Biology

Entry Requirements

The entry requirement for this MPhil/PhD Biology is usually a minimum upper-second class (2:1) UK honours degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant subject.

• What are the English language requirements?

  If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

  If you don't meet the minimum English language requirements, please contact us or see our international study skills page for more details about how we can help.

  Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country.

• What are the visa and funding requirements?

  If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

  The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

  • Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
  • Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

  International students who require a Student visa should apply to study on our courses full-time as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol to study part-time courses at Birkbeck (with the exception of some modules).

  As a Student visa student, you should also apply to study on campus only, as online and flexible options of study  (if they are available for your course) may affect the conditions of your visa.

  For full information, read our visa information for international students page.

  Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country.

  Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Fees

Our Research Culture

We have excellent computing facilities and infrastructure, including large clusters supported by three full-time computer management staff. Through the ISMB staff, students are able to access a still wider range of equipment on the UCL campus, including protein nanoelectrospray, mass spectrometry and protein NMR.

• Training and methodology

  Studying for a PhD will provide you with opportunities to make your own research discoveries within the research-intensive environment of the ISMB. You will receive guidance from your project supervisor, from the PhD Graduate Committee, and from other members of the academic staff as you carry out your research and your progress is assessed.

  PhD students are assessed throughout their studies and are required to meet specific assessment milestones, which include written reports, oral and poster presentations, essays and vivas. The assessment process ensures that you will have the opportunity to develop your eventual thesis, and that guidance and improvement can be provided to you throughout your studies. Once submitted, assessment of the thesis includes an oral viva.

  Please note that laboratory-based research usually requires a full-time commitment. Part-time research is not feasible for many laboratory-based projects. Where appropriate, part-time students may carry out some of their research at their place of work.

  We provide a wide range of courses catering specifically for the training needs of research students. This training includes a formal programme of lectures on graduate studies (Science in the Real World), transferable skills and modern techniques.

  We run lecture courses which are especially relevant to PhD students in particular research areas (including a series on the Principles and Practice of Structural Biology and an advanced lecture series). You are also encouraged to attend any appropriate lectures from our MSc programmes and distance learning courses, subject to approval by your supervisor. Depending on your chosen supervisor and research project you may have the opportunity to attend and contribute to research laboratory group meetings, or to attend external conferences.

• PhD student experience

  Activities that will further enhance your scientific experience include: a biennial retreat; a biennial symposium; an annual graduate symposium; weekly 'Friday Wrap' meetings where postdocs and senior PhD students present their latest work; and a series of joint ISMB seminars that take place throughout term-time. There are other seminar opportunities in the numerous surrounding research institutes, and skills training opportunities including careers days.

  Read more about our vibrant research culture.

• ISMB joint PhD programmes

  Students on the ISMB joint PhD programmes attend courses during their first year, which provide the opportunity for them to broaden theoretical and practical knowledge in structural, computational and chemical biology. They also carry out interdisciplinary laboratory rotations in structural, computational and chemical biology, and gain research expertise in participating departments outside Birkbeck.

  Find out more about our learning resources and resources at the ISMB.

Finding a Supervisor

A critical factor when applying for postgraduate study in biological sciences is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors.

Find out more about the research interests of our academic staff:

• Biology (Organismal)

  • Dr Richard C. Rayne, BSc, PhD: physiology of insects: neurobiology (peptidergic signalling) and immunology (cell-mediated defences).

• Biophysics

  • Dr Tracey Barrett, BSc, DPhil: protein crystallography; eukaryotic and bacterial DNA repair mechanisms; eukaryotic homologous recombination targets; NK-kB signalling.
  • Professor Carolyn A. Moores, BA, PhD: structure and function of the cytoskeleton; electron microscopy.
  • Dr Marianne Odlyha, BA, BSc, MSc, PhD: environmental research for assessment of indoor conditions surrounding cultural materials and damage assessment of (macro to nanoscale) biomaterials.
  • Professor Konstantinos Thalassinos, BSc, MRes, PhD: biological mass spectrometry; ion mobility mass spectrometry; protein dynamics; mass spectrometry software development.
  • Professor Bonnie A. Wallace, BS, MPhil, PhD, DSc: membrane proteins; intrinsically disordered proteins, ion channels, circular dichroism spectroscopy and bioinformatics.
  • Dr Giulia Zanetti, PhD: structural biology of membrane trafficking and coat protein complexes; cryo-EM and cryo-tomography.

• Cell biology

  • Dr Brian Ho, PhD: molecular mechanisms and genetics of bacteria secretion systems and horizontal gene transfer; impact of microbial community structure on intercellular communication and competition.
  • Dr Richard C. Rayne, BSc, PhD: physiology of insects: neurobiology (peptidergic signalling) and immunology (cell-mediated defences).
  • Professor Helen R. Saibil, BSc, PhD, FMedSci, FRS: molecular chaperones, protein folding, misfolding and disaggregation of aggregates; membrane pore-forming proteins; 3-dimensional electron microscopy of molecular and cellular structures.

• Chemical biology

  • Professor Sanjib Bhakta, BSc, MSc, PhD, DPhil: structure, function, inhibition and regulation of key enzymes in different metabolic pathways to validate novel therapeutic targets in mycobacteria; understanding molecular mechanisms of persistence and drug resistance in M. tuberculosiamas; developing high throughput methods and models for evaluating antimycobacterials and repurposing drugs for new anti-TB treatment.
  • Dr Paul M. King, BA, DPhil: computer simulation; computer-aided drug design.
  • Dr Philip Lowden, BA, PhD: chemistry, genetics and enzymology of natural product biosynthesis in bacteria and fungi; medicinal chemistry of Huntington's Disease; chemical studies of post-translational protein modifications.
  • Professor Neil Q. McDonald, BSc, PhD: molecular mechanisms controlling growth factor-mediated signalling pathways.
  • Dr Marianne Odlyha, BA, BSc, MSc, PhD: environmental research for assessment of indoor conditions surrounding cultural materials and damage assessment of (macro to nanoscale) biomaterials.
  • Professor Katherine C. Thompson, MA, DPhil: soft matter, neutron and X-ray reflection, spectroscopy, kinetics and computational biological chemistry.

• Computational biology

  • Dr Paul M. King, BA, DPhil: computer simulation; computer-aided drug design.
  • Dr Irilenia Nobeli, BSc, MSc, PhD: analysis of human and bacterial transcriptomes using next-generation sequencing data; computational studies of regulatory RNAs; bioinformatics, chemoinformatics and molecular simulations applied to molecular recognition and drug design.
  • Professor Katherine C. Thompson, MA, DPhil: soft matter; neutron and X-ray reflection; spectroscopy; kinetics and computational biological chemistry.

• Microbiology

  • Professor Sanjib Bhakta, BSc, MSc, PhD, DPhil: structure, function, inhibition and regulation of key enzymes in different metabolic pathways to validate novel therapeutic targets in mycobacteria; understanding molecular mechanisms of persistence and drug resistance in M. tuberculosis; developing high throughput methods and models for evaluating antimycobacterials and repurposing drugs for new anti-TB treatment.
  • Dr Brian Ho, PhD: molecular mechanisms and genetics of bacteria secretion systems and horizontal gene transfer; impact of microbial community structure on intercellular communication and competition.
  • Dr Philip Lowden, BA, PhD: chemistry, genetics and enzymology of natural product biosynthesis in bacteria and fungi; medicinal chemistry of Huntington's Disease; chemical studies of post-translational protein modifications.
  • Professor Gabriel Waksman, PhD, FMedSci, FRS: structural and functional biology of bacterial secretion systems.

• Structural biology

  • Dr Tracey Barrett, BSc, DPhil: protein crystallography; eukaryotic and bacterial DNA repair mechanisms; eukaryotic homologous recombination targets; NK-kB signalling.
  • Professor John Christodoulou, BSc, PhD: structural biology of protein folding and misfolding on the ribosome; NMR spectroscopy.
  • Professor Neil Q. McDonald, BSc, PhD: molecular mechanisms controlling growth factor-mediated signalling pathways.
  • Professor Carolyn A. Moores, BA, PhD: structure and function of the cytoskeleton; electron microscopy.
  • Professor Helen R. Saibil, BSc, PhD, FMedSci, FRS: molecular chaperones, protein folding, misfolding and disaggregation of aggregates; membrane pore-forming proteins; three-dimensional electron microscopy of molecular and cellular structures.
  • Professor Konstantinos Thalassinos, BSc, MRes, PhD: biological mass spectrometry; ion mobility mass spectrometry; protein dynamics; mass spectrometry software development.
  • Professor Gabriel Waksman, PhD, FMedSci, FRS: structural and functional biology of bacterial secretion systems.
  • Professor Bonnie A. Wallace, BS, MPhil, PhD, DSc: membrane proteins; intrinsically disordered proteins, ion channels, circular dichroism spectroscopy and bioinformatics.
  • Dr Giulia Zanetti, PhD: structural biology of membrane trafficking and coat protein complexes; cryo-EM and cryo-tomography.

How to Apply