Location
Exeter (Streatham Campus)
Systems biology is an interdisciplinary, emerging field which combines biological systems with the traditionally more separate disciplines of physics, mathematics, engineering and computer science.
Biological systems display self-ordered and emergent properties that are not displayed by their individual components – life being the most obvious emergent property. A contrasting feature of biological systems which distinguishes them from non-living systems, is their inherent variability and the action of natural selection on all of the interacting components.
The goal of systems biology is to distill principles behind the generation, diversification and maintenance of biological processes. The aim; to allow biologists to work in an increasingly predictive manner in the study of living cells, drawing on mathematical models which have a proven track record in other physical and engineering sciences.
As one of the five key themes which feature as part of the University's £80 million science strategy, systems biology at Exeter combines the expertise of academics within biology, mathematics, computer science, engineering and physics, to understand biological processes across scales, from sub-cellular phenomenon up to the ecological level.
As an MSc student on the programme, you will benefit from teaching and research across this breadth of academic knowledge. You will be trained in a modern systems-based approach exposing you to a range of state-of-the-art high throughput data generation platforms, including next generation sequencing and mass spectroscopy along with computational/modelling approaches. The programme will develop your biological and modelling skills through a combination of taught modules and jointly supervised project work.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the programme, the programme is available to students from a wide range of first-degree backgrounds including biology, computer science, medicine, engineering and mathematics.
