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, for example, 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).

On this research-focused master's course in Infection Biology, you will undertake a half-year project in the laboratory of a leading infection biologist. You will develop your skills in relevant lab techniques and receive training in data analysis, management and oral/written presentation, all in the context of your own original infection biology project. This will prepare you for future job or PhD interviews, allowing you to reference your achievements and demonstrate project ownership, understanding and professional standards in a substantiated way.

To achieve this, you will take part in seminars, workshops, small group tutorials and units in statistics and laboratory skills. The learning methods and units are designed to prepare you for laboratory environments and for undertaking research. They will also give you key transferable skills, such as effectively extracting and understanding information from scientific literature and seminars.

You will also learn how to adapt to both scientific and public audiences, developing your science communication skills through oral presentations, poster presentations or written reports. This will prepare you for elevator pitches on job or PhD interviews and equip you for a career in academic research, the biosciences industry, science writing or in similar professional areas where experience in research will be valued. The skills you gain will help you make informed career choices about the professional area you may want to work in.

About infection biology projects

Please be aware that this course does not offer traditional lectures introducing you to infection biology. Instead, it focuses on enhanced research-related training in this field. This means that you should have conceptual knowledge and an understanding of the scientific area you're interested in.

Early in the course, you'll choose your own laboratory project from a list provided by your programme director. We have over 200 research-active labs that give access to a wide selection of projects. The Infection Biology course provides you with access to a broad range of topics, including antimicrobial resistance, evolution, fungal/bacterial/viral pathogenicity, parasitology and immunology.

This MSc is ideal if you aspire to a research-related career in biology but are open to various areas of investigation. Once allocated to one of your chosen projects, you will contact your supervisor, who will guide you through 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 six months of the course.

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 how to apply advanced and cutting-edge scientific methods in your field of research.
• Enable you to efficiently capture complex science from literature or research seminars.
• Give you transferable skills in critical reasoning and reflection, collaborative team working, communication, problem solving and decision-making.
• Develop your skills in science communication in spoken, written and poster form, both in specialist and plain English terms, and to prepare you for your future PhD or job interviews.

A wide range of research projects: We have over 200 labs offering a wide range of research topics, providing you with the opportunity to pick a project that is tailored to your career.

Experiencing lab environments: You will receive direct one-to-one support from an experienced researcher during the entire course, including a six-month 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 study course units dedicated to laboratory skills, statistical analysis, experimental design and research ethics.

Learning to capture research topics and fields: You will learn how to search, store and understand information and structure this in a literature review, which will capture the scientific field and context of your research project. You will be supported by your supervisor during this process. In addition, you will attend scientific seminars and present your understanding of the content. You will be guided on how to prepare for the seminar, optimise notetaking and structure your presentation.

Transferable skills in science communication: Communicating complex information for a range of audiences is an essential skill in specialist professions. You will develop your skills in presenting in oral form, at a poster session and in written projects, on topics given to you and reporting on your own project work.

The course comprises an induction period, sessions to introduce research areas and fundamental background knowledge, and 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

This unit aims to provide you with an in-depth, up-to-date understanding of the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions in healthy and diseased settings. You'll learn about the mechanisms by which bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites are able to colonise and establish infections, as well as 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 also be covered, 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 that 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. At the start of the course, you will receive 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 you 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 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.

You'll be prepared for a research-related career at academic institutions, or research-based companies, or in science writing or any other profession where research experience is valued, for example in funding organisations or certain branches of patent law.

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 to a high standard on PhD or job interviews, being able to influence panels through substantiated descriptions of your achievements. The transferable skills you develop are designed to help facilitate your career progression.

Most students go on to undertake PhD studies at 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.