Possible Modules (1 credit each): Environmental Health, Advanced Environmental Health, Environmental Health Promotion, General Epidemiology, Health Economics, Health Information Systems, Information Technology, International Health and Health Care, Medical Statistics (Recommended), Monitoring Methods for Environmental Pollution, Nursing Informatics, Occupational Disease, Occupational Health, Oral Health I & II, Practice of Clinical Audit, Principles of Clinical Audit, Practice of Health Promotion, Principles of Health Promotion, Psychology and Public Health, Research Methods (Recommended), Toxicology and Health Risk Assessment, Women's Health; Possible Modules (0.5 credits each): Advanced Statistical Methods, Cancer Epidemiology, Communicable Diseases, Financial and Resource Management, History of Public Health, Management, Management of Change, Medical Sociology, Oral Health Promotion, Statistical Computing (Recommended), Advanced Epidemiology, Exercise Psychology, Physiology of Sport and Exercise

Compulsory Courses

• Principles for Public Health and Primary Care 15 credits
• Introduction to Statistical Methods 15 credits
• General Epidemiology 15 credits
• Research Methods and Project 60 credits

Division of Community Based Sciences
Dental Public Health Unit
Department of Business & Management Studies

£3,500 for full-time home and EEC students and Part-time Home £292.00 per unit
£12,400 for full-time non-EEC students.

The course is mainly intended to provide a training for students who hope to enter a Ph.D. programme in these areas, but who feel that their practical research experience is inadequate. (about 50% of recent M.Res. graduates have gone on to a Ph.D.). The course will provide a excellent training for those wishing to enter the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries. It should also serve as an excellent introduction to research in the U.K. for overseas students intending to proceed to a Ph.D. in this country, some of whom may want only the Diploma level of pass.
The course consists of a formal taught component and research projects in individual laboratories. The formal section consists of a mandatory course covering topics such as laboratory safety, radio-isotope procedures, experimental design, statistics and IT skills. In addition, the student is expected to take part in two Advanced Modules based on small group teaching. A full list of these can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/US/L4/options/

The Dip./M.Res. group meets on a regular basis to allow the students to make brief oral presentations of their work. This is considered to be a vital part of the training of postgraduate students. Care is taken to ensure that overseas students have full access to training in the use of written and spoken English.

* Some parts of the Introductory Course (e.g. Radio-Isotopes) will be assessed by a brief written exam.
* Oral presentation will also be assessed.
* Each Advanced Module will be assessed by means of an essay, paper analysis or poster presentation as appropriate.
*The main component of assessment is based on the research projects and reports. Each report is examined by means of a brief interview. 66% of the total final assessment come from the laboratory projects.

£3,500, the annual living costs for students are about £8000.

Notes on sources of funding.

The course has two aspects: a taught component and a research project. Further to this, there are two strands to the taught component — a molecular biological strand and a computational strand, which are integrated in practical assignments during the second half of the component.

The Biological Strand: One aspect of this strand of the taught course is DNA — sequence analysis, sequence evolution (phylogenetics), and genomic analysis and functional genomics. Equal consideration is given to proteins — protein structure, folding and prediction, with extensive use of molecular graphics. The remaining focus is on the microarray and proteomic technology used for analysing the expression of genetic information as messenger RNA and as protein. Although there is a formal lecture course, the emphasis of teaching is very much on practical work at the computer.

The Computational Strand: The focus of this strand is the key computational foundations for bioinformatics — programming and database systems. The computing language used is Java — a robust, modern language, designed to dovetail with the Internet and with relational databases. It cannot be over-emphasized how important database systems are to bioinformatics, and in this part of the strand students design and construct their own databases using the Oracle, industry-standard, database management system. Other aspects of this strand are particularly geared to bioinformatics. These include introductions to web scripting, Perl (still much used in bioinformatics) and CGI applications (programs driven from web pages). This part of the course, as well as the sequence analysis, is conducted on Unix, giving students valuable experience in the operating system underpinning much of bioinformatics.

The Research Project: This is a fifteen-week project in which students apply what they have learned to a real biological problems. IBLS has a vibrant presence in modern biology, and its staff provide problems in a variety of different areas. Typical problems with local biologists have involved a range of different types of databases, systems for handling the results of remote BLAST queries, programming software for various biological visualizations, and developing systems to handle and store proteomics data. On average, about a quarter of students conduct projects outside Glasgow in bioinformatics institutes, companies or overseas Universities. Examples include the European Bioinformatics Institute, the US Protein Data Bank, GlaxoSmithKline, DeCode, Astex and Celltech.

Applicants should have a good degree (normally 1st or 2i) in a biological science subject. Non-native speakers must satisfy English proficiency requirements of either a minimum score of 6.5 in IELTS (no sub-test less than 6.0) or a minimum score in TOEFL of 570 (if computer-based — 250).

The taught part of the course is assessed by a combination of in-course assignments and written examinations. The research project is assessed on the student's performance of the work and a written report.

Prof. E. James Milner-White Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ,
Tel: +44 (0)141-330-5283
Fax: +44 (0)141-330-4620
Email: E.J.Milner-White@bio.gla.ac.uk

£3,168, the annual living costs for students are about £8000.

.Notes on sources of funding

Parasites are leading causes of global morbidity and mortality, affecting the health of millions worldwide. The application of modern techniques of molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology and genetics provides hope for the control of both medical and veterinary parasitic diseases through the development of new vaccines, chemotherapeutic agents and other control measures.
The M.Res. in Molecular Parasitology encompasses the biochemistry, genetics, cell biology and molecular biology of parasites of humans and animals. You will be introduced to state-of-the-art techniques, and see their application in parasitological research. You will interact with scientists from one of the leading and largest centres of parasitological research in the world, whose expertise covers most of the major human and animal parasites.

Summary:

• Generic Research Skills: experimental design, laboratory safety, IT, literature searching, research ethics, scientific writing, basic statistics, presentation skills
• Molecular Techniques: basic laboratory and molecular biology methods
• Molecular Parasitology: advanced techniques used in parasitology research e.g. proteomics, microarrays,electron microscopy
• Research Projects: two full-time, 18 week research projects
• Research Seminars: cutting-edge parasitology

It is very important that prospective students, whose native language is not English, and who have not been taught in English at University level, should be able to show proof that they have obtained the minimum level of competence at the language (an average of 6.5 in IELTS (or its equivalent), with a minimum of 6.0 in any one category.

The Master of Research in Molecular Parasitology is a 12 month course, full time.
Two shorter courses are available:
· The Diploma in Molecular Parasitology provides a shorter course (eight months full time), including one research project.
· The Postgraduate Certificate in Molecular Parasitology (~3 months full time study, late September-December) is aimed at students who wish to increase their knowledge and experience of modern techniques, but who do not wish to carry out the laboratory research project components.

The course is organized by the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences and involves staff from the Division of Infection & Immunity, the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology and the Sir Henry Wellcome Functional Genomics Facility.

£3,168, the annual living costs for students are about £8000.

Notes on sources of funding