Course Overview
Medical Genetics is making an enormous impact in the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Knowledge obtained from sequencing the human genome is allowing researchers to understand the many diseases that have genetic components. Many medical doctors who become involved in research focus on genetic aspects of human health and disease.
*Medical Genetics students may be guaranteed an interview for Graduate Entry Medicine MBBCh at Swansea University by choosing the appropriate pathway, performing satisfactorily and meeting the minimum entry criteria at the time of application to Graduate Entry Medicine*
Key features
This Medical Genetics degree will:
- prepare you for roles in a wide variety of professions, including the pharmaceutical industry, forensic science, and conservation biology
- give you experience of techniques for analysing gene expression, protein interactions, DNA structure and damage, image analysis of biomolecules and cells, and advanced computer analytical methods
- prepare you for graduate training to be a doctor, dentist, or teacher, or for postgraduate or doctoral research
- provide you with transferable skills, including team working, communication, presentation, problem-solving, and analytical skills
In the final year, you will complete a research project under the guidance of a professional research scientist. By working as an independent researcher, you will develop effective project management skills and will be trained to design experiments and plan work programmes.
The Medical Genetics degree provides appropriate training for students who wish to undertake further study to become a medical doctor. Many of our students who decided to follow this career path have successfully gone on to study Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea.
For more information, view the BSc Genetics Programmes e-brochure
Course description
During each year of your degree, you will be required to study 120 credits, made up of compulsory and optional modules. The Medical School offers undergraduate degree programmes in Biochemistry, Medical Biochemistry, Genetics, Medical Genetics and a combined honours in Biochemistry & Genetics. To compare what you could study in these five pathways, click on Modules available 17-18to find a spreadsheet showing the modules available.
(If you download this Excel spreadsheet and save it on your PC, then click on the title of each module in the second column whilst connected to the internet, you should see further details from the module catalogue. These links from the spreadsheet may not work with some browser settings, nor iPad, iPhone, Android, etc.)
Below is a sample of some of the modules that you could study at each level:
Year 1
Genetic Analysis I
Genetics and Evolutionary Processes
Energy and Metabolism: The Reactions of Life
Macromolecules: Form and Function
Chemistry of Life
Introductory Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry of Functional Groups
Science Skills
Cellular and Microbial Biology
Year 2
Genetic Analysis II
Biomolecular Techniques
Human and Medical Genetics
Gene Expression
Biostatistics and Experimental Design
Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and Diagnostics
Clinical Biochemistry and Physiology
Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomic Analysis
Cell and Immunobiology
Year 3
Genetic Analysis III
Biomolecular Research Project
Gene Manipulation
Medical Genetics
Animal Development
Mutations and Human Health
Genetics of Cancer
Biotechnology and Protein Engineering
Aspects of Human Sensory and Metabolic Biochemistry
