Master in Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

The MB&B Master's degree aims to provide students with advanced skills in molecular biotechnology, computational biology, and bioinformatics, with a strong focus on the most advanced tools and approaches for the analysis of genomes, proteomes, and metabolomes. The main goal of the MB&B Master's degree is to give the students the broad theoretical and practical background needed to apply their knowledge to various biological/biotechnology problems. A specific goal of MB&B includes providing deep and up-to-date knowledge in the following core subjects: - bioinformatics - molecular biology and biotechnology - functional genomics and "-omics" technologies - protein expression systems - metabolic engineering and industrial processes - structural biochemistry - molecular enzymology - data analysis

In addition, students will have the opportunity to develop skills in further specific disciplines of their interest, choosing from courses in plant genetics, nanotechnology, biophysics, molecular microbiology, molecular parasitology, structural biology, patenting and technology transfer (the latter, included in the University project for the development of soft skills). The MB&B Master's degree combines lecture-based courses (in the first year and the first term of the second year) with an experimental laboratory project leading to a dissertation (second year), to be chosen by the students among many projects offered by the University of Milan and other research institutes, including private companies.

The MB&B Master degree provides employment opportunities in the following areas:

research laboratories in both private and public institutions, management of production facilities in the biotechnological industry, including diagnostics, chemicals, and the agro-food industry; promotion of scientific development and technological innovation in Research & Development in various industrial settings; service management in areas related to industrial biotechnology, as well as in Quality Control laboratories; research laboratories in both private and public institutions. Graduates will be able to operate, in their fields of specialization, at a high level of responsibility, managing the ethical, technical, and legal aspects of their work. In addition, thanks to its strong commitment to teaching a broad range of biotechnological disciplines, the MB&B Master's degree is ideal to provide the background knowledge required for Ph.D. and other higher education courses. The specific business contexts that the MB&B graduates can enter are, among others: the pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, food industry, industry and services for environmental biotechnology, biotechnology service centers applying information technology, genomics, and proteomics research laboratories of both public and private institutions, with reference to the professions here listed: biologist and similar professions, biochemist, biophysicist, biotechnologist.

MB&B graduates will possess full and updated knowledge in: - the production of intermediates and products for fine chemicals and the food industry - industrial fermentation processes for the production of metabolites and for obtaining energy from renewable sources - control of biotechnological processes - development of innovative diagnostic techniques - analysis of nucleotide and protein sequences and structures - development of new biologically active molecules through the study of molecular interactions between proteins and nucleic acids, and the identification of new molecular targets - design and development of bioinformatics platforms and new methods for biological data analysis.

The University of Milan is a public teaching and research university, which - with 8 faculties and 2 schools and a teaching staff of more than 2000 professors - is distinguished by its wide variety of disciplinary fields. A leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, the University of Milan is the largest university in the region, with approximately 64,000 students; it is also an important resource for the socio-economic context of which it is a part. Milan is, in fact, the capital of Lombardy, one of the most dynamic and international regions in the European Union, a leader in the national economy that stands at the Italian forefront of research and development investments and commitment to technological innovation.

The University of Milan also possesses a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage that includes important historic buildings, inherited and acquired collections, archives, botanical gardens and the old Brera Observatory commissioned by Maria Teresa of Austria. The University’s departments are housed in important historic edifices in the center of Milan and in modern buildings in the area known as Città Studi (the City of Studies). Among the palazzos that house the University’s facilities are the old Ca' Granda (the big house) – a monumental complex from the 15th-century in the heart of the historical city centre - the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi designed by Giuseppe Piermarini – who built the Scala Theatre in Milan – and the 17th-century Sant’Alessandro College commissioned by the Arcimboldi family. The book collection , which is one of the richest in the region, is preserved in 47 libraries, while the APICE Centre collects rare and valuable book stocks and archives. The University also has a Choir and its own Orchestra, which actively contributes to the cultural life of the city and receives international acknowledgments on an increasingly frequent basis.