Biochemistry

94% of our research overall in Biological Sciences was assessed to be world leading or internationally excellent (REF 2021)

About the course

What are the mechanisms of life?

Studying Biochemistry at Sussex, you’ll explore this question. Taught by leading biochemists and chemists, you’ll:

• study life at the molecular scale

• explore the chemical processes underpinning the activities of cells and organisms

• discover what happens when things go wrong, leading to diseases such as cancer

• find out how biochemistry can help us develop new therapeutics.

From Year 1, you’ll be in the lab gaining hands-on practical skills, recording, analysing and interpreting data from your experiments. You’ll learn about current theories in the field, communicating complex topics and working as part of a team.

The course is informed by the latest research. It’s flexible so you can tailor your degree to your interests and career aspirations. You’ll be inspired by modules in areas such as medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, cell signalling and neuroscience. You’ll be supported by a friendly community of scientists in the School of Life Sciences. Our student mentoring programme can also provide you with academic support should you need it.

When you graduate, you’ll have skills in:

• purifying and analysing key biomolecules such as nucleic acids and enzymes

• exploring genomics data

• carrying out your own research project.

With such skills, a variety of careers are open to you, in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries, or within forensics. Your data-handling and analytical skills mean you could develop a career both inside and outside of science.

And in addition, in your integrated Masters year, you gain a strong theoretical and practical foundation for a career in – or related to – research. You’ll spend a semester working on an individual research project in one of our Biochemistry research teams. In this year, you’ll develop advanced skills in technical, analytical and scientific communication skills.

MSci or BSc?

We also offer this course as a three-year BSc, or a BSc with an industrial placement year.

Location

Study on our beautiful, green campus on the edge of the South Downs National Park and just minutes from the vibrant seaside city of Brighton & Hove. We’re near to Gatwick airport and just over an hour from London.

About the University of Sussex

Our courses, research, culture and campus aim to stimulate, excite and challenge. From scientific discovery to global policy, from student welfare to career development, Sussex innovates and takes a lead. And today, in every part of society and across the world, you'll find someone from Sussex making an original and valuable contribution.

See the modules you will study by year by going to the ‘visit our course page’ link at the bottom of the page.