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Programme Directors: Prof Richard Day | Prof David Selwood
Email: r.m.day@ucl.ac.uk | d.selwood@ucl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (20) 3108 2183 | +44 (20) 7679 6716
Programme Cooridinator: Prof Edith Chan
Email: edith.chan@ucl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (20) 7679 6710
Teaching Administrator: Teaching Admin Team
Email: divmed.postgrad@ucl.ac.uk
Tel: via Teams
- What is Precision Medicine?
This MSc will equip you with state-of-the-art knowledge relating to mechanistic understanding of disease and technologies that detect, diagnose and specifically treat causal factors of disease. Delivered by clinical and scientific experts from across UCL, as well as visiting industry experts, the interdisciplinary programme is ideally suited for MBBS students doing an intercalated degree who wish to learn more about this growing field of medicine, as well as life science graduates who wish to pursue a career in industry or academia.
What will you learn?
You will develop advanced knowledge in all aspects of Precision Medicine including genomics, bioinformatics, structural biology, genetics and epigenetics of disease and their precision diagnosis and treatment, biomedical imaging techniques, nanomedicines; generation and analysis of big data.
You will gain awareness of the context in which Precision Medicine is being applied in healthcare, research and industry.
You will also develop a range of intellectual, practical and transferable skills essential for a career in Precision Medicine.
Career
Medicine, Industry, Academia, PhD, Research scientist, Information specialist, Medical data analyst
Messages from alumini
Alya Arham (2019/20) : "I just want to say thank you so much for your guidance while I was attending the Precision Medicine programme at UCL, it really was a great experience for me. Just this Monday, I started to work as a pharmacy lecturer at Indonesia International Institute for Life Science (i3L), and I am the youngest faculty member there! I'm super excited about this opportunity and my MSc degree contributes a great deal to me in getting this job - especially during this pandemic. "
Avish Vijayaraghavan (2020/21) : "Coming from a maths and computer science background with minimal knowledge of biology and chemistry, the 'Bioinformatics & Structural Biology', 'Computational Biology' and 'Multi-Omics & Ethics' modules were helpful in bridging this life sciences gap. The flexibility of the research project meant I could propose and take on a computational chemistry project with a machine learning Professor that allowed me to learn the deep learning frameworks I am using currently in my AI for Healthcare PhD. The MSc course also helped develop my practical research and transferable skills that I have continued to use."
Maggiekay Li (2021/22) : "My graduate experience in the Precision Medicine programme at UCL has been a truly wonderful and memorable journey. In all honesty, the course has not been without challenges, but the opportunity it provided enabled me to explore multiple areas in this fast-developing field and to develop new skills and technologies that would equip me for my future career and education. I graduated with my undergraduate degree almost 10 years ago, and this programme has provided an opportunity to bridge new skills and knowledge with my work, and I was able to grow academically and professionally. The research project also afforded me a great opportunity to learn in-depth and to work with and receive precious feedback from professionals and experts in the field. I also received a lot of help and support from the division and the programme, and I have met and made friends with my peers/classmates with the same interest and career goals as me. The emotional and technical support has pulled me through the challenging time and pushed me to succeed. In all, this has been a truly valuable and enjoyable experience! "
- Structure
The programme has 5 core modules (5x15 credits), 3 optional modules (3x15 credits) and 1 research project (60 credits).
1 Year full time. 2 Years P/T.
Degree 4 Core Modules 1 Core + 3 Optional Modules Research Project MSc (180 credits) Yes Yes Yes PGDip (120 credits) Yes Yes No PGCert (60 cerdits) Yes No No - Modules
Core Modules (15 credit each)
- MEDC0106: Bioinformatics for Applied Biomedical Science
- MEDC0085: The Genetic and Epigenetics of Disease
- MEDC0057: Advanced Biomedical Imaging Techniques I
- MEDC0087: Precision Diagnosis for Precision Medicine
- MEDC0086: Multiomics and ethics
Optional Modules (15 credit each, choose 3*)
- PHAY0037: Nanomedicines
- MEDC0060: Translational Biomedical Imaging of Disease & Therapy I
- MEDC0066: Practical Laboratory Research Skills
- MEDC0124: Advanced computational methods
- BIOL0050: Advanced Computational Biology
- CHLD0091: Novel Therapies: From concept to clinical translation
- CHLD0092: Personalised Medicine
*Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change. A timetable clash may exist for some of the optional modules organised by other UCL departments. Guidance on module selection will be provided to mitigate this.
Research project (60 credits)
- Minimum 12 weeks
- Expert groups in UCL
- External Companies and Institutes
- Projects cover every aspect of Precision Medicines, in wet labs or compuational, in silico studies.
Some past projects:
- Parkinson’s disease polygenic risk score may affect antipsychotic-induced extra-pyramidal side effect status in people with schizophrenia
- Preclinical models of COPD: A critical analysis of the current ‘state-of-the-art’ disease models used in COPD research
- Targeting HSPD1-dependent metabolic pathways using KHS101 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Can DNA methylation-specific ddPCR be used to accurately identify patients with bladder cancer?
- transcriptomic analysis of scleroderma with pulmonary complications
- Machine learning approaches for precision diagnosis and stratification of Juvenile-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients
- High content screening to investigate cellular signalling pathways modified by tyrosine kinase inhibitors: imatinib and nilotinib
Assessment
There are eight modules carrying 15 credits. Each module will consist of a written exam and coursework .
A research project will be assessed by a video, written dissertation and an oral presentation.
- People
Programme Tutor:
Prof Richard Day r.m.day@ucl.ac.uk
Prof Day leads the UCL Centre for Precision Healthcare and UCL Applied Biomedical Engineering Group. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach to identify and develop new and innovative strategies for healthcare. His core research areas are drug delivery, cell therapy, and medical devices. Richard's background is in cell biology and materials science and his translational research programme focusses on the interaction between cells and materials, which has led to UCL's first biomaterial for tissue regeneration granted approval by the MHRA for clinical use in a regulated device trial.
Prof David Selwood d.selwood@ucl.ac.uk
Prof Selwood is a medicinal chemist with 12 years experience in big pharma at the Wellcome Foundation latterly Glaxo-Wellcome. Whilst at Wellcome Prof Selwood worked on the successful anti-migraine drug zolimitriptan (over $1 billion dollars in sales) and also invented GW4991W94 a compound which completed phase 2 clinical trials.
Prof Selwood moved to UCL in December 1995 to become head of the chemistry group at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research. He founded several spin out companies: ProAxon Ltd, NCE discovery (now Domainex) and Canbex Therapeutics, a spin-out company focussed on MS Therapies.
Dr Edith Chan edith.chan@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Chan has over 17 years pharmaceutical and biotech experiences in the area of molecular modeling, cheminformatics, structure/ligand-based drug design, and bio-computing.
She worked in big phama and biotech: Sanofi Aventis and Inpharmatica, which involved all spectrum of drug discovery program. While working in Sanofi Aventis, she helped design ICE inhibitors, one of which has achieved Phase II status. She joined UCL in 2009 and her research is focused on computational drug design.
- Apply
Entry Requirement
- A minimum of upper second-class (2.1) Honours degree in a relevant discipline (for example, life sciences, medicine, chemistry, biomedicine) from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard, or an appropriate professional qualification or work experience.
English requirement:
- IELTS - Standard level: Overall grade of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each of the subtests.
- TOEFL - Standard level: Overall score of 92 with 24/30 in reading and writing and 20/30 in speaking and listening.
- Maximum number of students accepted onto the programme is 20 per annum.
Fee (22/23)Degree UK Overseas MSc £14,700 (PT £7,350) £29,400 (PT £14,700) Please visit the prospectus for 2022/23 fee information.
Funding
One departmental bursaries of £5000 will be awarded based on academic excellence. Apply to UK and EU students only. For full information and to apply, please read and complete an application form and return to Matthew Brown.
For those students working to organize scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants), early application for admission is strongly encouraged (preferably by May 1st for the following academic year).How to apply
- Useful Links