Biological and Medicinal Chemistry

Chemists with a good understanding of the biosciences and an ability to apply their chemistry knowledge to biological and medicinal problems are in high demand.our bsc and mchem chemistry programmes received 94% overall student satisfaction in the national student survey 2020.

Biological chemists examine a wide range of biological processes, biomolecules and biological agents. as a biological chemist, you could end up investigating the effects of a neurotoxin on cell structure or molecular structure. or, solving the structure of a large protein involved in alzheimer’s disease. you could be researching the molecular basis of disease and then synthesizing a drug to treat that disease. and, there is even room for those who like computers, where you could be using supercomputers to analyse biological systems at the molecular and atomic-level to inform drug design. there really is a wide-range of opportunity. medicinal chemists examine new ways to create drugs we’ve not yet seen. this can cover a whole host of molecule types: small organic drug molecules, peptide-based drugs, peptidomimetics, and even bioinorganic drugs. as a medicinal chemist you will be working with biologists and synthesizing new drug molecules to treat disease. you will need to have a good understanding of biology to design drugs that can interact with key biomolecules in our bodies. some medicinal chemists learn to harness biological systems, such as enzymes, to extract natural products and create semi-synthetic drugs. chemists are attractive to employers both for the skills that they offer directly related to their specialism, and for the professional skills that they have developed through study of the discipline. the range of careers available to chemists is vast

Work while you study

You can also work on a UK student visa, from 10 to 20 hours per week during the academic year, 40 hours per week or full-time during vacations.

Partnerships

Most universities in England have partnerships with different companies and organisations to ensure their students get enough professional training as students. In addition to increasing their students' chances to get hired by one of the universities. University of Bradford has partnerships with the following companies: