Department of Biology & Biochemistry

Department of Biology & Biochemistry
The Department of Biology and Biochemistry is a vibrant and ambitious research-based Department; it is one of the largest and most successful in the University of Bath and is one of Britain's top Biological Science Departments, with 46 academic staff and 50 support staff, together with 53 postdoctoral researchers, and more than 92 graduate students.

The quality of our teaching was recognised with a maximum of 24 points in the national Teaching Quality Assurance review and the Department’s research has earned an excellent international reputation, being graded '5' in the UK Research Assessment Exercises.

The Department houses well-equipped, purpose-built laboratories providing excellent facilities for undergraduate teaching and research. It is an EU Marie Curie training site in Regeneration Medicine and was ranked 9th in The Times 2006 national league table for Biological Sciences.

Our philosophy is to pursue an integrated approach to biological science, and the Department is run without significant internal administrative divisions, other than the loose groupings of the research programmes. Our undergraduate courses are unitised, with significant cross talk between degree programmes. Similarly, our postgraduate and Departmental research seminars are attended by all. We take the view that tomorrow's advances will be at the interfaces of today's disciplinary divisions, and aim to break down barriers to cross-fertilisation if we can. We believe that in this we have a significant advantage over many much larger and less flexible Institutions.

The Department is housed in the South Building, newly refurbished in 1996 at a cost of more than £5M, which contains over 4500 square metres of superbly furnished research and teaching space. The Department is excellently equipped for most modern molecular and cellular biological techniques, from x-ray crystallography to confocal microscopy. The Department has its own DNA sequencing facilities and also a dedicated molecular biology computing facility, "gnome". Our new teaching laboratories can accommodate up to 180 undergraduates and provides the largest facility of its type in the University.

The Department's research programmes span the biological spectrum from Structural Molecular Biology and Enzyme Structure and Function at one extreme, through Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Neuroscience and Microbial Pathogenicity to Evolution & Mathematical Biology at the other end of the range.

Two of the University's Research Centres also make their home in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry: the Centre for Mathematical Biology is a joint enterprise with the Department of Mathematical Sciences, directing its effort on the application of mathematical modelling and simulation techniques to biological problems; while the Centre for Extremophile Research focuses on the biology and biochemistry of organisms from environments that are normally considered inhospitable to life.

Like other Departments of the University of Bath, the Department of Biology and Biochemistry is proud of its tradition of close links with Industry. Many research projects involve industrial partners and funding, both in the UK and abroad.

The Department welcomes enquiries from prospective postgraduate students, and offers a range of both taught and research degree opportunities:

Taught Graduate degrees
MRes in Biosciences
MRes in Regenerative Medicine

Research Graduate degrees
Integrated PhD
MPhil/PhD

For information, please contact the Postgraduate Administrator (biosci-pgt@rt.bath.ac.uk or biosci-research@rt.bath.ac.uk)

Study/Funding

General funding sources