Medical Science (MRC Cancer Unit)

Entry requirements

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK 2:1 Honours Degree.

Months of entry

January, April, October

Course content

The MRC Cancer Unit (CU) is based within the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre - a state-of-the-art cancer research facility. The Unit provides a world-class environment for academic and clinical research and an excellent education and training programme for prospective students.

Our mission is to study the earliest steps in the emergence of cancer, particularly epithelial cancers, and translate this knowledge to clinical application for the benefit of patients. Our focus is (a) to improve the early detection of cancer, (b) to help identify individuals who are most at risk of developing cancer, and (c) to create more effective strategies for intervention.

We believe that improved understanding of the earliest steps in the transformation of normal cells into cancers - a relatively less well-studied area - will lead to new, improved and cost-effective methods with fewer side effects that ultimately benefit the care and survival of patients with common and serious malignancies such as oesophageal, skin, lung, kidney and pancreatic cancer. Our Unit is one of only a few centres worldwide whose mission is to address this priority.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the programme, students will have:

• a comprehensive understanding of techniques, and a thorough knowledge of the literature, applicable to their own research;
• demonstrated originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical
• understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field;
• shown abilities in the critical evaluation of current research and research techniques and methodologies;
• demonstrated some self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acted autonomously in the planning and implementation of research.