MSc - Drug Discovery and Toxicology with Advanced Research

University of Hertfordshire

This will include drug discovery techniques and technologies that are essential for the evaluation of new therapeutic targets at molecular, cellular, tissue and whole organism for translation into clinical drug development, including target identification, drug design, drug screening (using in-silico, in vitro and in vivo methods), pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, biomarkers, toxicology.

This module aims to introduce students to the core principles of toxicology and to engender an appreciation of how chemicals may lead to adverse effects. To explore and identify the mechanisms via which chemicals exert adverse effects. The applications of toxicology within a number of contexts will be explored.

Students will study the most recent aspects of molecular medicine, including how human genome information and novel molecular biology techniques are leading to a molecular understanding of disease and from this to the development of novel therapies with improved efficacy.

This module will normally cover: DNA structure and function Cell molecular biology Cancer biology Principles of basic genetics, protein structure and function Recombinant DNA technology Genomics, including sequencing techniques Genome editing Immunology (B and T cells) and antibody synthesis Genome databases and bioinformatics Gene prediction, searching for gene features, characterization of DNA sequences

The internship enables students to gain working experience in an academic research setting in a relevant Biosciences discipline and provides opportunities to develop team working and professional skills.

This module will normally cover: -Research methodology - the formulation and testing of hypotheses -Experimental design and associated statistical analysis -Questionnaire design -Data analysis and the assessment of significance. -Safety & risk assessment in the laboratory -Information seeking - the nature of scientific literature; the internet, textbooks, review literature and research literature.

The knowledge provided in this module is a foundation upon which students build in order to complete a Level 7 Bioscience research project and contributes to the professional development of the student as a bioscientist.