Chemistry with Biomedicine

Course detail Description

Our course provides you with a comprehensive theoretical and practical understanding of chemistry and prepares you for a professional life in the ever-changing environment of 21st century chemistry. To achieve these goals, our course integrates the teaching of chemistry foundations with application of chemistry principles and techniques in a conceptually novel fashion by systematically using examples taken from the very broad range of chemical and biomedical research and practice at King’s.

The programme starts with the principles of physical, organic and inorganic chemistry, with additional maths to ensure you can successfully handle advanced physical and computational chemistry. It incorporates an integrated laboratory course that brings together the different strands of chemistry.

In your third year, you will choose from a range of specialised modules in order to investigate particular aspects of the application of chemical principles to biological and biomedical problems.

Your fourth year will be focussed on a six-month research project to give you the opportunity to experience and test your research potential.

Our academics have expertise in a number of research areas, including the development of the full range of modern in vivo imaging techniques, enzyme biomimics, biomolecular spectroscopy, computational methods, materials science and nanotechnology, pharmaceutical sciences from drug discovery to drug delivery, analytical, green and sustainable chemistry, and a wide range of developmental and cell biology.

Transferring between programmes:

Students on the BSc and MSci courses do the same first three years, which includes project-driven laboratory practical's in Year 3 (introduced in Year 2). Students wanting a general Chemistry degree, for instance to progress to teaching, journalism, management and similar careers, will usually opt for the BSc degree. However, if you want a full-research experience that introduces you to current areas of intensive chemical research you should choose the MSci degree, which involves an additional year. To do this you would normally require marks in Year 3 equivalent to a 2:1 or above. Transfer between these two degrees is possible up to and including the third year.

Transfer from the Chemistry MSci/BSc degrees, to the Chemistry with Biomedicine MSci/BSc degrees, is also possible up to and including the first term of the second year.

Year’s Professional Placement:

Students on the Chemistry and Chemistry with Biomedicine BSc/MSci courses are also able to transfer to the corresponding ‘with a Year’s Professional Placement’ course after their second year providing they meet the academic requirements and gain one of the competitive year-long internships. This will add an extra year to the course making a BSc 4 years and an MSci 5 years.

Study Abroad:

This is a pathway available for students to transfer into and spend their third year, or a semester of their third year, studying at a partner institution before returning to King’s to study the fourth year. Students must obtain an average of 60 per cent in the first year of their course, and sustain an average of 59 per cent in the second year to progress to Study Abroad in the third year.

Teaching is led by the Chemistry Department though you will also be taught by chemists whose expertise is embedded within different faculties of King’s.

You are expected to spend approximately 10 hours work per credit for each module you attend in your degree, eg 150 hours work for a 15 credit module. These hours cover every aspect of the module: lectures, workshops, laboratory sessions, independent study, coursework and preparation for examinations.

You will be primarily assessed through written examination at the end of each year, but also through in-course tests and coursework.

One of the characteristics of our courses is the variety of assessment methods across all years of study, including essays, poster design and presentation, short talks and reports. The nature of assessment varies by module.

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3
• Year 4

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. Each year you will normally take modules totalling 120 credits.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

You are required to take:

• Integrated Chemistry Laboratory 1 (15 credits)
• Integrated Chemistry Laboratory 2 (15 credits)
• General Chemistry (15 credits)
• Organic Chemistry 1 (15 credits)
• Organic Chemistry 2 (15 credits)
• Physical Chemistry 1 (15 credits)
• Inorganic Chemistry 1 (15 credits)
• Mathematics for Chemists (15 credits)

There are no optional modules for this course in Year 1.

Year 2 Required Modules

You are required to take:

• Integrated Chemistry Laboratory 3 (15 credits)
• Integrated Chemistry Laboratory 4 (15 credits)
• Organic Chemistry 3 (15 credits)
• Inorganic Chemistry 2 (15 credits)
• Physical Chemistry 2 (15 credits)
• Physical Chemistry 3 (15 credits)
• Chemistry in Cells (15 credits)
• Protein Structure & Function (15 credits)

There are no optional modules for this course in Year 2.

Year 3 Required Modules

You are required to take:

• Research Methods (30 credits)
• Advanced Analytical Chemistry (15 credits)
• Chemistry of Disease & Therapy (15 credits)
• Advanced Topics in Synthesis and Reactivity (15 credits)
• Advanced Topics in Physical & Computational Chemistry (15 credits)
• Molecular Biology in Chemistry (15 credits)

In addition, you are required to take 15 credits from either:

• Advanced Biophysics Techniques (15 credits)
• Protein Structure & Design (15 credits)

Chemistry with Biomedicine with Study Abroad

Students who have transferred to the Study Abroad pathway and are studying their third year abroad will take modules at the partner institution in year 3.

Students who have transferred to the Study Abroad pathway and are taking one semester only abroad will study modules at the partner institution and the relevant King’s modules for the semester they are at King’s. Students will be able to enrol on Research Methods Literature (15 credits, Semester 1) or Research Methods Practical (15 credits, Semester 2) in place of the 30 credit Research Methods module.

Year 4 Required Modules

You are required to take:

• Research Project & Dissertation (90 credits)

In addition, you are required to take 30 credits from a range of optional modules which may typically include:

• Chemistry Frontiers (30 credits)

Where the student’s research project would benefit, they may be able to select 30 credits from options which may typically include:

MRes Medical Imaging Sciences

• Medical Imaging Chemistry 1 (15 credits)
• Imaging Chemistry 2 – Topics in Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry (15 credits)

Chemistry with Biomedicine with Study Abroad

Students who have transferred to the Study Abroad pathway and are taking one semester abroad will study the Research Project & Dissertation module at a partner institution.