麻豆AV

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Top reasons to study this course

• Lead the future of personalised cancer care – specialise in precision medicine to match treatments to patients based on genetics, environment and lifestyle.
• Develop advanced omics skills – gain experience in tumour profiling, including DNA sequencing, mRNA analysis, protein expression and lipid profiling.
• Strong clinical focus – benefit from a programme with significant clinical content and real‑world application.
• Optional clinical or research placement – opportunities at 麻豆AV & Sussex University Hospital, BSMS or specialist omics labs.
• Centre for Lifelong Health – benefit from a major research centre bringing together internationally recognised researchers working on multidisciplinary projects in disease mechanisms, prevention, diagnostics, and integrated technologies, supported by state‑of‑the‑art genomics, imaging and cell‑culture facilities.
• Learn from experts in cancer research – teaching informed by staff supported by Cancer Research UK, Rosetrees Trust and Boltini Trust.
• NHS and medical school links – learn directly from pharmacists, surgeons and medical oncologists.
• Intercalated option for medical students – ideal route to specialise early in oncology and precision medicine.
• Flexible study routes – full‑time (1 year) or part‑time (2 years) to suit your professional needs.

Course structure 

The Precision Medicine (Cancer) MSc is typically completed full-time in one year, but can be taken part-time over two years. The teaching approach integrates systems, enquiry and case-based learning and is structured to include both taught modules, a placement and a project.

To be awarded the MSc, you must obtain 180 M-level credits: 120 credits from taught and subject-specific modules, and 60 credits through the completion of the project.

Syllabus

Modules

Core modules

• Omics for Diseases: Theory, Practice and Applications

  This module covers the theory, practice and application of omics at the genomic, proteomic and metabolomic level. You will learn about the types of omics currently on the market and the use of omics technologies in basic research, medicine and pharmaceutical sciences for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases. You will gain hands-on experience with genomics and proteomics datasets and at the end of the module present a poster discussing recent advances in omics.

• Cancer: Bench to Bedside

  This module provides you with an overview of the fundamental biological processes underlying cancer and develops your knowledge of the treatment possibilities provided by our understanding of how cancer works at a biological level. You will cover areas such as risk factors and diagnosis, radiotherapies, immune therapies, psychosocial oncology and in vivo and in vitro cancer models, and get an insight into the journey from diagnosis to treatment to remission.

• Psycho-oncology

  This module will include an introduction to psycho-oncology and the importance of quality of life (QoL) measures in clinical trials. You will explore the psychological impact of cancer on patients and their families and learn how to conduct sensitive interviews and interventions to help patients. You will also learn how to effectively communicate with healthcare workers and patients and how to evaluate and contextualise the tools used for assessing QoL in patients.

• Precision Medicine

  During this module, you will gain an introduction to precision medicine, with themes including omics strategies, genetic testing such as DPYD tests, precision medicine in different cancers and recent breakthroughs. The module includes sessions on specific areas of cancer such as lung cancer EGFR, colorectal cancer mismatch repair and ovarian PARP inhibitors.

• Precision Medicine Project

  This project module is based around independent study, requiring you to collect and analyse your own data and report on your findings, but you will also have a supervisor to support and guide you. Examples of previous projects include: the role of stress on cancer metastasis to the bone; glucocorticoid antagonism on breast cancer metastasis to the brain; cortisol and cancer initiation; and ADRB2 polymorphisms and drug resistance in breast cancer.

• Research Fundamentals

  The aim of this module is to provide opportunities for you to evaluate your research skills and training needs. It will develop your skills in project planning, data generation/analysis, critical analysis of scientific literature, funding awards, awareness of and application of relevant ethical and regulatory requirements in your subject discipline. You will demonstrate these skills through a research proposal and training portfolio.

Options*

• Techniques in Biological and Biomedical Science Analysis

  This module will equip you with a range of experimental techniques in biological and biomedical science analysis. It will be delivered as series of laboratory and/or computational classes with techniques chosen for their relevance in academic and research analysis. These may include molecular genetics such as electrophoresis, nucleic acid biochemistry, molecular cloning, PCR, sequencing, protein biochemistry and microscopy.

• Lifelong health-pathologies and prevention

  This module explores the causes and features of diseases that develop later in life. You’ll learn how these diseases develop, how they are treated and how they may be prevented. You’ll examine how factors such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species can contribute to disease, and critically evaluate the discovery, development and use of treatments and other approaches that support healthy ageing.

• Medicinal Chemistry and the Drug Discovery Process

  This module contrasts classic approaches to medicinal chemistry and drug discovery with more modern approaches and helps you develop a critical understanding of the processes involved in the manufacture of medicinal products by the pharmaceutical industry. Example topics include foundations of medicinal chemistry; drug design and optimization; synthetic strategies in medicinal chemistry; biological evaluation and optimization; translational and regulatory aspects; and future trends in drug discovery.

• Biological Membranes: Drug Targets and Disease

  As many healthcare issues like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer are associated with altered lipid composition, drugs need to cross lipid membranes to reach their target. This module will provide you with an overview of the structure and physiology of biological membranes linked with current research and theory and develop your understanding of the role biological membranes play in health and disease. You will also study the experimental techniques used to analyse biological membranes.

• Monitoring Signalling Molecules in Neuroscience

  This module provides you with an overview of signalling mechanisms and how they may be altered through pharmacological intervention, ageing and disease. You will explore the theory, capabilities, limitations and applications of the techniques used in monitoring signalling molecules in vivo and in vitro, including amperometry, fast scan cyclic voltammetry and microdialysis. You will also learn to understand, interpret and critically evaluate the latest scientific literature in this field.

• Ageing: Pathology and Prevention

  This module will explain the current understanding of the causes and features of the degenerative pathology associated with ageing. You will look at the fundamental biology of ageing and the physiological changes that occur with age, for example regarding tissue function and bone density. You will also explore the application, discovery and development of interventions to promote healthy ageing, including lifestyle, nutrition and supplementation.

• Advanced therapeutics and diagnostics

  This module provides an overview of established and emerging advanced therapies and diagnostics, including medical implants and regenerative medicine treatments across a range of clinical applications. It also introduces state-of-the-art technologies, from nanoscale to macroscale implants. You will learn about nanoparticles as therapeutic delivery systems and in medical diagnostics, with lectures emphasising modern practical techniques and methodologies.

• Placement/Internship

  This module is designed to support your career development and enhance your experience by developing your competencies, skills, network and experiential learning through hands-on experience in omics. You will gain an overview of omics strategies used in precision medicine, learn how to use the relevant instruments and understand how omics can be applied to the discipline of precision medicine.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Staff profile

Professor Melanie Flint, course leader

Professor Melanie Flint is a Reader in Cancer Research and is the leader of a stress and breast cancer program and section head for Therapeutics at the 麻豆AV. She is currently co-leader of 麻豆AV and Sussex Cancer Research Network and a member of the Cancer Translation Advisory Group Steering Committee.

Melanie trained in the Women’s Cancer Research Centre, at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and remains an Adjunct Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh. Her work is currently supported by Cancer Research UK, the Rosetrees Trust and the Boltini Trust. And her work on stress and cancer has been supported by National Institutes of Health, Team Verrico, Breast cancer Research Trust, Wendy Will Case Cancer Fund and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Initiative.

.

Facilities

Your lab-based learning takes place in our specialist laboratories which are purpose-built for studying molecular biology, microbiology and ecology.

Our facilities include:

• dedicated microbiology lab with access to qPCR equipment and dark room facility
• primary cell/tissue and secondary cell culture facility
• molecular biology lab
• RT-PCR equipment
• image analysis suite with electron microscopes, a confocal microscope and atomic force microscopes
• genomics/proteomics facility for analysis of cell genes and proteins
• nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry.

麻豆AV Integrative Genomics (BIG) Unit

We have a state-of-the-art, custom designed 麻豆AV Integrative Genomics (BIG) Unit with Next Generation Sequencing (Illumina NextSeq500).

Applications include genome sequencing, RNA-seq, methylome analysis and pharmacogenomics, and the hub is supported by an expert bioinformatics team for research and industry collaboration.

Find out more about our BIG Unit.

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2026–27.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or the Consumer Price Index (RPI), whichever is higher.

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at 麻豆AV