Study programme
The bachelor Molecular & Biophysical Life Sciences (MBLS) is a full-time, English-taught programme, which can be completed in three years. Each year consists of four periods of 10 weeks (15 credits). In each period you follow two 7.5 credit courses in parallel that are typically finalized by an exam in the last week of the period.
Programme overview
In year one, and the start of year two, you take foundation courses covering key aspects of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Math & Biophysics. Next, in year 2 and 3 you take elective courses and tailor your own programme. In total you take twelve electives: at least six (but if you wish all twelve) within the MBLS major and up to six outside the MBLS major from the entire university course catalogue.
Elective courses
Elective courses in the MBLS major are grouped in four themes:
- Genes 2 Organisms
- Molecules & Cells
- Molecules & Medicine
- Biophysics & Modelling
Some electives are still in development.
Courses
View the extensive range of possible (elective) courses. This will give you a good idea of what to expect when putting together your own study programme. Are you already a student? Then your courses may differ from this list. Use the CoursePlanner for your study planning
Period 1
In this course you gain fundamental knowledge in the most important aspects of Molecular Cell Biology, such as insight into structural aspects of biomolecules, of essential cellular processes, and of the structure and function of the genetic material.
More information about Cell Biology.
In this course students are introduced to mathematical and programming skills that are employed by researchers in the Molecular and Biophysical Life Sciences to analyse and integrate data and to understand the physics of living systems.
More information about Mathematics & Programming.
Period 2
In this course students are introduced to the fundamental principles that determine the properties and behaviour of atoms and molecules. An introduction to the foundations of spectroscopy and thermodynamics make-up the core of this course.
More information about Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences.
This is an introductory course to organic chemistry of drug design and drug action. To answer the question what makes a good drug molecule you will learn the basic knowledge of organic molecules, and important concepts in organic chemistry through case studies.
More information about Organic Chemistry of Drug Molecules.
Period 3
In this course students acquire knowledge and understanding of how protein structure, modification and interaction allow proteins to control biological processes, including signal transduction, DNA replication, translation and metabolism.
More information about Biomolecular Chemistry.
This level 1 course builds on the mathematics skills you learned in MBLS-102 and prepares you for the more advanced mathematical skill sets you need for several (bio)physics courses that you can choose in our programme.
More information about Prep4Phys.
Period 4
This course aims to transfer your biomolecular (or biochemical) and cell biological knowledge from previous foundation courses to the biology of a wide range of organisms, and the processes and mechanisms that affect their functions and activities.
More information about Functional Biology.
In this course you develop a physical understanding of biological phenomena from previous foundation courses and you will learn to apply the fundamental laws of physics to biological problems.
More information about Biological Physics.
Period 1
In this highly practical and research-oriented course students develop their applied skills in molecular biology and biochemistry.
More information about Molecular Biology and Biochemical Techniques.
In this course you study the basic principles underlying biophysical and structural biology methods such as light and electron microscopy and different forms of spectroscopy. You practice with real data and learn how to interpret and extract biological information from the data.
More information about Biophysical Methods and Structural Biology.
Period 2
You will learn basic statistical concepts and programming skills for analysing data in the Life Sciences. Also you practice logical reasoning and academic writing skills from literature examples and your own experimental and statistical data sets.
More information about Statistics & Academic Writing.
This course will introduce you to the versatility of membranes, and to the major metabolic pathways.
More information about Membranes & Metabolism.
Period 3
This level 2 course extends on the cell biology knowledge acquired in MBLS-101. The aim of this course is to teach the function and organisation of the animal cell and its components. From the molecular level up to and including the functioning of cells in the tissues of living organisms.
More information about Genomes, Cells & Tissues.
This level 2 course introduces how medicines, including both small molecules and biologics, influence the function of their target proteins. You will learn about receptor-ligand interactions (pharmacodynamics), but also other processes that are relevant for the action of a drug in the body (pharmacokinetics).
More information about Biochemical Pharmaceutics.
This course teaches the principles of molecular modelling and NMR spectroscopy. Both have broad applications within the field of chemistry, life sciences and material sciences.
More information about NMR Spectroscopy & Molecular Modeling.
This course introduces students to the research fields of bioinformatics and biological modeling. Central themes are the use of data to extract underlying patterns on function and evolution, and the use of models to test hypotheses and make predictions for biological systems.
More information about Bioinformatics & Dynamical Modeling.
The curriculum emphasises an in depth understanding of gene regulation in different organisms, with focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms, their relevance for developmental and disease-related processes. The course will also introduce students to basic analysis of high-throughput transcription and epigenomics data and newest genome engineering approaches to manipulate and study gene regulation.
More information about Gene Regulation.
Period 4
The brains of higher vertebrates are the most complex systems known, and the effort to understand them is considered the greatest challenge of modern science. This level 2 course aims to provide you with a basic knowledge of modern neuroscience, which is important for fundamental research on the brain, for studying human and animal behavior and for research into diseases of the nervous system.
More information about Neurobiology.
This level 2 course builds on the knowledge you acquired in Biological Physics (MBLS-106) and Biophysical Methods & Structural Biology (MBLS-202). This course deepens your knowledge and skills on theoretical and experimental knowledge on biophysical research at single-cell and single-molecule level using techniques such as Super-Resolution Imaging and Atomic Force Microscopy.
More information about Physics of the Cell.
We are never alone, nor are the crops we grow to feed the world. Microbes, both good and bad, are everywhere and have a profound impact on the organisms that can function as their hosts. In this course, you learn about important concepts regarding the interactions between different types of hosts and the microbes in their environment.
More information about Host-microbe interactions.
Periode 1
The immune system includes innate and acquired defense mechanisms against (pathogenic) microorganisms. In the form of lectures, article presentations and computer exercises, you will gain step-by-step insight into the structure and functioning of the mammalian immune system.
More information about Immunobiology.
In this course all aspects of Medicinal Chemistry will be discussed (during lectures and work-sessions), although with a strong emphasis on drug design and synthesis, inspired by the most significant molecules now used in modern medicine, like: cyclosporine, maraviroc, oseltamivir, imatinib, epothilone, enalapril, and paroxetine.
More information about Medicinal chemistry theoretical part.
We are exposed to potentially toxic compounds on a daily basis, varying from human medication to environmental pollutants or dangerous plants. The toxic potential of a compound does not only depend on the compound itself, but also on characteristics of the exposed individual. In addition to dosage and exposure route, individual characteristics as age, gender and nutrition are of importance.
More information about Toxicology.
Cells are constructed from molecular building blocks such as nucleotides, proteins, lipids, and sugars. To grasp how cells perform their task, a profound understanding is required of the properties and structures of these biomolecules and how they interact and cooperate in biochemical pathways.
More information about Trending Topics on Biomolecules.
This course is an elective for life sciences students in year two or three of the bachelor programme.
The main trend is towards advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP), which include biomolecules and cells, focusing on disease modification and on personal differences: personalised medicine. But a better understanding of a person’s characteristics or disease characteristics can also be exploited by repurposing of old medicines.
More information about Future medicines.
In this course, you will gain knowledge and lab skills that are important for the practical part of Medicinal Chemistry and you will learn to design and synthesise your own molecule.
More information about Medicinal chemistry practical part.
Periode 2
Biotechnology is a broad term for all technology that utilizes biological systems, living organisms or parts of this to develop or create different products. This course covers topics ranging from the development of climate-resilient and herbicide-resistant crops using CRISPR/Cas to the development of mRNA therapies and the usage of fungal materials as bio-bricks. The course aims to give you an extensive overview of recent developments in biotechnology and the broad array of possibilities within this field.
More information about Advanced Biotechnology.
In this course students will approach the neurobiology of behaviour at different levels: animal studies, neuronal circuits, physiology of neurons, and the molecular biology of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Modern neurobiological techniques that are used to causally relate molecular, cellular and circuit-level processes to behaviour in diverse vertebrate and invertebrate model systems will be covered.
More information about Neurobiology of Behaviour.
In this course, we will survey biological physics and soft matter – progressing from small to large scales and from equilibrium to out-of-equilibrium phenomena. Living systems leverage a wide-range of physical processes for their function. To demonstrate this, we will center our lectures around bacteria as our model system, moving from small-scale biomolecules to large-scale populations.
More information about Biological and Soft Matter Physics.
The topic will be taught in working groups and the special element of this setup is the integration of lectures by specialists, individual literature study, group discussions, the design of a grant proposal, writing and reviewing of its summary, and ending with a group presentation to defend the proposal. Each group consists of max. 4 students and has one supervisor. This course is taught in English and is meant as a preparation towards a Research Master.
More information about Viral Diseases: Molecular mechanisms of infection.
The aim of this course is to understand how the immune system of plants functions, how plants and beneficial or pathogenic microbes interact with each other, and what the determinants are for their success in these different interactions. In the course several integration levels of plant-microbe (and -insect) interactions are discussed: from genes, signal molecules, defense products, whole organisms, to (microbial) population effects.
More information about Molecular Plant Microbe interactions.
The aim of this course is to help the students build a deep understanding of modern light microscopy techniques and their use in bioimaging. The emphasis will be on the applications to cell biology and structural biology.
More information about Advanced Light Microscopy and Bioimaging.
In this course you get the opportunity to expand your practical (or computational) research skills by doing a group project in one of the research areas of the molecular life sciences (biomolecular chemistry). You will practice your writing skills by writing a report in the style of a scientific journal. Moreover, you will experience doing actual research in an academic environment.
More information about Research Project Bijvoet.
Periode 3
Proteins are the molecular machines of the living cell, and need to fold into their correct three-dimensional conformations in order to function. During the course, we will explore how proteins “know” what shape they should fold up into following their synthesis, how they cluster into dynamic macromolecular complexes, and how protein quality control is ensured in the complex environment of cells and multicellular organisms.
More information about Protein Folding & Assembly.
The aim of this course is to expose you to all aspects of scientific research within the research themes of the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Biophysics (CNB). The course consists of 2 parts.
More information about Molecular Cell Research.
In the course Omics in Life Sciences, students learn basics of how molecular omics technologies work, how they help discover and characterize phenomena in life sciences, and how they can be used to solve environmental and human health issues. The covered technologies include genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and partially, metabolomics.
More information about Omics in the Life Sciences.
In this course, students go through the research cycle with special attention to setting up and justifying experiments, processing research results and providing feedback. Projects and (raw) data are offered from various molecular and cellular research disciplines, as they are also available in an open research culture (open science).
More information about Research Design and Analysis.
In this course we will study personalised medicine at several levels. Molecular, cellular, organ, organism, and population. The course starts with an individual assignment of a recent first in class medicine and ends with group assignments on future medicines.
More information about Future Medicines.
This course provides an in-depth understanding of key processes involved in the development of multicellular organisms. As a preparatory course for a master's program, it strongly emphasizes modern molecular genetic research techniques and model systems.
More information about Developmental Biology & Genetics.
Mass spectrometry (MS) is an important analytical technique for the identification and structure elucidation of biomolecules. Not only can mass spectrometry be used to determine the molecular weight of a compound, but one can also extract information about the functional groups of a compound and often its structure from a fragment spectrum.
More information about Mass Spectrometry of Proteins.
During the course, the emphasis will be on composing exact models, based on specific hypotheses. The models are analysed, the results yielding insights in the original biological system. The models that are studied address fundamental questions from a variety of biological fields
More information about Computational Biology.
Period 4
Research groups at the departments of Chemistry, Biology, and the Pharmaceutical Sciences are well-connected to the education in our curriculum. For your final bachelor thesis you choose a laboratory of your liking where you will conduct your own research project under the supervision of our scientific staff. You will present your results in a scientific report and a final presentation in the research group.
More information about the Bachelor Thesis.
The main focus of this course will be on different aspects that are related to pharmaceutical technology (drug formulation design and stability), pharmaceutics (drug administration and pharmaceutical availability) and pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion).
More information about Pharmaceutics & Pharmacology.
Synthesis is at the 'heart' of chemistry. It is because of chemical synthesis that all kinds of substances can be made. This course introduces the principles and context that make organic synthesis central to modern chemistry.
More information about Organic chemistry practical part.
Complex biological systems are formed by the interactions between molecules, cells, organisms, and their environment. The blueprints underlying these interactions are in principle encoded within the genome which itself is the result of 4 billion years of evolution. Biologists are nowadays able to rapidly generate large volumes of genomic data from individual species and populations, but also from complex environments.
More information about Genome Bioinformatics.
Synthesis is at the 'heart' of chemistry. It is because of chemical synthesis that all kinds of substances can be made. This course introduces the principles and context that make organic synthesis central to modern chemistry.
More information about Organic chemistry theoretical part .
In this course you will dive deeper into the analysis of macromolecular structures and structure-based function. Theory and application of protein structure determination by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, the two techniques currently most used for experimental structure determination, will be treated.
More information about Advanced Structural Biology.
Teaching Formats
There are different kinds of teaching formats in the courses you attend. An indication of the proportion of these formats in the first year is as follows:
| Teaching format | Indication of time spent |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 20% |
| Tutorials and group assignments | 20% |
| Practicals | 20% |
| Self-study | 30% |
All students attend lectures together. Group size for assignments and practicals is typically between 4-6 students.
Final project and thesis
Research groups at the departments of Chemistry, Biology, and the Pharmaceutical Sciences are well-connected to the education in our curriculum. For your final project and thesis you choose a laboratory of your liking where you will conduct your own research project under the supervision of our scientific staff. You will present your results in a scientific report and a final presentation in the research group.
Binding Study Advise (BSA)
At the end of the first year, you will know whether the programme was the right choice for you. To continue your studies, you need to have obtained at least 45 credits of the possible total of 60 credits in the first year.