Course summary

Our four-year biomedicine degree with a placement year is for those with a broad interest in human life processes and disease, and who wish to gain additional work experience as part of their degree. Our biomedicine degrees offer more flexibility than our IBMS-accredited BSc Biomedical Science by allowing you to tailor your degree to your personal and professional interests within the field of biomedicine. You will study biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and physiology - which are at the heart of modern medical and health research. These subjects are taught with a particular emphasis on the molecules and mechanisms fundamental to life processes and how these are disrupted by disease. The degree provides you with support to secure a paid placement for twelve months working in the type of organisation that you might aspire to join when you graduate. A placement offers you the opportunity to work as a full time employee of the organisation with the same training and opportunities as other employees, whilst still receiving both academic and pastoral support from Lancaster University. In your first year, you will gain a through grounding in the general areas of biomedicine through the study of 15 wide-ranging core modules, including Biomedical Science in Practice, Infection and Immunity, and Protein Biochemistry. In your second and fourth years, you will study a small number of core modules such as Medical Microbiology and Medical Genetics. You will then select your remaining modules to match your personal and professional interests from a wide range of options including: Cellular Pathology, DNA Technology, Clinical Immunology, and Tropical Diseases. You will spend your third year on an industrial placement, which may be science or non-science based. The University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills. If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and would continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply. During your degree, you will conduct your own laboratory-based project and benefit from the research experience of our internationally renowned academics. You will also receive in-depth training in the key techniques associated with modern biomedical practice. The facilities for studying biomedicine at Lancaster University are excellent. We have invested over £4 million in new life science teaching laboratories, which you will use for practical learning and your dissertation project.