Biological Sciences explores the study of living organisms, covering everything from the interactions of animals in their environment to how genes are expressed. We offer 12 different Biological sciences subject areas, including genetics.
Regardless of your initial application choice, you will have the opportunity to explore aspects of each of our programmes in the early years and choose to specialise in whichever one interests you.
All biological sciences students study the same core courses in Year 1. These courses provide a broad foundation in biology, practical and analytical skills. You will learn core laboratory techniques, and study modern biology subjects which span the breadth of the biological sciences subject areas, and may also include biological chemistry.
You can also choose optional courses. These can be from other academic areas across the University. As an integral part of your studies, you will gain key skills that enhance your long-term employability. You will begin to specialise in a specific area of biological sciences, choosing courses that cover topics such as:. At the end of Year 2, you will progress into your chosen biological subject specialisation, which will lead to your honours programme of choice.
You will specialise in your preferred area of biological sciences, choosing from our subject specialisations:. Your courses will prepare you for exploring scientific literature, analysis of scientific data and research work.
You will also receive training in laboratory skills and may take courses that concentrate on fieldwork. It is possible to take a combination of courses that will allow you to swap honours programme at the end of Year 3. You will undertake an individual research project working in one of our academic research laboratories. You will also take part in seminars and debates on scientific papers with staff and other students.
This will develop your presentation, discussion and critical appraisal skills. To give you an idea of what you will study on this programme, we publish the latest available information. However, please note this may not be for your year of entry, but for a different academic year. In-person teaching for biological sciences courses takes place at the University's King's Buildings Campus.
The teaching of other courses may be based in other University venues in Edinburgh. In the later years of your programme, you may be involved in projects at allied research institutes in the local region.
Study abroad opportunities are optional. These are competitive and are currently undertaken in Year 3. In later years, you will undertake more personal study and research.
You will also be linked with a research group and complete an in-depth project as an important part of your final-year assessment. The skills you will gain on this programme are transferable and highly valued across many career pathways. They include:. Biological Sciences students go on to work in a range of different fields, within and outside of science.
The career path you choose is up to you and will depend on your experiences, skills, values, and interests. Some choose to go on to further study before entering successful career paths in academia or another area. For direct entry to second year the standard requirements must be exceeded, including the following:. You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.
English language requirements. This information is part of a government initiative to enhance the material that higher education institutions provide about their degree programmes. It is one of many sources of information which will enable you to make an informed decision on what and where to study. You may also incur additional costs for field or residential courses. You may choose to take more than one of these courses. All Year 4 students attend a compulsory field or residential course.
The costs for field courses will be due to be paid in the year the course is taken. For more information on how much it will cost to study with us and the financial support available see our fees and funding information.
College: Science and Engineering. Skip to main content. Toggle section links. Search: Search. Undergraduate study - entry. Contact us. Study abroad. Introducing BSc Biological Sciences Genetics Genetics is the study of biological variation and its inheritance, and hence of the fundamental control mechanisms of living systems.
It is central to biology and disease formation and relates to other subjects, including: biochemistry molecular biology microbiology plant biology zoology Applications of genetics Genetics impacts on almost every aspect of our lives — from human genetics and health, infectious disease, what we eat and drink, how we live — to how we think of ourselves.
Areas of study On this programme, you will study: the molecular and cellular sides of genetics basic genetic analysis and chromosome theory issues of population and evolution disease development Flexibility Biological Sciences explores the study of living organisms, covering everything from the interactions of animals in their environment to how genes are expressed.
Expand all Contract all. Gaining a better understanding of the interactions between genes and the environment by means of genomics is helping researchers find better ways to improve health and prevent disease, such as modifying diet and exercise plans to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in people who carry genetic predispositions to developing this disease. Understanding more about diseases caused by a single gene using genetics and complex diseases caused by multiple genes and environmental factors using genomics can lead to earlier diagnoses, interventions, and targeted treatments.
This makes family history an important, personalized tool that can help identify many of the causative factors for conditions that also have a genetic component.
The family history can serve as the cornerstone for learning about genetic and genomic conditions in a family, and for developing individualized approaches to disease prevention, intervention, and treatment.
See: My Family Health Portrait. The suffix "-ome" comes from the Greek for all , every , or complete. It was originally used in "genome," which refers to all the genes in a person or other organism. Due to the success of large-scale biology projects such as the sequencing of the human genome, the suffix "-ome" is now being used in other research contexts. Proteomics is an example. The DNA sequence of genes carries the instructions, or code, for building proteins.
Proteomics, therefore, is a similar large-scale analysis of all the proteins in an organism, tissue type, or cell called the proteome. Proteomics can be used to reveal specific, abnormal proteins that lead to diseases, such as certain forms of cancer.
The terms "pharmacogenetics" and "pharmacogenomics" are often used interchangeably in describing the intersection of pharmacology the study of drugs, or pharmaceuticals and genetic variability in determining an individual's response to particular drugs. The terms may be distinguished in the following way. Pharmacogenetics is the field of study dealing with the variability of responses to medications due to variation in single genes.
Pharmacogenetics takes into account a person's genetic information regarding specific drug receptors and how drugs are transported and metabolized by the body. The goal of pharmacogenetics is to create an individualized drug therapy that allows for the best choice and dose of drugs.
One example is the breast cancer drug trastuzumab Herceptin. This therapy works only for women whose tumors have a particular genetic profile that leads to overproduction of a protein called HER2. See: Genetics, Disease Prevention and Treatment. Pharmacogenomics is similar to pharmacogenetics, except that it typically involves the search for variations in multiple genes that are associated with variability in drug response.
Since pharmacogenomics is one of the large-scale "omic" technologies, it can examine the entirety of the genome, rather than just single genes.
Pharmacogenomic studies may also examine genetic variation among large groups of people populations , for example, in order to see how different drugs might affect different racial or ethnic groups. Pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic studies are leading to drugs that can be tailor-made for individuals, and adapted to each person's particular genetic makeup.
Although a person's environment, diet, age, lifestyle, and state of health can also influence that person's response to medicines, understanding an individual's genetic makeup is key to creating personalized drugs that work better and have fewer side effects than the one-size-fits-all drugs that are common today. For example, the U. Food and Drug Administration FDA recommends genetic testing before giving the chemotherapy drug mercaptopurine Purinethol to patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Some people have a genetic variant that interferes with their ability to process this drug. This processing problem can cause severe side effects, unless the standard dose is adjusted according to the patient's genetic makeup. See: Frequently Asked Questions about Pharmacogenomics. Stem cells have two important characteristics. First, stem cells are unspecialized cells that can develop into various specialized body cells. Second, stem cells are able to stay in their unspecialized state and make copies of themselves.
Embryonic stem cells come from the embryo at a very early stage in development the blastocyst staqe. The stem cells in the blastocyst go on to develop all of the cells in the complete organism. Adult stem cells come from more fully developed tissues, like umbilical cord blood in newborns, circulating blood, bone marrow or skin. Medical researchers are investigating the use of stem cells to repair or replace damaged body tissues, similar to whole organ transplants. Embryonic stem cells from the blastocyst have the ability to develop into every type of tissue skin, liver, kidney, blood, etc.
Adult stem cells are more limited in their potential for example, stem cells from liver may only develop into more liver cells. In organ transplants, when tissues from a donor are placed into the body of a patient, there is the possibility that the patient's immune system may react and reject the donated tissue as "foreign. Stem cells have been used in experiments to form cells of the bone marrow, heart, blood vessels, and muscle. Since the 's, umbilical cord blood stem cells have been used to treat heart and other physical problems in children who have rare metabolic conditions, or to treat children with certain anemias and leukemias.
For example, one of the treatment options for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia [cancer. There has been much debate nationally about the use of embryonic stem cells, especially about the creation of human embryos for use in experiments. In , Congress enacted a ban on federal financing for research using human embryos. However, these restrictions have not stopped researchers in the United States and elsewhere from using private funding to create new embryonic cell lines and undertaking research with them.
The embryos for such research are typically obtained from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro - as in an in vitro fertilization clinic - and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors.
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