MSc Infection Biology

The University holds regular open days, where you will have the opportunity to tour the campus and find out more about our facilities and courses. On this day, you will find out more about the course and meet academic and admissions staff who will be able to answer any questions you have. For more information, see Open days .

Please apply via our online application form. See the application and selection section for details of the supporting documents we require.

We recommend that you apply as early as possible. We reserve the right to close applications if the course is full.

We require the following documents before we can consider your application: 

• Transcript of your studies to date.
• Degree certificate (if you have already graduated).
• Personal statement or statement of purpose.
• Curriculum vitae (CV).
• An academic reference. You will be required to provide the name and contact details of two referees during completion of the application form.

Your referees will be contacted directly and asked to provide a letter of reference.When providing referee details, you must ensure the email addresses are accurate and official, typically ending with an institutional domain. We do not accept references provided from a personal email address eg hotmail or Gmail.

If any of the supporting documents are not in English, you must also provide us with official or certified English translations. If English is not your first language, we also require proof of your English language ability. If you have already taken an English language qualification, please include your certificate with your application. We may be willing to consider your application without this document, but if we choose to make you an offer, the conditions will include IELTS (or equivalent qualification).

Project structure, expectations and goals

On this research-focused master's programme you will perform a half-year project in the laboratory of a leading infection biologist at a university ranked 7th in the UK for Life sciences and medicine (QS World University Rankings 2025). You will not only develop your skills in relevant lab techniques but receive training in data analysis, management and oral/written presentation, all in the context of your own original infection biology project. This will enable you to perform convincingly on future job or PhD interviews where you can refer to your achievements and demonstrate project ownership, understanding and professional standards in a substantiated way.

To achieve this goal, you will be supported by seminars, workshops, small group tutorials and dedicated course units in statistics and laboratory skills. They are designed to prepare you for efficient performance in laboratory environments and during your research. They will also equip you with essential transferable skills that include effective information digest from the scientific literature or seminars, as well as science communication skills including oral presentations, poster presentations or written reports; you will learn how to adapt to both scientific and lay audiences. This will prepare you for effective elevator pitches on job or PhD interviews and equip you for a career in academic research, the biosciences industry, as science writer or in similar professional areas where experience in research will be valued. Having gained the experiences and training on this research-focussed master’s programme will enhance your ability to make informed career choices about the professional area you may want to work in.

Information about the Infection Biology projects

Please be aware that this course will not offer traditional lectures introducing you to Infection Biology. Instead, it will focus on enhanced research-related training in this field. Therefore, be expected to come with conceptual knowledge and understanding in the scientific area of your interest. We also expect non-native speakers, to come equipped with high standards of English to be able to read complex scientific literature and communicate freely. Please, be ensured that offer holders will be sent more information about how to best prepare for the programme to fully capitalise on its opportunities.

Already a few weeks after joining the programme, you will choose your own laboratory project from a list provided by your programme director. For this, the Infection Biology programme provides you with the advantage of having access to projects from a wide range of topics, as diverse as antimicrobial resistance, evolution, fungal/bacterial/viral pathogenicity, parasitology, immunology or more. As we have over 200 research-active labs, we will surprise you with a wide range of projects to choose from (browse our research pages to get your own impression). This course is therefore ideal for those who aspire to a research-related career but are yet open to various directions of investigation. Once allocated to one of your chosen projects soon after the start of the programme, you will contact your future supervisor who will guide you on your tasks of writing a literature review and project outline. This will prepare you for your project experience in your supervisor’s laboratory, where you can take ownership of your hands-on experimental work during the last 6 months of the programme.

PhD with integrated master's

If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.

You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.

PhD with integrated master's

If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.

You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.

Visit The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation to find out more about immunology research at The University of Manchester.

This course aims to:

• Provide you with real laboratory experience embedded in an active research team, where you can take ownership of your research project and gain an understanding of mechanistic approaches to problem-solving in Infection Biology.
• Ensure you have a working understanding of the application of a wide repertoire of advanced and cutting-edge scientific methods in your field of research.
• Enable you to efficiently capture complex science both from the literature or research seminars as a transferable skill for your professional life.
• Give you transferable skills in critical reasoning and reflection, collaborative team working, communication, problem solving and decision making.
• Train you in science communication in spoken, written and poster form, both in specialist and lay terms, also to prepare you for your future PhD or job interviews.

A wide range of research projects: With more than 200 labs at our faculty we can offer a wide range of research topics, providing you with the opportunity to pick a suitable project on trajectory to your future career.

Experiencing real lab environments: You will receive direct one-to-one support from an experienced researcher during the entire programme, including a 6-month-long experimental project embedded in a research-active laboratory and team.

Intense training in research-relevant skills: In addition to experimental skills learned and applied during your project period, you will partake in preparational course units dedicated to laboratory skills, statistical analysis, experimental design and research ethics.

Learning to capture research topics and fields: You will be expected to write a literature review capturing the scientific field and context of your selected research project. For this, you will receive training in strategies to search, store and digest information and how to structure your review; you will be supported by your supervisor during the process. In addition, you will attend scientific seminars and present what you learned. You will receive training on how to prepare for the seminar, optimise note-taking and structure your presentation.

Transferable skills in science communication: Communicating complex contents is an essential skill in virtually every specialist profession. You will receive intense training to be able to present in oral form, at a poster session and in written projects, both on topics given to you and reporting on your own project work. Attention will be given to both scientific and lay communication, the latter being ideal training also for job interviews.

The course comprises an induction period, sessions to introduce research areas and fundamental background knowledge, two linked research projects (initial literature research and proposal development, followed by a minimum of 25 weeks related laboratory research).

Lecture unit: Host-Microbe Interactions in Health and Disease

The unit aims to provide you with in depth, up to date understanding of the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions in healthy and diseased settings. Specifically, the mechanisms by which bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites are able to colonise and establish infections will be addressed as well the pathogen/host interactions that subvert/modify the ability of the host to respond to infections. Microbial pathogenesis will be explored, illustrated by studying selected infections in detail that will serve as illustrative paradigms relating to the wider field. Therapeutic, diagnostics and vaccination strategies will be explored, as well as epidemiology and clinical presentation of relevant diseases.

Technologies workshops

These will provide practical training in advanced research methods, giving you exposure to techniques which you may otherwise not be exposed to through your projects. Each session will be led by an expert and will consist of an explanation of the technique, followed by a practical demonstration including, where relevant, hands-on experience and data analysis.

Journal clubs

In these sessions, you will meet to review and discuss relevant research papers. Each session will be led by a senior researcher who will suggest papers for discussion.

Research seminars

You will be expected to attend departmental seminar programmes. This will include presentations provided by external speakers.

Research projects

You will complete one extended research project during the year, designed to give you practical experience of laboratory research. The experience gained will help you develop and focus your research skills in modern biomedical research laboratories. Research projects will be written up and formally evaluated. Upon commencing the course you will be issued with a list of potential research projects and appropriate reading material.

The lecture unit will include presentations from research groups that describe the breadth of research opportunities available, and will be able to discuss projects with potential supervisors.

Grant writing exercise

The grant writing exercise will provide hands-on experience of the grant writing process from the initial idea to the submission and peer review of the proposal.

The Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health provides a range of research facilities to help researchers in the Faculty to carry out ground-breaking work in biological, medical and health sciences.

The University of Manchester offers extensive library and online services to help you get the most out of your studies.

The aim of this programme is to prepare you for a research-related career, which can be at academic institutions, research-based companies, in science writing or any other profession where research experience is valued, for example in funding organisations or certain branches of patent law.

During this programme, you will receive intense training and be given the opportunity to take ownership of a research project, demonstrate professionalism in all aspects of your work, learn to operate in teams and to communicate your science in efficient and audience-adequate ways. This will enable you to perform at high standard on PhD or job interviews, being able to convince panels through substantiated descriptions of your achievements. Once on the job, many of the experiences and transferable skills learned will facilitate your progression.

Most students on our programme will go on to undertake PhD studies at The University of Manchester or elsewhere, or they continue their career in the industrial sector where the rapid recent expansion of biomedical science and the ever-increasing demand for advanced biological analyses and experimentation at all levels of complexity emphasises the requirement for suitably trained research graduates.