Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry (With options for placements)

Use your passion for chemistry to play a role in the discovery of life-saving medical treatments. You’ll learn about every aspect of the drug development cycle: the design of molecules with the potential to treat disease, understanding how they will interact with the body, and testing the effectiveness and safety of new treatments.

Placement Opportunities
The final year of your degree could include an extended project that can be taken within our research facilities, as part of a year-long industrial placement or as an external placement at a university overseas. A university placement could take you to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Singapore or almost anywhere in the world. Most placements within industry are paid, and whichever type you choose you’ll gain specialist experience and transferable skills which will impress employers.

Learn from inspiring academics and take advantage of their expertise to inform on the many career opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector. This course is also excellent preparation for a PhD, which is the next step for over 40 per cent of our chemistry graduates. It is also a pathway for graduate entry into medicine.

Outstanding undergraduate laboratories and equipment
Study in refurbished laboratories, which opened recently as part of a £12m investment in Chemistry’s facilities. In this spacious, bright and modern environment you’ll gain hands-on practical experience with equipment such as NMR and IR spectrometers and X-ray diffractometers. There are also laptops for each student to record their practical work.

It’s the same high-tech equipment you’ll find in industry or academic labs, and you’ll learn to make and analyse your own samples, with full support and training – all excellent preparation for any potential placement and future career.

Learn about research as it happens
We’re a Russell Group University, this means you’ll learn from staff who are changing the world through research – for example by designing new cancer drugs and developing synthetic DNA for use in the testing of contagious diseases.

Our academics will share their expertise with you, bringing the most up-to-date knowledge to your seminars and lectures. In addition, the breadth of their research activities gives you plenty of choice for your third-year project topic.

Supporting your studies
You’ll be part of a supportive Chemistry community, with a personal academic tutor to provide any extra help you need throughout your studies, both academically and personally. During the first two years you will be supported in small group tutorials, so you’ll have plenty of time and individual support from your tutors.

Between classes, the Chemistry department will be your ‘home’ on campus, where you can grab a coffee in the common room, catch up with friends and talk to staff.

CV and interview skills workshops will help you secure your placement and future employment after your degree, and we’ll support you with regular catch-ups throughout the six months that you’re on your placement.

Sustainability is a key theme in our chemistry courses – you’ll learn about new technologies that are making drug manufacturing more environmentally friendly, as well as using the latest ‘green’ practices in your own lab work.

Years one and two
You’ll gain a foundation in the fundamentals of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry, as well as practical lab techniques and medicinal chemistry fundamentals that form the basis for your advanced studies in year three.
Core modules in the first and second year are shared across most of our chemistry degrees. This makes it possible to transfer to the MChem programme.

Year three
Your core chemistry modules will be combined with specialist modules in medicinal chemistry and organics synthesis alongside an optional module that could include: Advanced analytical techniques, Sustainable chemistry, Principles of electrochemistry or Simulation methods in chemistry.
Practical research skills will be developed through a series of advanced practical projects and literature-based research on a medicinal chemistry topic.

Year four:
In year four you’ll undertake an advanced research project in an area of medicinal chemistry that interests you. The project could be working within one of our research groups in Southampton or could be taken as part of an industrial or overseas placement. You’ll contribute to chemistry research, develop your professional skills and generate new knowledge, and there’s a good chance of getting your research published.

There are written examinations at the end of each semester to test your knowledge and understanding of material presented in the lectures and workshops. Many modules also have coursework components that feed into module marks as well. The coursework can take on a variety of forms from analysing data, to working through problem sets. The practical work is continuously assessed primarily through written reports.

Project work is assessed by dissertation and oral examination together with a report on your relevant skills from your supervisor. A written literature review related to the project is also assessed. Alongside these summative assessments are a number of formative pieces of work where feedback can be provided to allow for continuous improvement of your chemistry skills.

The research project will be assessed via a variety of means including review of your laboratory notebook, your assessments of the risks and hazards of your work, written reports, oral presentations, the production of a dissertation, and an oral examination.