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Biosciences
School of Biosciences,
Faculty of Science
Course description
Our Biosciences MRes at Sheffield is perfect if you’re looking to pursue a career in research.
This research-focused course allows you to spend a full academic year embedded in one of our research groups, working alongside our academic staff, PhD students, and post-doctoral researchers who are at the forefront of their research field. You’ll be carrying out your own in-depth research and developing your scientific skills throughout your studies, all whilst being an active member of one of our research clusters:
- Development, Regeneration and Neurophysiology
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Molecular Microbiology: Biochemistry to Disease
- Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Plants, Photosynthesis and Soils.
Our research spans the full breadth of bioscience so no matter what area of the discipline you’re passionate about, there’s a good chance we’ve got experts within our school that you can work with. You can explore potential supervisors and their research interests below.
Potential supervisors
- Development, regeneration and neurophysiology
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- Dr Andrew Lin - Olfaction, memory and synaptic plasticity in Drosophila. In vivo 2-photon imaging of neural activity, behaviour, genetics, gene expression, computational modelling, connectome analysis.
- Dr Anne-Gaelle Borycki - Role of cell signalling in the control of skeletal muscle stem cell activity during muscle regeneration and ageing.
- Dr Anton Nikolaev - Description of cancer cells heterogeneity and cells affected by tumours via imaging and AI-assisted analysis. How neural circuits work via studying existing neural circuits in animal models and building them from individual neurons.
- Dr Emily Noel - Heart development, using zebrafish as a model. We are particularly interested in extracellular matrix, morphogenesis and function of the embryonic heart, and perform lots of live imaging.
- Dr Freek van Eeden - Importance of cellular signalling pathways in development of the zebrafish embryo (e.g. using CRISPR/Cas9). Study DNA repair as a driver of age-related diseases and ageing by creating and analysing zebrafish mutants in crucial DNA repair genes.
- Dr Henry Roehl - Identification of the cell types that are required for regeneration. Analysis of the genes that promote or inhibit regeneration.
- Professor Marysia Placzek - Development of embryonic chick hypothalamus; signals and transcription factors in progenitor and neuronal differentiation.
- Professor Mikko Juusola - Neurobiology: experiments and theory to decode perception and actions in the nervous systems of flies and other insects, to better understand the brain.
- Dr Stuart Johnson - Auditory neuroscience, noise-induced hearing loss, age-related hearing loss, hearing loss and dementia.
- Professor Tanya Whitfield - Development of sensory organs in zebrafish. Analysis of signalling pathways, cell fate choice and epithelial morphogenesis. Analysis of models of human genetic disease in the zebrafish embryo. Genetic, molecular, bioinformatic, imaging and pharmacological approaches are used.
- Ecology and evolutionary biology
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- Dr Alison Wright - The genomic and evolutionary processes underlying sex differences, and the relationship between genotype and complex phenotypes. We integrate bioinformatic tools with data from species across a range of sexual dimorphisms.
- Professor Andrew Beckerman - Structure, complexity and dynamics of food webs; ecology and evolution of phenotypic plasticity; distribution and abundance of organisms and the diversity and structure of communities; conservation and demography of endangered parrots. Combines mathematical modelling, lab and field experiments.
- Professor Ben Hatchwell - What kinship information is encoded in the vocalisations used by cooperatively breeding birds? Is social familiarity a reliable cue to kinship in a cooperatively breeding bird?
- Dr Chris Cooney - Ecology and evolution of animal signalling traits including colouration, song and behaviour. The evolutionary ecology of sexual selection. Origin, evolution and future of biodiversity at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Combines field experiments and/or computational approaches.
- Dr Deborah Dawson - eDNA sampling to investigate factors affecting recovery of species of conservation concern (e.g. otters, water voles and salmon), such as barriers to movement, seasonal territories, breeding success and population sizes. Also assessment of diet, habitat, biodiversity, and territories sizes.
- Professor Dylan Childs - Mathematical and statistical modelling to understand the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of animals and plants, with emphasis on the impact of climate and environmental stressors.
- Dr Helen Hipperson - Using cutting-edge genomics and bioinformatics tools to investigate interactions in ecological communities.
- Dr Holly Croft - Plant responses to abiotic stress. Modelling CO2 uptake in agriculture and forests. Remote sensing and earth observation. Solar-induced fluorescence. Ecosystem modelling. Modelling water fluxes using thermal imagery.
- Dr Karl Evans - Urban ecology, effectiveness of protected areas and other conservation activities and effects on people, human-nature interactions, macroecology.
- Dr Luke Dunning - How plants rapidly adapt to extreme environments using a combination of whole genome sequencing, comparative analyses and experimental approaches.
- Dr Mirre Simons - Biology and evolution of ageing. Nutrition and cancer in a fly model.
- Dr Nicola Nadeau - The genetic and developmental control of butterfly scale structure formation. Genomic approaches to understand biodiversity, speciation and adaptation, with a particular focus on the tropical Heliconius butterflies. Adaptation to temperature and altitude in tropical butterflies.
- Dr Penelope Watt - Behavioural ecology including; personality traits, the genetic basis of behaviour and the impact of stress on behaviour.
- Dr Tom Webb - Distribution and dynamics of marine biodiversity at large spatial scales: How does diversity differ through space? What causes diversity to change through time? Combines ecological and environmental data computationally with information on human activities to tackle questions in marine macroecology and conservation.
- Molecular and cellular biology
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- Dr Chun Guo - My research aims to elucidate the fundamental cell biology and signalling pathways involved in protein SUMOylation/deSUMOylation, and their role in cellular stress responses with implications for both health and disease.
- Dr Daniel Humphreys - Host-pathogen interactions between Salmonella / pathogenic E.coli and mammalian host cells, action of virulence proteins and toxins
- Dr Elena Rainero - Cell/extracellular matrix interaction; cancer cell metabolism, cell migration and cell invasion.
- Dr Elizabeth Seward - Our research aims to understand how G protein-coupled receptors modulate exocytosis (used to control secretion of hormones, neurotransmitters and inflammatory mediators) and how this may be exploited in drug development.
- Dr Hannes Maib - Protein purification and kinetic analysis of lipid kinases, supported lipid bilayers, protein-lipid interactions, cryo-electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescence and super-resolution microscopy, Membrane contact sites, lipid transfer proteins, phosphoinositide conversion mechanisms, membrane trafficking.
- Dr Helen Matthews - Actin cytoskeleton in cancer cell division and invasion, mechano-biology and tissue stiffening in pancreatic cancer, molecular effects of cancer therapeutics.
- Dr Matthew Newton - Genome replication in plasmodium parasites to identify antimalarial drug targets. Single-molecule biophysics, optical-tweezers, atomic force microscopy and structural biology of DNA-protein interactions, DNA topology and supercoiling in DNA damage repair, telomeres, cancer and ageing.
- Dr Stephen Brown - Drug delivery in cancer. Our research uses genomics and high-throughput screening methods.
- Molecular microbiology
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- Dr Ian Lidbury - Chemical warfare and microbial cell wall hydrolysis underpinning key bacteria-bacteria interactions in soil. The genetic and biochemical basis of polysaccharide and organic phosphorus utilisation in plant flavobacteria, using bacterial genetics and recombinant protein biochemistry.
- Dr Indrajit Lahiri - Understanding the molecular mechanism of Plasmodium organellar replication.
- Dr Roy Chaudhuri - Bioinformatic investigation of the evolution of genes identified using TraDIS/Tn-Seq as important for bacterial survival and infection.
- Professor Simon Foster - Staphylococcus aureus growth, division, action of antibiotic action and resistance.
- Dr Stephane Mesnage - Microbial competition and inter-kingdom warfare, understanding how soil bacteria survive, kill competitors and feed on the necromass. Bacterial cell envelope composition and dynamics in response to environmental conditions. Alternative therapeutic strategies to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria including bacteriophages and enzybiotics.
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Plants, photosynthesis and soils
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- Professor Andrew Fleming - Improving crop water-use efficiency via engineering leaf structure at the cellular and whole organ level using techniques of molecular and cell biology, microscopy and physiology.
- Professor Gareth Phoenix - Impacts of climate change on carbon and nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and the consequences for ecosystem feedback to climate, particularly in Arctic, northern boreal and upland ecosystems.
- Dr Holly Croft - Plant responses to abiotic stress. Modelling CO2 uptake in agriculture and forests. Remote sensing and earth observation. Solar-induced fluorescence. Ecosystem modelling. Modelling water fluxes using thermal imagery.
- Dr Ian Lidbury - Understanding bacterial recruitment driven by root exudation of polysaccharides and the remineralisation of organic phosphorus using metaomics and high-resolution fluorescence microscopy.
- Professor Julie Gray - Creating stress-tolerant crops to mitigate the effects of climate change. Using genetic manipulation and gene editing to create plants with altered stomatal characteristics which are more stress-tolerant or water-use efficient.
- Professor Jurriaan Ton - The perception and signalling of chemical plant vaccines. Epigenetic basis of immune memory in Arabidopsis. Functional relationship between root exudates and disease-suppressive soil microbes.
- Professor Katie Field - Evolution, diversity and ecophysiology of plant-fungal symbioses (mycorrhizas) and responses to global change; applications in sustainable agriculture.
- Dr Lisa Smith - Plant reproduction and development, genetics and molecular biology: cell-to-cell signalling, cell wall changes, cell division, environmental responses.
- Dr Luke Dunning - How plants rapidly adapt to extreme environments using a combination of whole genome sequencing, comparative analyses and experimental approaches.
- Professor Matt Johnson - Structure, function and regulation of Photosynthesis in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Plant physiology, biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology approaches to understanding regulation of light harvesting and electron transport processes.
- Dr Saima Shahid - Parasitic plant-host plant interactions, host/parasitic plant adaptation, parasite resistance and defence signalling. Plant genetics, genomics and epigenetics. Small RNA mediated gene regulation and chromatin modifications in plant-plant communication.
- Professor Stephen Rolfe - Plant-microbe and plant-environment interactions: Plant responses to biotic stresses including novel methods for presymptomatic detection of disease. Protective microbiomes. The biology of clubroot disease.
- Dr Stuart Casson - Investigating plant responses to abiotic signals (e.g. light, CO2) using molecular genetic tools.
- Professor Tim Daniell - Improving sustainability of agriculture. Plant interaction with soil communities including mycorrhiza and impacts on soil nitrogen cycling. Linking soil function and community dynamics.
It’s this world-class research that will underpin your training whether you’re interested in biotechnology, plant and soil biology, photosynthesis, sustainable agriculture, stem cell biology, biomedical science, structural biology, development, cancer, ageing, antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance, genetics, microbiology, ecology and evolution, conservation biology, biodiversity, or sustainability.
Throughout your course, you’ll develop your research skills, giving you the opportunity to contribute new knowledge in your chosen area. You’ll also receive bespoke training in data analysis and visualisation, and science communication. Previous students have conducted lab or fieldwork in our state-of-the-art labs in Sheffield.
Example research projects include:
- The future of tropical forest diversity
- Using eDNA to detect water vole populations
- Examining bacterial antagonism in the rhizosphere
- The response of phosphorous-limited grasslands to elevated CO2 and the implications for future carbon sequestration
Modules
Core modules:
- Literature Review
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The literature review requires the student to write a critical review of a biological topic of choice. The literature review will involve extensive reading of original research papers, reviews and books together with information extracted from other media. The student will be required to critically analyse hypotheses in the field and critically analyse the quality of the evidence used to support them. Where controversies exist the student should be prepared to indicate which side has the stronger case. The literature review should also identify gaps in our current knowledge and understanding and make suggestions for the future developments in the field.
15 credits - Science Communication for Researchers
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This module provides training in the skills and approaches necessary to effectively communicate science. The module has three main components:
15 credits
1. An intensive science communication workshop focusing on interactions with the print and broadcast media;
2. A poster presentation, where students design and produce a poster to communicate their research project to a target audience (e.g. general public,
research audience);
3. A formal oral presentation, where students present their research results to their peers. - Scientific Skills and Project Management
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The aim of this module is to provide students with advanced training in the use of statistical methods and computers to visualise and analyse biological data which is necessary to pursue a research career in whole organism biology. Advanced principles of programming for data analysis, data interpretation and statistical analysis, and graphical presentation are stressed. The course is based on the statistical programming language R and the Integrated Development Environment RStudio. The course is comprised of eight introductory sessions delivered in Semester 1, and then a choice of two out of six specialist modules selected to support student-specific requirements in research. Semester 1 content is delivered as a mix of online recorded videos (watch this), a set of readings (read this) and a practical exercise (do this). This is supported by a weekly live mini-review lecture and Q andamp; A, and a help session. Semester 2 content is delivered live via three to four 3-hour practical computing sessions (1 specialist module/week, 3-4 sessions per week).
30 credits - Research Project
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This module allows students to develop skills relevant to a career in biological research. It will consist of a laboratory, field-based or computational research project where each student will work under the supervision of a member of academic staff. The student will formulate the hypotheses and questions to be addressed and plan and carry out experiments to test these hypotheses. The project will be written up in the form of a scientific paper and the student will keep a notebook of the research.
120 credits
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.
Open days
An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses.
Open days and campus tours
Duration
1 academic year full-time
Teaching
You’ll learn by working in an active research group and through tutorials, discussion groups, seminars, and statistics workshops.
Your extended research project will span the academic year and you’ll be working alongside academic experts and professional scientists. This will give you first-hand experience of designing your own experiments, generating data, analysing results and presenting your findings to colleagues.
As part of your research group you’ll also attend group meetings and seminars.
Assessment
Most assessment is through coursework. Your assessment includes, but is not limited to, a project report, literature review, poster presentation, oral presentation, a written grant proposal and online statistics exams.
Your career
By being immersed in a working research group at the university, you’ll gain valuable experience and a range of specialist skills, ready to kick-start your career.
Many MRes students continue their studies with a PhD at institutions around the globe. You'll be well-equipped to pursue research in areas as diverse as marine ecology, stem cell biology, bioinformatics, plant sciences, or cancer.
Previous graduates of this course are also now working in roles including:
- Senior Project Manager, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
- Research Technician, the University of Sheffield
- Computational Biologist, the University of St Andrews
- Postdoctoral Researcher, the University of Dundee
- Scientific Research Analyst, Supra Oncology
- Policy Advisor - Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Health Science Practitioner Specialist, Leeds Teachings Hospital NHS Trust
- Senior Medical Writer, Havas Lynx
School
School of Biosciences
The School of Biosciences brings together more than 100 years of teaching and research expertise across the breadth of biology.
We're home to over 120 lecturers who are actively involved in research at the cutting edge of their field, sharing their knowledge with more than 1,500 undergraduate and 300 postgraduate students.
We carry out world-leading research to address the most important global challenges such as food security, disease, health and medicine, ageing, energy, and the biodiversity and climate crises. This has led to us being ranked top 5 in the UK for the quality of our research for over 20 years (Research Excellence Framework 2021, 2014 and the Research Assessment Exercise 2001).
Our expertise spans the breadth and depth of bioscience, including molecular and cell biology, genetics, development, human physiology and pharmacology through to evolution, ecology, biodiversity conservation and sustainability. This makes us one of the broadest and largest groupings of the discipline and allows us to train the next generation of biologists in the latest research techniques and discoveries.
Entry requirements
Minimum 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in a relevant subject.
Subject requirements
We accept degrees in the following subject areas:
- Agriculture
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- Biomedical Science
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
- Plant Sciences
- Zoology
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 (with 6 in each component) or University equivalent
How to apply
Because of the research-intensive nature of this course, we ask you to include a short supporting statement of 500 to 700 words along with your formal application. This additional supporting statement should:
- Explain why you want to do a research-intensive masters degree and how this fits with your career plans.
- Include which of the five research clusters you would be most interested in working in and why. If you have already been in contact with a prospective supervisor, please let us know. Note that not all academics/research labs within a cluster are available to host projects each year, and that Emeritus staff do not host projects.
Please submit your application no later than the 15 August if you require a student visa and no later than the 31 August if you do not require a visa.
We encourage early applications to better enable us to match you with a supervisor and project.
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school/department.
Fees and funding
Apply
You can apply now using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It's a quick and easy process.
Because of the research-intensive nature of this course, we ask you to include a short supporting statement with your application. Please see the course description above for more details.
Contact
study@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2341
Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.
Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.