Master's Programme Medical Life Sciences

photo of a cell

The IKMB takes a leading role in the English-taught Master’s programme Medical Life Sciences, which is hosted by the Medical Faculty of Kiel University.

Focusing on disease-related research, Medical Life Sciences (also called MedLife) trains students in groups of 5-25 in areas such as molecular biology, bioinformatics, epidemiology or bioanalytics. IKMB scientists contribute to the focus areas Inflammation, Ageing in Humans and Evolutionary Medicine, which connect directly to major topics investigated in IKMB research. Students learn how to write scientific publications, develop proposals in project management courses or talk to experts from the biotech/pharmaceutical industry about career prospects. They work on current research projects in the labs for their Master’s theses. It’s very much a real-time research experience for students with hands-on work and frequent exchanges with supervisors and faculty.

Most senior researchers of the institute have been involved from the start in designing and teaching the programme. They joined forces with many dedicated clinicians and researchers of the Medical Faculty, without whose input Medical Life Sciences would not be possible. Prof. Schreiber (IKMB directorate) has been a driving force as the MedLife programme director in establishing the outline, Prof. Nebel coordinates the programme scientifically and teaches several modules, Prof.  Rosenstiel (IKMB directorate) trains students in the cell biology labs of his research group and is involved in various lectures, Prof. Franke (IKMB directorate) and his team are major contributors to the bioinformatics side of MedLife. The first Master’s theses are currently being written in research labs of medical institutes, IKMB among them.

Starting each year in April, Medical Life Sciences trains its students for a career in research, be it in the industry or in academic institutions. For more information, visit the Medical Life Sciences homepage.