Aisha Gidado

Designed to develop both your research and practical skills, our MSc in Microbiology will enhance your academic knowledge of the latest advances in microbiology and improve your employability and career prospects.
The MSc degree in Microbiology will take you through a wide-ranging curriculum describing some of the latest advances in microbiology. It includes courses on microbiology, applied statistics, bioinformatics, regulation of microbial adaptation and host-pathogen interactions in infection and disease. The MSc Microbiology aims to provide you with:
This programme is ideal for students and scientists who would like to improve their career prospects, fill skills gaps and further their hands-on microbiology research experience.
This programme is available to start in September or January.
15 Credit Points
This course will provide students with microbiology knowledge for further advanced studies and will provide training in microbiological laboratory techniques. At the end of this course students will have an understanding of microbes associated with health and disease (including bacteria, fungi and viruses), practical and academic understanding of laboratory techniques required for the culture, identification and characterisation of microbes, and increased confidence in reading and critiquing primary research literature.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
A course containing a series of lectures describing 'latest-methods and discoveries' in areas of bioinformatics and functional genomics including transcriptomics, proteomics, and DNA sequence analysis.Contains a series of in-depth workshops that teach the principles and practice of next generation sequence analysis, transcriptomics, proteomics and sequence similarity analysis.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
Modern biotechnology is absolutely dependent upon our increasingly sophisticated ability to use microbial and mammalian host cells as factories to produce high quantities of protein pharmaceuticals, e.g. insulin. Increasingly, cells engineered with multiple foreign genes are also being used to drive small molecule drug production. This course will explore how such heterologous protein expression processes can be engineered and optimised to drive efficient synthesis of the next generation medicines on which healthcare systems are increasingly depending.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of how behaviours (e.g. smoking, diet, medication adherence, etc) can protect, promote, risk or damage health; the key drivers of (un)healthy behaviours; and techniques to change health behaviours.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
A course that leads you through research-level study of your subject through study of a range of areas of the science literature
An introduction to the subject of your summer research project through the writing of an extended essay on the subject of your forthcoming research project.
The course provides an opportunity to study advanced science concepts led by an experienced member of academic staff.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
Why do some microorganisms cause disease, yet others don’t? This course explores host-pathogen interactions from bacterial, fungal, parasite, viral and host perspectives in a lecture series, examining virulence factors, host defences and immune responses. Students develop a detailed knowledge of one specific host-pathogen interaction through self-directed study and review of a specific disease selected by the student. In addition, workshops are held which discuss experimental design for analysis of host-pathogen interactions, virulence and novel drug treatments. The material on the course will enable students to develop and refine their understanding of the roles of host and pathogen in infectious disease.
View detailed information about this coursePlus one or both of the following (depends on prerequisites taken in 1HS):
Elective (if additional credits required):
Choose one of the following:
15 Credit Points
An exciting course that brings a student right up to date with bioinformatics, genome assembly and annotation technology. You, the student, will isolate a novel bacterium from the environment and purify its DNA. This will be whole genome sequenced, and you will then assemble your own bacterial genome and functionally annotate it, taught by expert bioinformaticians from our Centre for Genome-Enabled Biology and Medicine. Your analysis will enable you to identify the species you have isolated, its metabolic and environmental responses, growth constraints and regulation, cell surface markers and antibiotic resistance, producing a full inventory of genes and their presumptive functions. Overall the course prepares a student for future employment in a biosciences workplace where genome sequencing and annotation is becoming an everyday tool of modern biotechnology.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
This course will take the student through in depth study of how synthetic biology and systems biology are transforming the principles and practice of modern biotechnology. The course will teach modern methods of biotechnology including host cell design and optimisation using modern modelling techniques, leading to an understanding of how multiple genes under precise regulatory control can be introduced into a species to endow it with new biotechnologically-valuable properties.
Through hands on study of synthetic biological processes in a series of workshops, students will learn how advanced genetic engineering of host expression systems can transform production of pharmaceuticals, chemical feedstocks and biofuels. The course will equip students with a range of knowledge and skills directly relevant to modern biosciences, including the biotechnology industry.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
Biologic therapies represent one of the most important and novel areas of drug discovery in the 21st century. The aim of this course is to provide an insight into the success of protein, peptide or antibody based biologic therapies and to examine how this exciting new area will develop over the next decade.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
A course describing the wide range of ways in which genome sequencing has transformed our understanding of medicine and human disease.
A course placing a high value on its teaching and learning; lecture material supported by workshops – your chance to team-work, ask questions and enjoy the science.
Contains material detailing a range of examples of genome science and its applications in medicine.
A course that makes wide use of the literature, allowing you to read about and understand the latest methods in genome science.
View detailed information about this courseStudents will be offered a choice of research projects which cover a range of different research areas, including ion channel research, microbiome research, mycology, synthetic biology, oomycete research and bacteriology.
Fee category | Cost |
---|---|
EU / International students | £23,500 |
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year | |
Home / RUK | £10,200 |
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year |
15 Credit Points
A course that leads you through research-level study of your subject through study of a range of areas of the science literature
An introduction to the subject of your summer research project through the writing of an extended essay on the subject of your forthcoming research project.
The course provides an opportunity to study advanced science concepts led by an experienced member of academic staff.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
Why do some microorganisms cause disease, yet others don’t? This course explores host-pathogen interactions from bacterial, fungal, parasite, viral and host perspectives in a lecture series, examining virulence factors, host defences and immune responses. Students develop a detailed knowledge of one specific host-pathogen interaction through self-directed study and review of a specific disease selected by the student. In addition, workshops are held which discuss experimental design for analysis of host-pathogen interactions, virulence and novel drug treatments. The material on the course will enable students to develop and refine their understanding of the roles of host and pathogen in infectious disease.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
This course in Applied Statistics intends to focus on the application of statistical techniques in postgraduate research for health professionals, with a particular emphasis on the correct interpretation of statistical analyses. The course will NOT concentrate on the statistical theory underlying the subject. An important component of the course is the use of a statistical package. The statistical package used on this course will be IBM SPSS Statistics 25 which can be used to implement all of the methods taught on this course.
View detailed information about this courseStudents choose one of the following courses:
15 Credit Points
Biologic therapies represent one of the most important and novel areas of drug discovery in the 21st century. The aim of this course is to provide an insight into the success of protein, peptide or antibody based biologic therapies and to examine how this exciting new area will develop over the next decade.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
A course describing the wide range of ways in which genome sequencing has transformed our understanding of medicine and human disease.
A course placing a high value on its teaching and learning; lecture material supported by workshops – your chance to team-work, ask questions and enjoy the science.
Contains material detailing a range of examples of genome science and its applications in medicine.
A course that makes wide use of the literature, allowing you to read about and understand the latest methods in genome science.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
This course will provide students with microbiology knowledge for further advanced studies and will provide training in microbiological laboratory techniques. At the end of this course students will have an understanding of microbes associated with health and disease (including bacteria, fungi and viruses), practical and academic understanding of laboratory techniques required for the culture, identification and characterisation of microbes, and increased confidence in reading and critiquing primary research literature.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
A course containing a series of lectures describing 'latest-methods and discoveries' in areas of bioinformatics and functional genomics including transcriptomics, proteomics, and DNA sequence analysis.Contains a series of in-depth workshops that teach the principles and practice of next generation sequence analysis, transcriptomics, proteomics and sequence similarity analysis.
View detailed information about this course15 Credit Points
Modern biotechnology is absolutely dependent upon our increasingly sophisticated ability to use microbial and mammalian host cells as factories to produce high quantities of protein pharmaceuticals, e.g. insulin. Increasingly, cells engineered with multiple foreign genes are also being used to drive small molecule drug production. This course will explore how such heterologous protein expression processes can be engineered and optimised to drive efficient synthesis of the next generation medicines on which healthcare systems are increasingly depending.
View detailed information about this courseStudents choose one of the following courses:
15 Credit Points
View detailed information about this courseFee category | Cost |
---|---|
Home Students | £10,000 |
Tuition Fees for 2020/21 Academic Year | |
International Students | £23,000 |
Tuition Fees for 2020/21 Academic Year | |
EU / International students | £23,500 |
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year | |
Home / RUK | £10,200 |
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year |
We will endeavour to make all course options available; however, these may be subject to timetabling and other constraints. Please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
The programme is taught through a flexible mix of lectures and small group tutorials, practical classes, practical computer workshops and research tutorials. There is also an expectation of self-learning, where you will engage with current microbiology research literature to enhance your knowledge gained and discussed in taught sessions. All lecture material is available on MyAberdeen, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment.
The programme also involves an extended, hands-on laboratory-based research project, supervised by experienced and research-active academic staff. Much of the teaching on this course is participatory and students are expected to consolidate all taught content by completing related tasks and activities and engaging in independent study in their own time.
Taught courses are assessed by a combination of written assignments and reports, oral presentations, and by examination. All students undertake a research project, which is submitted for assessment in the form of a short research thesis. Students also present an oral presentation on their project.
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
A second class Honours degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent qualification in Microbiology or other biological science degree is required for entry onto this programme.
Please check the In My Country pages to find out if your degree is equivalent.
Please enter your country to view country-specific entry requirements.
To study for a Postgraduate Taught degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.5 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 90 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 62 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced, C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 176 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
You will be required to supply the following documentation with your application as proof you meet the entry requirements of this degree programme. If you have not yet completed your current programme of study, then you can still apply and you can provide your Degree Certificate at a later date.
Further Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Aberdeen
Eligible self-funded international Masters students will receive the Aberdeen Global Scholarship. Visit our Funding Database to find out more and see our full range of scholarships.
On Thursday 4 March, The University of Aberdeen will hold a Postgraduate Virtual Open Day.
It is open to everyone who is interested in Postgraduate Taught and Research study.
Find out moreThe MSc Microbiology Programme will provide you with the academic, analytical and practical skills to assist you in to many careers.
Many of our graduates choose to continue in research careers and begin PhDs or become research scientists (research assistants or technicians). Our scientists have obtained posts in Universities, industry (including oil and gas), biotechnology and hospital diagnostic and pathology laboratories.
More generally, microbiologists can use their training in education, working in schools, colleges of further education and in Universities. Further opportunities are available to apply microbiology training in scientific publishing, in patent offices working on biological patents, in science outreach and contributing to the public understanding of microbiological issues.
The programme will be delivered by an experienced, multidisciplinary team of internationally renowned experts in microbiology.
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. Staff changes will occur from time to time; please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
Focused on developing future effective therapies, the Institute of Medical Sciences houses nearly 400 researchers and support staff working on cutting-edge biomedical subjects aimed at understanding the human body's response to infection and disease.
The Foresterhill Health Campus is one of the largest clinical complexes in Europe which includes the Medical School, large teaching hospital, the Institute of Medical Sciences and the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health.
The University’s award winning Sir Duncan Rice Library is listed in the “Top 20 spellbinding University libraries in the World”. It contains over a million volumes, more than 300,000 e-books and 21,000 journals.
Find out more