechnology (M) (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0916 MRes Project (CORE, 90 Credits)
CH0920 Bioethics (M) (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0926 Molecular Biology (OPTION, 20 Credits)
CH0916 MRes Project (CORE, 90 Credits)
COURSEWORK AND ASSESSMENT
The modules are assessed by combinations of coursework, laboratory reports and/or examination including viva voce.
CAREERS
Upon successful completion of the course, there will be a range of exciting careers open to you. Many of our graduates have taken up employment in education, industry, consultancy or research.
