MSc in Experimental and Medical Biosciences

The Experimental and Medical Biosciences master’s program prepares students for a scientific career within the broad field of the life sciences, with particular emphasis on understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms related to health and disease.

The program has been designed to provide students with frontline knowledge in biomedicine and related subjects. It unites theoretical knowledge with practical skills, as is most clearly seen in the individual experimental projects.

The master’s program in Medical Biosciences at LiU received the highest rating in the Swedish Higher Education Authority’s assessment of Sweden’s biomedicine programs, with five of the evaluated learning outcomes being appraised as Very High Quality and the sixth as High Quality - – the best result of all international biomedicine master’s programs in Sweden.

Program description

The Experimental and Medical Biosciences master’s program prepares students for a scientific career within the broad field of the life sciences, with particular emphasis on understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms related to health and disease.

The program has been designed to provide students with frontline knowledge in biomedicine and related subjects. It unites theoretical knowledge with practical skills, as is most clearly seen in the individual experimental projects.

Courses are taught using several formats, including regular lectures, tutorial groups that apply problem-based learning (PBL), laboratory work, and seminar discussions. The laboratory classes use powerful model systems to illustrate modern concepts of medical biology, while PBL promotes lifelong learning. After two initial, mandatory courses, elective courses offer individual study plans and flexibility in creating a profile that increases the employability of all students within the life sciences. Different areas such as cardiovascular biology, stem cells, and applied regenerative medicine, medical genetics, and neurobiology are covered. Scientific reasoning, ethical attitudes, and multidisciplinary collaboration are given particular emphasis, in order to prepare students for an independent and professional future in biomedicine.

Individual projects in which students apply their theoretical and methodological knowledge are key parts of the program. During the first year, the project in Experimental and Medical Biosciences will allow students to work with on a specific assignment for ten or twenty weeks. During the second year, a one‑term degree project (master’s thesis) is carried out. Both projects are chosen in collaboration with a supervisor, and the student’s aim is to define a research goal, carry out the experimental work and produce a written report that places the work in the context of current knowledge in the field. The degree project is conducted in a research laboratory, either at Linköping University or at another Swedish or international university, in industry or in the public sector.

Double‑degree program

An extra feature of the program is the possibility for a limited number of students to study in Vienna, Austria, during the second year. Apart from the experience, an additional degree is earned Master of Science in Engineering. Studies at the University of Applied Sciences, Technikum Wien, within the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine program have a strong link to industry.

Syllabus

Introduction

Linköping University Master’s Programme in Experimental and Medical Biosciences comprises four semesters of full-time studies, in total 120 credits. Medical Biology is the main field of study of the program. Scientific methodology, biostatistics, and philosophy of science are part of the main field of study. The program is organized in courses, and experimental and practical work are combined with theoretical knowledge to allow integration of different subjects as well as progression within the program.

Aim

In the Higher Education Act, Chapter1, Section 9 (SFS 1992:1434), the following general learning outcomes for second-cycle courses and study programs have been established:

Second-cycle courses and study programs shall be based fundamentally on the knowledge acquired by students during first-cycle courses and study programs, or it's equivalent.

Second-cycle courses and study programs shall involve the acquisition of specialist knowledge, competence, and skills in relation to first-cycle courses and study programs, and in addition to the requirements for first-cycle courses and study programs shall:

• Further, develop the ability of students to integrate and make autonomous use of their knowledge.
• Develop the students' ability to deal with complex phenomena, issues, and situations.
• Develop the students' potential for professional activities that demand considerable autonomy, or for research and development work. (Ordinance 2006:173).

National learning outcomes for a Degree of Master (120 credits)

According to the Higher Education Ordinance (Ordinance 2006:1053), the Qualification Ordinance, the following general qualifications have been established:

Knowledge and understanding

For a Degree of Master (120 credits) the student shall:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the main field of study, including both broad knowledge of the field and a considerable degree of specialized knowledge in certain areas of the field as well as insight into current research and development work.
• Demonstrate specialized methodological knowledge in the main field of study.

Competence and skills

For a Degree of Master (120 credits) the student shall:

• Demonstrate the ability to critically and systematically integrate knowledge and analyze, assess, and deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations even with limited information.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues critically, autonomously, and creatively as well as to plan and, using appropriate methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames and so contribute to the formation of knowledge as well as the ability to evaluate this work.
• Demonstrate the ability in speech and writing both nationally and internationally to report clearly and discuss his or her conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with different audiences.
• Demonstrate the skills required for participation in research and development work or autonomous employment in some other qualified capacity.

Judgment and approach

For a Degree of Master (120 credits) the student shall:

• Demonstrate the ability to make assessments in the main field of study informed by relevant disciplinary, social, and ethical issues and also to demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and development work.
• Demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society, and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify the personal need for further knowledge and take responsibility for his or her ongoing learning.

Independent project (degree project)

A requirement for the award of a Degree of Master (120 credits) is completion by the student of an independent project (degree project) for at least 30 credits in the main field of study. The degree project may comprise less than 30 credits, however no less than 15 credits, if the student has already completed an independent project in the second cycle for at least 15 credits in the main field of study or the equivalent from a program of study outside Sweden.

Research

Research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Our research spans the entire medical field, from basic experimental research to patient-oriented research, health sciences, and public health. We focus on cooperation across professions and faculty borders, a combination that has proved successful.

_Are you curious about what it is like to study at LiU? Join us for a chat about what it is like to live and study on our campuses in Sweden. We offer free webinars and recordings for both prospective and admitted degree students throughout the year. Visit our _ _Meet us online _ _page. _

About Linköping University

Linköping University will never rest on its laurels.

In close collaboration with the business world and society, Linköping University (LiU) conducts world-leading, boundary-crossing research in fields including materials science, IT and hearing. In the same spirit, the university offers many innovative educational programs, many of them with a clear vocational focus, leading to qualification as, for example, doctors, teachers, economists, and engineers.

The university has 32,000 students and 4,000 employees on four campuses. Together we seek answers to the complex questions facing us today. Our students are among the most desirable in the labor market and international rankings consistently place LiU as a leading global university.

LiU achieved university status in 1975 and innovation is our only tradition.

History of Linköping University

In 1975 Sweden’s sixth university was founded in Linköping. Since then Linköping University (LiU) has grown considerably, expanding to Norrköping and Stockholm.

Linköping has been an important center of learning since medieval times when Linköping Cathedral offered a school with extensive international contacts and its own student hall in Paris. In 1627 the Cathedral School became the third upper secondary school in Sweden and in 1843 a college for elementary school teachers began operations. In Norrköping, the Fröbel Institute – Sweden’s first college for training pre-school teachers – was founded in 1902.

From university college to university

What would later become Linköping University began to take shape in the mid-1960s. Higher education in Sweden was expanding and in 1965 the Swedish Parliament decided to establish a branch of Stockholm University, together with a university college of engineering and medicine, in Linköping.

In the autumn of 1967, the branch of Stockholm University moved into premises in central Linköping. There the first students could take courses in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Two years later the units for engineering and medicine got underway.

In 1970 education and research started moving into the recently built Campus Valla, a short distance from the town center. Buildings A and B were the first to be completed. The same year the various parts were merged to form Linköping University College, including faculties of engineering, medicine and arts, and sciences.

The new university college was the first in Sweden to offer study programs in Industrial Engineering and Management and Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, both starting in 1969. A few years later, in 1975, Linköping University launched Sweden’s first Computer Science and Engineering program.

1975 was also the year when Linköping University College became Linköping University, the sixth university in Sweden. In line with the 1977 reform of the Swedish higher education system, teacher education was also transferred to Linköping University.

Interdisciplinary research and problem-based learning

Linköping University has always worked with innovation in education and research. In 1980 the newly formed Department of Thematic Studies adopted an approach that was new in Sweden. Research was organized in interdisciplinary themes, such as Technology and Social Change or Water and Environmental Studies. Scientists worked across boundaries to solve complex problems. LiU was also first in Sweden to introduce graduate research schools for different themes. The model later spread to other parts of the university and became a national success.

The new Faculty of Health Sciences (Hälsouniversitetet), formed in 1986, combined governmentally and regionally funded education. It introduced a radically changed methodology, being the first in Sweden to use problem-based learning, PBL. Later, LiU became the first university in the world to allow students from different health sciences programs to treat actual patients on a student-managed training ward.

Expansion to Norrköping – and Stockholm

A significant milestone in the history of the University was the opening of Campus Norrköping in 1997. Some programs had previously operated from Norrköping, but the number of students now grew drastically in line with government efforts to expand higher education. Historical factories in the former industrial district were again filled with life, as they were filled with classrooms, laboratories, cafés, a library and of course students.

Linköping University also expanded to Stockholm when the reputable Carl Malmsten School of Furniture sought a collaborative partner from the academic sector. The Malmsten furniture design and handicraft programs became part of LiU in 2000. After almost 60 years at Södermalm in central Stockholm, Malmstens moved to new premises on the island of Lidingö in the autumn of 2009. LiU got its fourth campus.

Buro Millennial / Pexels

LiU in figures

Some important figures for Linköping University.

Education

• 32,000 students (full-time equivalents 17,907)
• 21,400 on Campus Valla
• 5,500 on Campus Norrköping
• 3,900 on University Hospital Campus (US)
• 2,100 distance students and students in other locations, including Campus Lidingö

(Some students take courses on more than one campus.)

• 120 study programs, of which 27 are international programs in English
• 550 single-subject courses
• Exchange agreements with 400 universities in 50 countries
• 2,400 international students
• 2,200 first cycle degrees
• 2,700 second-cycle degrees

Research and scientific training

• 300 professors
• 1,200 PhD students
• 40 licentiate degrees
• 140 doctoral degrees

Staff

• 4,000 employees (full-time equivalents 3,156)