Through a broadly designed programme we aim to equip graduates for careers in research, development and teaching in companies and institutions where molecular biotechnology is used, or to prepare students for PhD studies in Molecular Bioscience.
A degree in Molecular bioscience opens up great opportunities for an exciting career where academic challenges can be combined with contributing to human well-being through combating disease or improving the environment.
With a degree in Molecular bioscience, you can get employment practically anywhere in the world, as your education is of the highest order and you will be able to work at an academic level in Denmark as well as abroad.
With a completed MSc in Molecular bioscience you have the opportunity of applying for a position as PhD student at the Faculty of Science.
More information on the PhD programme at the Faculty of Science.
Which way will you go?
Development within recent years has been rapid within biotechnology and gene technology, and there is a great need for qualified employees in this branch of science. Both private businesses and the state are increasingly searching for masters for research and development in industry as well as the public sector.
About a quarter of the masters educated in the biochemical and molecular biological fields at University of Southern Denmark within recent years have had their first jobs as PhD students in Denmark or abroad.
Others have, after graduating as masters, gained employment in the private industry, in public institutions or in hospitals. Here a job will usually consist of biochemical and molecular biological analyses or quality assurance, where you will have the daily responsibility of leading and solving technical problems for a team of laboratory technicians.
Another possibility is a career in the biotechnological or pharmaceutical industry as for instance pharmaceutical consultant. Others have gone on to jobs as teachers at i.e. technical high schools.
A master in Molecular bioscience from University of Southern Denmark may also become a cancer biologist, cell biologist, gene technologist, immunologist, microbiologist, protein chemist or pharmaceutical consultant to name a few of the possibilities.
Jobs in medical companies
In a medical company, there are many steps to the production of pharmaceuticals where molecualr bioscientists are needed:
- Research: In departments of disease research, basic research is done into disease and other problems, such as the absorbtion of medicine in the body, focussing medicine towards the infected tissue etc. which leads to new and improved medicines and treatments, as well as providing molecular bioscientists with daily challenges.
- Supervising clinical trials: When a pharmaceutical company has developed a new product which is ready to be tested on humans after extended animal testing, there is a phase of supervision of the clinical trials, performed by doctors at various hospitals. Here, supervision is also done by molecular bioscientists who follow this supervision, observe the patient charts and look for undesirable side effects of the tested product.
- Evaluation in connection with trials: Molecular bioscientists can also have positions on boards which evaluate and make decisions on whether a particular new product is ready to be tested on humans, and whether there is just cause for such a gamble on behalf of the pharmaceutical company.
- Pharmaceutical consultant: Molecular bioscientists may also work as pharmaceutical consultants. The pharmaceutical consultants approach doctors with information on new products. With the great insight into the disease and the pros and cons of other products on the market, which the molecular bioscientist possesses, he or she can promote new products into the competitive market.
- Production: In the pharmaceutical companies there are many job opportunities in the production departments. Here, pharmaceuticals are produced on a major scale, and it is necessary for molecular bioscientists to offer supervision and evaluation of potential deviations from optimal production in order to ascertain whether the quality of the medicine in question is satisfactory. In these departments, there will also be assignments involving research into and optimisation of the different methods used in the proces of production so that production methods are constantly improved upon.
- Quality assurance: Finally there are molecular bioscientists who handle quality assurance of the finished product before it is released onto the market. This job demands that the quality is described and documented in relation to current national and international standards for production of pharmaceuticals.