MSci Biochemistry

This Research Skills Module is designed to develop your experimental design, report writing and practical skills. You will be introduced to biochemistry research techniques through laboratory based projects. By the end of the course you will be accustomed to using spectrophotometers and be competent in carrying out techniques such as protein purification, mass spectrometry, enzyme kinetics, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting.

This Unit is an option for all Biochemistry and Medical Biochemistry students and may be selected by other students.

To introduce students to Biochemical techniques through defined research projects.

The students will have learned to: 

• Purify an enzyme from cell extracts by different procedures 

• Determine the protein concentration of a solution 

• Determine the specific activity of an enzyme 

• Analyse the purity of a protein preparation by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting 

• Carry out a kinetic analysis on a purified enzyme 

• Use different mass spectrometry techniques to identify a purified protein 

• Present and critically analyse research data

Students will learn the following techniques: 

• Use of spectrophotometers 

• Protein concentration assays 

• Protein purification 

• Affinity chromatography 

• Enzyme assays

• Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis 

• Western blotting 

• Mass spectrometry 

• Report writing in the style of a research paper  

Data will be produced during the course of the RSM that will be recorded and analysed.

Four Written Assignments - 12.5% each

Written Lab Report - 50%

 

Assessment will comprise of:

Written assignments (12.5% each): these assignments will include a literature search and different data analysis. One assignment will be due each week of the four weeks of the RSM.

Written Lab Report (50%): an experimental write-up (50%) containing an Abstract, Results, Discussion and References of 6 pages in length including tables, figures, graphs (excluding references) to present and analyse the data obtained during the practical.  

RSM Attendance guidelines. Students are expected to attend all scheduled RSM sessions on time (N.B. Health and safety information will be delivered at the start of practical sessions, and students who are not present at the start may be asked to leave the lab). Students who arrive late will be marked as absent for that session. Failure to attend a session (an unauthorised absence) will result in a 10% (i.e. 10 mark) penalty being applied to the overall RSM mark (i.e. a student obtaining a mark of 65% overall will instead receive a mark of 55%). Further absences will result in further penalties (i.e. 2 absences = a penalty of 20% (as described above). 

Students will receive continuous feedback on their laboratory work during the Unit by the teaching staff and demonstrators. A discussion forum is also available through Canvas to answer questions and receive feedback from the teaching staff. Detailed feedback on the assignments and lab report will be provided via Canvas. Students are also encouraged to meet with the Coordinator following completion of the Unit to discuss the assessed work. 

All compulsory recommended reading will be made available through Canvas and an online manual will be available to students on iPads in the lab which contains background and full description of the practical work. 

Tuition fees for home students will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year. In England and Wales, tuition fees for home undergraduate students are subject to the Government fee cap, which the Government has announced will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year.

Government policy is to increase the fee cap on an annual basis to reflect inflation (i.e. increasing costs), and the tuition fee home students pay in subsequent academic years will reflect any increases in the Government fee cap (which we will communicate to you as soon as we can in advance of the relevant academic year).

Tuition fees for international students will be £38,000 for the 2027/28 academic year. For subsequent academic years, the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fee by up to 7% each year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our education and wider student experience.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).