Microbiome in Health and Disease

Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree with 2:1 honours in computer sciences, mathematics, biological sciences, biotechnology, engineering or chemistry, or similar.

Applicants with a bachelor's (first) degree in subjects above with 2:2 honours who have significant prior laboratory or computational experience will be considered.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our Microbiome in Health & Disease MSc provides students with a unique background in all aspects of both analysis of microbiome and determining the role of microbiome in pathology with experience in both computational and experimental techniques.

Designed and delivered by the Centre for Host-Microbiome Interactions (CHMI) at King’s, the course brings together teaching in systems biology and bioinformatics with molecular biology, microbiology, immunology and physiology.

Key benefits

• Deep understanding of microbial communities and their impact on host health and disease.
• Focus on translation in clinical, agricultural and environmental challenges.
• Opportunity to undertake research in collaboration with industrial partners.

In the post-human genome project world, our health is dependent on more than our genes. High throughput sequencing reveals the amazing complexity and extent of the microbial communities that reside within or upon us. We are also beginning to understand just how dynamic the interactions between the host and members of communities are. Interactions are diverse, and variations observed between individuals depend on a multitude of microbial and host factors, including diet and inflammatory status. More importantly, it is becoming clear that different disease states are linked to significant changes in the make-up of these communities. Scientists who understand the computational analysis of the huge data sets for microbial communities, and who are also able to interpret findings in the context of human and microbial health, will be in demand across this emerging field in academia and in industry.