Molecular, Cellular and Organismal Biology Leiden University

Overview

This specialisation offers you the unique possibility to integrate molecular, cellular and organismal levels of research, but also provides the possibility to specialize in one of these levels.
An important aspect of this specialisation is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying health and disease and how cells and organisms adapt to environmental factors ranging from light, stress and pathogens to ecological and social conditions. Model organisms include bacteria, fungi, plants and animals (invertebrates and vertebrates). The subject areas covered encompass functional genomics, signal transduction, cellular differentiation, development, host-microbe interactions and animal behaviour.
The master's specialisation Molecular, Cellular and Organismal Biology is a good match if you are interested in subjects in the molecular, cellular and organismal levels of research. More in general, this master specialisation is ideally suited as a basis for starting a research career at a university or research institute and for a position in a bioscience-based company.

What you will learn

The subject areas covered encompass functional genomics, signal transduction, cellular differentiation, development, host-microbe interactions and animal behaviour.
The programme includes several compulsory components, mostly at the start and the end of the programme, and can be expanded with a wide choice of elective elements. The mandatory components in the first semester aim to provide students with the theoretical and practical background needed for an efficient start of the Research Project at the end of this semester.

The Research Projects are the actual core of the MSc programme. Students will be members of a research group of their choice and work full time on a specific project. Each project will be finished with an MSc thesis written in the form of a manuscript for an international scientific journal. At least one but preferably two Research Projects are part of the study programme.

Career prospects

Approximately half of the graduates choose a career in scientific research, many as PhD students. Universities, research institutes and Medical Centers are the major employers. Others work at consultancies or in the public domain as policy-makers, science communicators or teachers. Graduates also occupy management positions or have project responsibility in a wide variety of (non-)commercial sectors, from biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies to software development.

Accreditation

Accredited by NVAO, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders.