Master of Biology Microbiology with Placement Year

Microbiology focuses on the amazing hidden world of microorganisms that are too small to see with the naked eye. Microbes are everywhere and influence all aspects of our lives - their activities underpin the air we breathe, the food we eat, and even our own bodies are "mostly microbe"!

Taught by internationally renowned experts, you will learn about the microorganisms associated with global health issues such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) and influenza, paying particular attention to microbes of medical importance.

We’ll also show you how microorganisms influence the world around us, and how microbiology knowledge can help solve big global problems such as climate change, pollution and antibiotic resistance.

To us, it’s all about courses that mirror the real world. We’re committed to giving you life-like microbiology workplace experiences from medical research and biotechnology to food safety and diagnosing infections.

We know the time to practice goes hand-in-hand with confidence, so you’ll get lots of opportunities to sharpen your lab skills. Your substantial research project gives you a taste of a career in research but with the benefit of being supported every step of the way by our staff.

You’ll be advancing your bioinformatics and communicating science skills too – together they all go towards making you a stand-out microbiologist.

You might also be interested in BSc (Hons) Microbiology.

Why study MBiol (Hons) Microbiology at NTU?

Get industry experience
Through group work and the Practical Techniques for Biology and Experimental Design modules, you’ll start designing your own experiments and trying things out. Problem-solving skills are valuable for any graduate and we make sure you develop these right from the start of your course, with lots of opportunities to test things out and learn by doing. We’ve also embedded employability skills in the course, so you are not only learning theory and skills, but you know where to find your dream job and how to apply for it.

In your second year, you’ll take part in the Microbiology Society’s Unearthed Scheme. Through testing your own soil samples you’ll be trying to isolate antibiotic-producing bacteria. Your results will be used as part of the data collected from around the world.

Research-informed teaching
Our research is tackling real-world issues – and the people working on this research will be teaching you. This means you can be sure that what you are learning is at the cutting edge of new biological discoveries. For example, Professor Lesley Hoyles has used her expertise to show how the microbes that live in our guts have wide-ranging impacts on human health and Dr Jody Winter is part of a project which aims to tackle antibiotic resistance in Uganda.

During your final year research project, you’ll get to work closely with a research-active member of staff. Your project will focus on a specific area within their research, so you’ll be working on real-world problems and gaining valuable experience at the same time.

Meet our staff
Whether your interest is working in research or in the industry we have experienced teaching and technical staff from a wide range of backgrounds including chemical companies, the NHS, clinical diagnostics and medical research. They’ll be teaching you the latest thinking in microbiology and their contacts help us secure guest speakers and support you in finding great placement opportunities.

Community and support
With support from your lecturers, personal tutors and technical staff, you can be sure we'll be here for you during your studies. Alongside your lectures and lab classes, you’ll also have tutorial sessions. These are a chance to regularly meet in small groups with your personal tutor and members of your course to discuss the topics you are studying.

Got any feedback on your course? You’ll have lots of opportunities to discuss your course, for example in your tutorial sessions, with your course leader and course reps and you even have the chance to feedback on every module you study with an end of module survey. We love to hear your feedback and how we can make improvements. Following your feedback, we have recently added Professional Skills modules which are specific to the area of the Biosciences course you are studying. We’ve also increased our support for your coursework assignments too, through drop-in sessions accessible when you need them most.

There’s support from your peers too. Our mentoring schemes give you support from other students on your course. Whether you need help with your studies or university life in general, they’ve been there and can give you a students’ perspective. Find out more about the support you’ll receive at NTU