Programme Structure

As an MSc student at Biotechnology, you begin with following the compulsory course "Big Data in Biotechnology". After that you can choose a number of elective and restricted elective courses. In that way you can shape your education based on your biotechnological interest.

You can also study biotechnology with a minor subject in either biology or chemistry (click the links to see the descriptions at the bottom of this page).

In the last semester of your first study year, you follow a compulsory course on biotechnological innovation. During this course you work with all phases of biotechnological product development, from initial idea to finished product and intellectual property rights (IPR).

No matter what your interests are, you will get an education which develops your analytical skills. Solid experience with laboratory work in cutting-edge research facilities will enable you to find innovative solutions to specific problems in collaboration with the industry.

Do a Project in Practice or Study Abroad

During the programme you can use some of your elective courses to do a Project in Practice in collaboration with a company or an organisation.

You may also choose to take some of your elective or restricted elective courses at a foreign university. Read more about studying abroad here >>

Teaching

To prepare you for the international labour market, the programme is taught in English. This means that lectures are in English, as are your reports.

Teaching takes place in the form of lectures, seminars, practical, and theoretical exercises, and there will be a high proportion of project work. You will be working independently as well as in project groups.

During the programme you are working with biotechnological challenges that are also important outside the walls of the university. There is a well-established collaboration between students and the business community that ensures excellent prospects for projects in practice, providing you with a unique experience and a good network.

Master's Thesis

The programme is concluded with a thesis where, over a one-year period, you have the opportunity to work in depth with a biotechnological issue that you are enthusiastic about. It is an advantage if you have an idea for a topic that can be the focus of your thesis early on. Then, in collaboration with your supervisor, you can select the elective courses that will match the academic profile you are developing.

You can work both in laboratories and with data analysis, and your thesis may relate to your supervisor’s research or can be prepared in collaboration with other research institutions or relevant companies.

Recently completed projects have, for example, been done in collaboration with Novo Nordisk, Chr. Hansen, and Oxford University. These projects have studied the significance of genes for diabetes or obesity or the use of plants and microorganisms to produce drugs and other therapeutic products.

Other examples of thesis subjects include:

• Yeast that produce vanilla
• Frost-resistant tomatoes – genetic engineering of enzymes from arctic fish
• Genes in grass – producing grass especially for golf courses
• Cell recognition and drugs for specific cells
• Non-slurry smelling pigs with biotechnology

The programme can be structured in two different ways, depending on whether you start in September or February:

Programme Overview, Study Start September

Compulsory courses: 7.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 37.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS

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: 7.5 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 37.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 60 ECTS

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 Analytical Chemistry – Sampling and Sample Preparation
• Advanced Microbial Biotechnology
• Basic Parasitology
• Fundamentals of Beer Brewing and Wine Making - Biochemistry, Organisms and Omics Techniques
• Genome and Cell Biology
• Basic Immunology
• Applied Microbiology
• Current and Experimental Immunology
• Applied Python Programming for Bio-Medical-sciences
• Bioactive Food Components and Health
• Cellular Signalling in Health and Disease
• Enzymology and Experimental Biochemistry
• Genome Sequence Analysis
• Biorefinery – From Plants to Bioenergy, Biochemicals, Biomaterials, and High Value Products
• Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
• Quantitative Bio-Spectroscopy
• Laboratory Animal Science Function ABD
• Gene Therapy
• Advanced Chemometrics and Machine Learning
• Heterologous Expression
• Medical Bacteriology
• Synthetic Biology
• Data Processing in Environmental Science and Agriculture
• Advanced Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Rights
• Experimental Medical Microbiology: From Gene to Function in Pathogenic Bacteria
• Frontiers in Plant Science
• Protein Structure and Function in Biomedicine and Sustainable Biotechnology