We work in partnership with around 30 NHS Trusts across England, giving us strong, ongoing links with employers and healthcare professionals. These relationships ensure we stay aligned with current practice, workforce needs, and emerging developments in biomedical science. This insight directly informs our undergraduate teaching, so all students benefit from a curriculum that is up to date, professionally relevant, and closely connected to real NHS laboratory and healthcare environments.
Through our industry links with Roche Diagnostics, a global leader in healthcare innovation, we enhance your employability and career prospects. Our connections ensure your learning is shaped by real-world developments in diagnostic testing, emerging technologies, and how healthcare solutions are developed and delivered. You’ll gain valuable insight into a wide range of career pathways, from NHS laboratories to roles in industry such as diagnostics development, supply chains, and field applications, helping you graduate with the knowledge, skills, and awareness employers are looking for.
First year:
You'll build a strong foundation in the life sciences, exploring biochemistry, human physiology, genetics, genomics, microbiology and immunology. As you develop your understanding of how cells, organisms and body systems function, you'll begin to investigate how genetic variation, infection and disease affect human health.
Spending a full day in the laboratory each week, you'll develop the practical skills used by professional scientists, including microbiology, molecular biology and physiological investigations. Alongside this, you'll build your confidence in scientific communication, data analysis, research and professional practice, preparing you for more advanced biomedical investigations later in your degree.
Second year:
Building on your first-year foundations, you'll spend a full day each week in the laboratory developing advanced practical skills across microbiology, clinical biochemistry, haematology, immunology and molecular pathology. You'll investigate how diseases develop, how they are detected and monitored, and how laboratory results help guide diagnosis and treatment.
To develop the skills employers value, you'll work as part of a team in our simulated pathology scenario, experiencing some of the challenges, workflows and decision-making processes found in professional diagnostic settings. You could be performing blood group cross-matching, identifying microorganisms or interpreting patient test results, helping you build the technical, communication and problem-solving skills needed for careers across healthcare, research and the wider life sciences.
Third year:
You'll bring together knowledge from across biomedical science to investigate complex clinical case studies, interpreting laboratory results and applying diagnostic reasoning to understand how laboratory medicine supports patient care. Through integrated pathology and laboratory medicine, you'll develop the analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills used by professional scientists.
You'll also explore emerging areas of biomedical science, including personalised medicine, regenerative therapies and drug discovery, considering their scientific, ethical and global implications. Alongside this, you'll complete an in-depth independent research project, which could involve anything from working with cancer cells to investigating the use of AI and other emerging technologies in healthcare.
As you prepare for graduation, you'll further develop your professional identity, leadership, communication and research skills, ensuring you're ready for careers across healthcare, industry, research and the wider life sciences sector.
Fourth year (MSci only):
The integrated Master's year allows you to study at postgraduate level, developing advanced scientific, leadership and research skills. You'll tackle complex clinical case studies, integrating data from across laboratory medicine to make evidence-based decisions and interpret diagnostic findings in the context of patient care.
Alongside this, you'll explore the leadership, innovation and strategic thinking needed to drive change within healthcare and the life sciences sector, developing the skills required for senior scientific and professional roles.
A major feature of the year is an extended research and innovation project, allowing you to investigate a topic in depth and develop the independent research skills expected of postgraduate scientists. Depending on your interests, you can also specialise further through advanced molecular biology modules, exploring areas such as genomics, precision medicine, genome editing and emerging molecular technologies.