The Department is a focus for regular seminars by national and international research workers and provides a rich and stimulating research environment, with the most modern equipment and facilities, all of which lend vigour and momentum to the research programme. Postgraduate students are allocated an Adviser, who monitors progress, and attend a Postgraduate Training Course consisting of specifically designed lecture courses and workshops in the first and second years of study to broaden knowledge and expertise in both scientific aspects and in generic skills.
Assessment is by short seminars and reports.
The Department supports attendance at scientific symposia and advice on careers and career-development is widely available. Prof J Fothergill heads a national Amino Acid Analysis and Protein Sequencing Facility and is using molecular modelling techniques to study three-dimensional protein structures. Dr J Pettitt is carrying out molecular genetic analysis of development processes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, with emphasis on the role of cell adhesion molecules. Prof J Prosser is using molecular techniques to characterise diversity and community structure of soil and marine nitrifying bacteria and, with Dr A Glover, of rhizosphere populations. The course gives instruction and training in the theory and techniques associated with identification, cloning and characterisation of genes and mutations associated with human disease, including cancer, heart disorders and inheritable diseases.