Welcome to your Molecular Biology course

In MSc Molecular Biology and Health course, the academic year is composed of 3- blocks of learning. Each block is 12-weeks long and the on-campus cohort is expected to be scheduled for 9-hours face to face contact through the week for semester-1 and 6-hours face to face contact through the week in semester-2 and the semester-3 contact hours will be varied depends on the nature of your research project. If your research project involves laboratory work, you are expected to work independently on your research project for 6- consecutive weeks, 3-4 days per week. Apart from the research project module, you are scheduled for 2 hours face to face lecture for the Current Advance in Molecular Biology module as well.

For the Blended Learning cohort, the teaching and learning activities are flexible. All learning materials will be available on blackboard, and you have the freedom to engage with the course in your own time. However, your Blended Learning course will provide you with  opportunities to attend a series of laboratory sessions on campus at the Science Centre. The practical sessions are scheduled during the end term of January exam- 2025- for one week and 2-weeks practical sessions scheduled during the end term of May exam 2025. These practical activities enable you to develop your laboratory skills and you could meet peers from MSc Molecular Biology on-campus cohort. On semester 3, if you are interested to undertake laboratory-based research project, you need to work in the lab for 6 consecutive weeks.

Both, the on-campus and the BL-cohorts will be provided with opportunities to engage with formative tasks through the course to help us to assess your progression before you complete the final summative assessments.

You will often be given independent learning activities which are designed to consolidate your learning and give you the opportunities to go through the sense making part of learning process.

The final summative assessment includes a wide range of coursework assessments, practical portfolio work, development practical logbooks, presentation, end point exam and independent supervised projects.

In the first few weeks at university, you will be engaging on the following modules:

Principles of Molecular Biology- BIOL70661/2

This module is intended to provide the foundation upon which the rest of the course is built and is designed to cover the fundamental principles of molecular biology across a wide range of topics. You will investigate: the structure of DNA, how DNA replicates in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, gene and genome structure in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, transcription, RNA processing, RNA structures, the genetic code, translation, posttranslational modification, the levels of protein organisation, DNA binding proteins, structural motifs, outline of gene regulation/control, structure and genetics of immunoglobulins, enzymes/overview of pathway interactions in metabolism.

Molecular Biology of the disease- BIOL70663/4

Throughout this module you will consider the molecular basis of both non-infectious and infectious disease in humans. You will investigate the molecular components of chronic diseases that arise because of one or more contributory factors i.e. inherited, environmental or behavioural factors. How each of these factors can give rise to a diseased state will be studied and then the consequences of these factors working together will be investigated allowing you to critically evaluate the molecular contribution to these diseases.

Research Project Proposal- BIOL70673/4

This module will provide you with the necessary skills to design a research project to answer a research question, potentially reflecting your area of interest or relevant to your workplace. Projects will be designed in consultation with a university-based supervisor and can be conducted either at your place of work or at Staffordshire University.
You will develop your own research idea and design a protocol for addressing the question. You will be trained in the understanding of, and preparation of the approvals necessary to carry out your research, including risk assessments and ethical approval and you will communicate your proposal in both a written and a verbal format.

It is never too early to start preparing, and we want to ensure you have all the resources you need to succeed. Below is the link to the online text that will be essential for all your level-7 module.

Please click here for further information:

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/244

Nature education- Scitable:

https://www.nature.com/scitable/

edX- Molecular Biology- free science library:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/7-01sc-fundamentals-of-biology-fall-2011/pages/molecular-biology/

Please use the link below to download Microsoft office, which is free to access and download with your university email and is necessary for your course.

Software link: https://staffsuniversity.sharepoint.com/sites/software/SitePages/Home.aspx

• Mental Wellbeing - https://www.staffs.ac.uk/study/disabled/mental_wellbeing/
• Student Support - https://www.staffs.ac.uk/students
• Financial Support - https://www.staffs.ac.uk/students/money-matters/student-support-fund
• Study Support from the Library - https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/c.php?g=654666&p=4599175 and http://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/libraryresources