Find the programme structure that fits your year of admission on your Study Information.
Programme Structure
In the Biochemistry MSc programme, you to choose between four specialisations, all of which have the similar programme structure: Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, Protein Chemistry, Molecular Microbiology, or Molecular Genetics. You can read about each specialisation at the bottom of the page.
Early in your studies, and before selecting a thesis topic, you are required to do a major subject project in which you gain experience in analysing, justifying, and planning a large research project which typically could be your thesis project. During your studies, you will also choose elective and restricted elective courses that are relevant to your specialisation.
Do a Project in Practice or Study Abroad
You can use some of your elective courses to do a Project in Practice in collaboration with a company or an organisation. You can also choose to study abroad as part of your programme.
Master's Thesis
The thesis makes up the entire second year of the programme and equals 60 ECTS. Typically, you work on an independent project which represents a smaller portion of a large on-going research project.
The objective of the thesis is to enable you to independently plan and carry out scientific experiments within your thesis topic and related areas. The thesis is carried out at one of the departments associated with the programme and you will be assigned a supervisor at that department. The thesis may also be carried out externally at another research institution, hospital, or industrial laboratory.
Examples of Thesis Topics:
- Enzymological characterisation and clarification of the 3D structure of enzymes.
- Identification of metabolism routes in extreme thermophilic micro-organisms.
- Signal transduction routes in cancer cells.
- Biogenic amines formed by lactic acid bacteria in dairy products.
Specialisations
In this specialisation you work with topics relating to the molecular mechanisms that regulate cellular and immunological processes in humans and animals, with a focus on model organisms such as Drosophila and mammalian systems.
Topics range from molecular mechanisms of cell functions to molecular aspects of innate and adaptive immune system processes.
You learn to explain, evaluate and critically analyze the results, the methods used, and the conclusions drawn In molecular cell biology. You will also be able to compare other relevant literature in molecular genetics with your own experimental results obtained during the thesis project in the second year of the programme.
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on whether you start in September or February:
Programme Overview, Study Start September
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 |
Principle Subject in Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
| Elective course |
Elective course | Restricted elective course |
Major Subject Project | |
| Year 2 | Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Study Start February
Study start in February is only for students with a reserved access to the programme. Read about reserved access here >>
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 3 |
Block 4 |
Block 1 |
Block 2 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 |
Elective course | Restricted elective course | Principle Subject in Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology | |
| Elective course |
Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | Restricted elective course | |
| Year 2 | Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Advanced Cell Biology
- Cell Cycle Control and Cancer
- RNA Biology
- Cellular Signalling in Health and Disease
- Developmental Biology
- Molecular Neurobiology
- Epigenetics And Cell Differentiation
- Evolutionary Medicine
- Chronic Inflammation. From Basic Research to Therapy
- Cellular and Integrative Physiology
- Molecular Biotechnology
- Molecular Mechanisms in Metabolic Disease
- Thesis Preparation Project
In Molecular Genetics you work with tools for understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms in eukaryotes. This could for instance be related to topics regarding DNA replication, damage, and repair, as well as transcriptional regulation and epigenetics.
The specialisation enables you to explain, evaluate, and critically analyze the results, the methods used, and the conclusions drawn in molecular genetics. You will also be able to compare other relevant literature in molecular genetics with your own experimental results obtained during the thesis project
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on whether you start in September or February:
Programme Overview, Study Start September
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Principle Subject in Molecular Genetics | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
| Elective course | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | |
| Year 2 | Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Study Start February
Study start in February is only for students with a reserved access to the programme. Read about reserved access here >>
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 3 |
Block 4 |
Block 1 |
Block 2 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Principle Subject in Molecular Genetics | |
| Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | Restricted elective course | |
| Year 2 | Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Theoretical Molecular Genetics
- Experimental Molecular Genetics
- RNA Biology
- Cell Cycle Control and Cancer
- Developmental Biology
- Genome Sequence Analysis
- Experimental Higher Model Organisms
- Epigenetics and Cell Differentation
- Human Genetics
- Population Genetics
- Synthetic Biology
- Molecular Biotechnology
- Thesis Preparation Project
- Forensic Biology
The specialisation deals with molecular aspects of microbial physiology and genetics.
You learn about topics including metabolism, enzymes, regulation, replication, genomics, and evolution. Microorganisms include bacteria, archaea, virus, and unicellular eukaryotes.
In the second year, you conduct an experimental thesis project. Upon graduation, you can explain, evaluate, and critically analyze the methods and results in molecular microbiology and compare other relevant literature within the field with your own results from the thesis project.
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on whether you start in September or February:
Programme Overview, Study Start September
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Principle Subject in Molecular Microbiology | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
| Elective course | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | |
| Year 2 |
Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Study Start February
Study start in February is only for students with a reserved access to the programme. Read about reserved access here >>
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 3 |
Block 4 |
Block 1 |
Block 2 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Principle Subject in Molecular Microbiology | |
| Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | Restricted elective course | |
| Year 2 |
Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Advanced Bacteriology 1
- Biological Sequence Analysis
- The Human Microbiome
- Microbiological Food Safety and Quality: Control, Cases and Practicals
- Advanced Bacteriology 2
- Genome Sequence Analysis
- Protists - Eukaryotic Microbiology
- Dynamic Models in Molecular Biology
- Medical Bacteriology
- Heterologous Expression
- Marine Microbiology and Virology
- Experimental Design and Statistical Methods in Biology
- Molecular Biotechnology
- The Human Microbiome – Experiments
- Bioinformatics of High Throughput Analysis
- Data Science for Genomics
- Metabolomics
- Thesis Preparation Project
In this specialisation, you mainly focus on protein structure, function, and biological interactions. Topics range from biophysics and biochemistry to cellular functions and interactions of proteins, including enzymes.
Upon graduation, you're able to explain, evaluate, and critically analyse the results, methods, and conclusions drawn in protein chemistry. You can also compare other relevant literature in protein chemistry with your own experimental results obtained during the thesis project.
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on whether you start in September or February:
Programme Overview, Study Start September
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 |
Principle Subject in Protein Chemistry | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
| Elective course | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | |
| Year 2 |
Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Study Start February
Study start in February is only for students with a reserved access to the programme. Read about reserved access here >>
Compulsory courses: 22.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS
| Block 3 |
Block 4 |
Block 1 |
Block 2 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 |
Elective course | Restricted elective course | Principle Subject in Protein Chemistry | |
| Elective course | Restricted elective course | Major Subject Project | Restricted elective course | |
| Year 2 |
Thesis | |||
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Protein Research Lab - Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
- Crystallography MSc
- Structural Bioinformatics
- NMR Spectroscopy
- Advanced Protein Science 1 - Biophysical Methods
- Radioactive Isotopes and Ionizing Radiation
- Integrative Structural Biology
- Advanced Protein Science 2 - Protein Structure Determination
- Molecular Biotechnology
- Data Science for Genomics
- Thesis Preparation Project
Curriculum
Learn more about the programme in the Curriculum for MSc in Biochemistry.
Shared section of the curriculum for all programmes at the Faculty of SCIENCE.