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Biological Sciences (MSc by Research)

2024-25 (also available for 2023-24, 2025-26)

This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.

Start date

1 October 2024

13 January 2025

14 April 2025

Duration

The maximum duration for an MSc by Research is 1 year (12 months) full-time or 2 years (24 months) part-time with an optional submission pending (writing-up) period of 4 months.

Sometimes it may be possible to mix periods of both full-time and part-time study.

If studying on a part-time basis, you must establish close links with the University and spend normally not less than an average of 10 working days per year in the university, excluding participation in activities associated with enrolment, re-registration and progression monitoring. You are also expected to dedicate 17.5 hours per week to the research.

Application deadlines

For September 2024

07 June 2024 for International and Scholarship Students

28 June 2024 for Home Students

For October 2024

07 June 2024 for International and Scholarship Students

28 June 2024 for Home Students

For January 2025

18 October 2024 for International and Scholarship Students

15 November 2024 for Home Students

For April 2025

24 January 2025 for International and Scholarship Students

21 February 2025 for Home Students

About the research degree

A Master of Science (MSc) by Research allows you to undertake a one-year (full-time) research degree. It contains little or no formal taught component. This type of study gives you the chance to explore a research topic over a shorter time than a more in-depth doctoral programme.

Our research degrees are available as full-time, part-time and some are offered distance learning.

Research Master's students choose a specific project to work on and have a greater degree of independence in their work than is the case with a taught Master’s course.

You’ll be expected to work to an approved programme which you will develop in conjunction with your supervisor within the first few months of starting your studies. Whilst undertaking the research project you will also develop your research skills by taking part in training courses and events.

You will be appointed a main supervisor who will normally be part of a supervisory team, comprising up to three members. The research supervisor will advise and support you on your project.

At the end of the project, you write up your findings in the form of a short thesis of around 25,000 words, which will then be examined.

On successful completion, you will be awarded your degree and if you have enjoyed this taste of research, you may then decide to apply for the full research doctoral degree (PhD).

Entry requirements

The normal entry requirements for enrolment on a MSc by Research is an upper second honours degree (2.1) from a UK university or a qualification of an equivalent standard, in a discipline appropriate to that of the proposed programme to be followed.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Why choose Huddersfield?


There are many reasons to choose the University of Huddersfield and here are just five of them:

 

  1. We were named University of the Year by Times Higher Education in 2013.
  2. Huddersfield is the only University where 100% of permanent teaching staff are Fellows of the Higher Education Authority.
  3. Our courses have been accredited by 41 professional bodies.
  4. 94.6% of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within six months of graduating.
  5. We have world-leading applied research groups in Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities.

 

What can I research?

There are several research topics available for this degree. See below examples of research areas including an outline of the topics, the supervisor, funding information and eligibility criteria:

Outline

Gamma-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX) catalyses the post-translational modification of vitamin K dependent proteins involved in coagulation and bone development in higher animals. Knockout of GGCX in mammals results in fatalities in utero or shortly after birth. Polymorphic GGCX gene variants cause with pseudoxanthoma elasticum-like disorder with associated multiple coagulation factor deficiency.
This project will map ligand binding, active and polymorphic sites in GGCX to explore the evolution of this essential mammalian protein in lower organisms that do not have blood or bone. It will utilise a variety of computational approaches to explore the evolution of the protein and gene including phylogenetic and 3D modelling methodologies.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Cannabinoids have an established role in the exertion of palliative effects in cancer patients. They have been used in cancer patients to relieve nausea, vomiting, pain, and to help stimulate appetite. Standard treatment strategies for cancer patients may involve surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Unfortunately, patients experience many adverse effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Some patients also show resistance to the treatments. Therefore, novel treatment methods are unmet clinical needs. We and others have shown that cannabinoids can also induce cytotoxicity in various cancers such as gynaecological and gastrointestinal cancers. The aim of the project is to continue the investigation and test non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as CBD (cannabidiol) and CBG (cannabigerol) on human carcinoma cells. In our projects, we are interested in investigating the mechanism of action of cannabinoids to induce cytotoxicity in tumours and whether treatment with cannabinoids can increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The results of the pre-clinical project will inform clinical colleagues in designing clinical trials. Our ultimate aim will be: (1) whether cannabinoids can be used as adjunct treatment with the current treatment regimens for cancer patients to reduce the side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, (2) whether the life expectancy of cancer patients can be increased if cannabinoids are added to the treatment strategy, (3) whether patients’ quality of life can be improved.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £7-£10,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

In the last 5 years, we have accumulated probably the largest collection of Apodemus whole-genome genotypes in the world. With about 1400 samples, we inadvertently also sequenced various biological contaminants present in or on the samples, which we could use to gain additional insights into Apodemus biology. Particularly interesting are the various parasites associated with the yellow-necked and wood mice, such as ticks and the Borrelia bacteria they carry, but also hantaviruses - all important for human health.

In this computational-only project, you will develop and apply a computational approach to filtering the sequences we have for the non-rodent species and characterise their content and quantities. Once validated, this approach will be used to characterise other publicly available sequences from Apodemus and other species.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

We have recently developed a RAD-seq pull-down protocol to facilitate extraction of a common set of loci from samples with degraded DNA. The protocol employs biotinylated RNA baits, based on high-quality genomics DNA, which are used to pull down a similar set of loci from a large number of degraded DNA samples. We have run a proof-of-principle experiment and obtained a set of sequences from 20 samples of yellow-necked mice at different stages of DNA degradation. In this computational-only project, you will analyse these samples and construct a metric that would help us determine the effectiveness of the protocol and characterise success of its future applications.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Pillwort (Pilularia globulifera) is an aquatic fern that lives on pond edge habitats in the UK and Western Europe. Throughout its range pillwort is undergoing a rapid decline and, despite the UK harbouring a substantial proportion of the species total population, it is considered to be a Priority Species in the 2007 UK Biodiversity Action Plan. It has been recognised that conservation planning for pillwort would be greatly aided with knowledge of genetic diversity, both across the whole UK population and within localised populations. In particular, the identification of gene flow levels between populations will provide an insight into the capacity of pillwort for re-colonising suitable habitats or show if translocation is required to establish new colonies. Genotyping of plants to be used in translocations will be of importance to minimise in-breeding and maximise genetic diversity in newly established colonies. This project aims to sequence the genomes of pillwort from multiple local sites in order to determine gene flow between populations, as well as to identify genetic markers suitable for population studies across the species’ known range.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

This project will explore the effect of man-made phenolic chemicals on the terminal step of haem catabolism that can lead to brain death in animals. This will be achieved by in vitro spectrophotometric and HPLC assays with a variety of environmental pollutants to determine if they are antagonists of Phase II bilirubin glucuronidation. Computer based analysis using 3D modelling will also be used to predict interactions.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Superwarfarins such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone and flocoumafen are a class of compounds like the anticoagulant drug warfarin that are used as pesticides worldwide. Unfortunately poisoning of humans and non-target animals by these compounds is an escalating problem in many countries since the 1970s. This project will explore the toxicological impact of superwarfarins in both terrestrial and aquatic organisms using in vitro and in vivo systems.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. Studies in multicellular organisms have shown that codon choice in TEs has not evolved in order to facilitate efficient protein translation. A surprising recent study however has shown that codon choice in some unicellular eukaryotes has been optimised to increase both translational efficiency and accuracy. This project aims to investigate codon choice in bacteria and archaea in order to determine if natural selection or mutational pressure act to influence codon bias in their TE genes.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. To date TEs have mainly been studied in the multicellular animals, plants and fungi, however a small number of studies in unicellular eukaryotes indicate that TEs evolve under different evolutionary pressures in single celled organisms. This project aims to uncover evolutionary traits in TEs from choanoflagellates and other eukaryotic groups related to animals. There will be a focus of the horizontal transfer of TEs between species, as well as the role of codon choice in the translation of TE proteins.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic parasites that drive their own replication within their host’s genome. Their replication results in genomic conflict with their hosts – with elements attempting to proliferate in the genome, while hosts attempt to suppress this increase. To date TEs have mainly been studied in the multicellular animals, plants and fungi, however a small number of studies in unicellular eukaryotes indicate that TEs evolve under different evolutionary pressures in single celled organisms. This project aims to uncover evolutionary traits in TEs from unicellular eukaryotes. There will be a focus of the horizontal transfer of TEs between species, as well as the role of codon choice in the translation of TE proteins.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The project will explore the evolution of vitamin K epoxide reductases (VKORs) and vitamin K dependent proteins that are involved in coagulation and bone development in higher animals in evolutionary diverse organisms. It will involve HPLC and spectrophotometric assays of VKORs in different organisms using various substrates and effect of antagonists (pharmaceuticals and pesticides) on organisms. Bioinformatic investigation will be carried out on VKOR and vitamin K dependent proteins.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The choanoflagellates are a group of unicellular eukaryotes known to be the closest relative of animals. Gene sequences from RNA-Seq transcriptome data are over-turning our views on how different groups of choanoflagellate species are related to each other. Through comparative genomics we can also gain a better understanding on the evolution of important traits such as multicellularity, protein translation, RNAi and virus-like genetic parasites. This project aims to generate robust and reliable evolutionary trees to test current ideas on choanoflagellate evolution. The use of reliable trees will allow a more accurate reconstruction of trait evolution in choanoflagellates and in the last common ancestor of choanoflagellates and animals.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of between £3-£15,000 per annum are required depending on the nature of the project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The focus of this PhD is the pre-clinical screening and evaluation of different classes of novel compounds for potential anti-cancer activity. These compounds are available to test as part of a number of continuing and new collaborations with international chemistry research groups (in the UK and overseas). Key objectives are:- 1) phenotypic screening for toxicity against a range of cancer cell lines 2) analysis of selectivity towards cancer cells versus non-cancer cells and selection of lead compounds for further investigation. 3) analysis of activity against hypoxic cancer cells and other typically resistant cancer cells that are priority targets. 3) mechanism of action studies and target deconvolution of lead compounds.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

This MSc by Research is focused on the phenotypic approach to anti-cancer drug discovery. Key objectives are:- 1) phenotypic screening of novel compounds for activity against cancer cells, 2) analysis of selectivity towards cancer cells versus non-cancer cells, 3) analysis of activity against hypoxic cancer cells that are typically chemoresistant and a priority clinical target, 4) mechanism of action and target deconvolution studies. Depending on progress and interests, there is also the possibility of in ovo studies of ‘leads’ for ‘proof of concept’ in vivo evaluation.

Funding

Self-funding applicants are welcome. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of £5000 per annum are required for this project.

Deadline

Our standard University deadlines apply. Please see our Deadlines for Applications page to find out more

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The focus of this PhD is on the metabolic re-wiring of cancer cells which is now recognised as one of the hallmarks of cancer and is a potential rich source of new therapeutic targets. Specific aims are:- 1) to investigate cancer cell response to targeting specific molecular targets associated with metabolic re-wiring 2) to investigate heterogeneity in cellular response and potential biomarkers of response 3) to perform metabolic profiling of cancer and non-cancer cells and analyse how they respond to specific molecular targeting to provide insight into metabolic adaptability and dependency.

Funding

The project is for self-funding students from home or overseas. In addition to tuition fees, bench fees of £8,000 per annum are required.

Deadline

Home/EU -June 30th/October 31st and Overseas May 31st/September 30th

Supervisors

How to apply

To find out more about the research we conduct, take a look at our Research, Innovation and Skills webpages, where you will find information on each research area. To find out about our staff visit ‘Our experts’ which features profiles of all our academic staff.

You should enter the project title and supervisor in the online application form.

No research proposal is necessary in your application.

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Researcher Environment

The University of Huddersfield has a thriving research community made up of over 1,350 postgraduate research students. We have students studying on a part-time and full-time basis from all over the world with around 43% from overseas and 57% from the UK.

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through undertaking research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills which are current and relevant to your specialist area.

Find out more about our research staff and centres

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

When you are offered a place on a research degree, your offer will include confirmation of your supervisory team, and the topic you will be researching.

Whilst the University will use reasonable efforts to ensure your supervisory team remains the same, sometimes it may be necessary to make changes to your team for reasons outside the University’s control, for example if your supervisor leaves the University, or suffers from long term illness. Where this is the case, we will discuss these difficulties with you and seek to either put in place a new supervisory team, or help you to transfer to another research facility, in accordance with our Student Protection Plan.

Changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, for example the University being unable to access its buildings due to fire, flood or pandemic, or the University no longer being able to provide specialist equipment. Where this is the case, we will discuss these issues with you and agree any necessary changes.

Your research project is likely to evolve as you work on it and these minor changes are a natural and expected part of your study. However, we may need to make more significant changes to your topic of research during the course of your studies, either because your area of interest has changed, or because for reasons outside the University’s control we can no longer support your research. If this is the case, we will discuss any changes in topic with you and agree these in writing. If you are an international student, changing topics may affect your visa or ATAS clearance and if this is the case we will discuss this with you before any changes are agreed.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by the University’s Terms and Conditions and a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.