Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care is a part-time taught course exploring nanomedicine's role in diagnostics, drug delivery, imaging, and regenerative medicine, with strong links to clinical and commercial applications.

This advanced modular course is delivered by leading scientists and experts in this rapidly developing field and has been specifically designed for those who would value a part-time modular learning structure, for example those in full-time employment. It is offered by the University of Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Department of Engineering Science) and the Department for Continuing Education, in collaboration with Begbroke Science Park.

Nanomedicine is at the forefront of modern healthcare. Nanoparticles offer a new platform for drug delivery that can extend the 'patent life' of drugs, but also greatly increase the targeting and effectiveness of therapy. They can also enhance most of the medical imaging modalities, and in some cases offer a combined diagnostic and therapy, now called 'theranostics'.

Nanoparticle-based medicines are now becoming part of the mainstream approaches for diagnostics and therapy. A 2016 review identified 51 FDA-approved nanomedicines and 77 products undergoing clinical trials. By August 2018, 151 clinical trials using nanomaterials were completed or underway. The essential contribution of lipid nanoparticles (LNP) to the COVID-19 response provided approval and validation of a technology which is now being applied to a range of other infectious diseases and cancer, whilst recent approvals for viral-based gene therapies for haemophilia and diseases of the eye and the approval of the first CRISPR based therapy shows nano is now delivering on its promise to revolutionise medicine.

Nanotechnology is providing the basis for many of the new regenerative medicine approaches that are based on artificial scaffold structures and it offers solutions for many of the new generation of point-of-care biosensors and some of the advanced gene sequencing instrumentation. There are already early indications of improved healthcare outcomes, and the creation of new business and industry.

The University of Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME), an Institute within the Department for Engineering Science, is a world-class interdisciplinary centre for biomedical engineering research, where engineers and clinicians collaborate to address unmet needs in the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of major diseases and conditions. The Institute’s core research missions are to develop novel medical devices, technology and systems capable of delivering substantial healthcare benefit, and to translate new engineering technologies into clinical practice.

The MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care draws on the world-class research and teaching in nanotechnology and nanomedicine at the University of Oxford and aims to provide you with the necessary training to enable you to understand the principles of nanotechnology and its application in medical research and clinical practice.

The programme will appeal to professionals working in the commercial or healthcare sectors who develop or use nanotechnology in their work, including:

• biomedical engineers

• materials scientists

• biotech-entrepreneurs

• medical practitioners and dentists

• chemists and pharmacists

• electrical engineers

• project managers in related industries

• patent agents and patent lawyers

• legislators

• clinical research fellows, graduates and other researchers in a related area of science.

For the full description, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas