Cancer Immunotherapy – MSc

Why study this course?

Our Cancer Immunotherapy master’s will teach you about conventional cancer therapies including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. You’ll have access to highly qualified researchers and teachers in pharmacology and immunology. We’ll encourage you to join professional societies so you can improve your CV and build upon the impressive skills you’ll already have developed from research projects on the course. By the end of this postgraduate course, you’ll come to understand why investigators and oncologists now believe immunotherapy combined with pharmacological treatments will soon provide curative therapies that can give patients a new lease of life.

More about this course

The Cancer Immunotherapy MSc will introduce you to the advancement of treatments that are fighting to prolong the lives of cancer patients. Cancer is increasing worldwide, and by 2030 there are expected to be 22 million new cases per year. By the end of this course, you’ll be ready for employment as a professional who can help to tackle this global challenge.

We’ll provide you with an in-depth understanding of the molecular targets at which the different classes of anticancer drugs are aimed, as well as the current evolution of drug therapies. This will help you review the biology of cancer, taking pathological considerations into account, and the molecular changes within cells which are associated with the progression of the disease.

You’ll enhance your intellectual and practical skills necessary for the collection, analysis, interpretation and understanding of scientific data. This means you’ll cover new areas in immunotherapy as well as existing pharmacological therapies including (but not limited to) monoclonal antibodies in cancer therapy and prevention; DNA vaccines against cancer; adoptive T cell therapy; dendritic cell vaccines; microbial causes of cancer; adjuvant development for vaccines; epigenetics and cancer; immuno-chemotherapy; dendritic cell vaccine development; the ageing immune system and immunotherapy; natural killer cells/tumour-associated macrophages and cancer immunotherapy and Exosomes and Microvesicles (EMVs) in cancer therapy and diagnosis.

The teaching is delivered by highly-qualified researchers and teachers in pharmacology and immunology. Skills gained from research projects will be highly marketable in industry, academia and the National Health Service (NHS), and you’ll also be encouraged to join the British Society of Immunology and the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2022/23 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

Advanced Immunology (core, 20 credits)

Cancer Immunotherapy (core, 20 credits)

Cancer Pharmacology (core, 20 credits)

Cancer: Diagnosis and Therapy (core, 20 credits)

Molecular Oncology (core, 20 credits)

Research Project (core, 60 credits)

Scientific Frameworks For Research (core, 20 credits)

Where this course can take you

As a graduate of this course, you’ll be well prepared to work for companies that are developing cancer immunotherapies. Such companies include global biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibbs, MERCK, AstraZeneca and Roche. There are also an an ever-growing number of start-up companies that are tackling cancer, including Vyriad, UNUM Therapeutics and Alpine Immune Sciences.