MBiolSci Research Project (Molecular Genetics)

Module code: BS4205

This module comprises a full-time, 4 month research project placement: 3 months of lab work and then 1 month for writing the dissertation and project presentation.

By choosing your laboratory research placement from projects covering a broad range of disciplines involving molecular genetics and a variety of organisms, you become part of an active research group employing modern approaches and technologies to solving significant research questions.

The project is an ideal preparation if you are wishing to proceed to a PhD in the fields of Molecular Genetics, and offers a great opportunity to enhance your employability as a biomedical scientist.

Projects undertaken by Molecular Genetics students have included:

• Characterising actively transducing L1 retrotransposons in humans
• DNA methylation and photoperiodism in the wasp N. vitripennis
• Copy number variation in haptoglobin and haptoglobin-related protein and their association with human sleeping sickness
• Mitochondrial stress and autophagy in a Parkinson’s model
• Effects of folic acid deficiency on genome stability in mice
• Characterisation of the PapsFIL gene in the opium poppy
• Effect of bottleneck on phase variable genes of C. jejuni
• Functional genomics of Bak1 polymorphisms and human platelets

Assessment of the research project is in three parts, based on your research performance, a dissertation you write about your research and a seminar you will present at the end of the project.