Cellular and Molecular Medicine

At Bristol, our aim is to inspire you to turn science into medicine. Our flexible courses offer a focused training in biomedical sciences through the study of the cellular and molecular basis of human disease.

Taught by an international team of research scientists and clinicians, you will have the opportunity to complete a research project of your own that reflects our research interests in cancer biology, stem-cell biology and regenerative medicine, or infection and immunology.

Our innovative teaching includes resources designed to prepare you for practical classes by demonstrating concepts and experiments through animations, videos and pre-lab quizzes.

In lectures you'll study concepts at the forefront of knowledge about the mechanisms of human disease. Our teaching reflects our research, which aims to translate laboratory discoveries into clinical application.

Laboratory sessions underpin learning during the first two years and are integrated with eBiolabs online resources. Through project work you will develop experimental design and problem-solving skills.

We welcome applications from students who are also applying for medicine.

We also offer Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biomedical Science, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Physiological Science and Psychology.

My course is as challenging as it is interesting. We have great support from the teaching and administrative staff. Bristol is a great University in a beautiful city – I think it speaks for itself!

Many of our graduates go on to study for an MSc or PhD prior to a career in biomedical research or go on to study medicine.

Other graduates find employment in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industries, work in academic or clinical laboratories, or choose to use their transferable skills in health services or non-scientific careers.

The first year of our courses will introduce you to topics including microbiology and infectious diseases; cell biology of normal and tumour cells; pathology and immunology; and biochemistry.

Year two will build on the broad foundation of year one. You will take core units including:

Employability and enterprise skills are part of all our degrees, and you'll graduate with an impressive range of transferable skills.

In the final year, you will take lecture units that appeal to your interests and apply your research skills in a project taking place within the school or in a laboratory at a nearby hospital.

We offer four-year MSci courses that include an additional research-intensive final year.

There is a great deal of flexibility and it is possible to transfer between courses as your interests develop. You can also transfer to one of our four-year Study in Industry degrees if you secure a placement during year two.

You'll join a close-knit and supportive community. Students on our cellular and molecular medicine courses are highly satisfied with the quality of teaching. 98% of students surveyed agreed that staff are good at explaining things, and 95% said their course is intellectually stimulating (NSS 2020).

Our courses also help develop career-ready skills. 96% of cellular and molecular medicine students agreed that the skills they developed during their time at university will be useful for their future careers (NSS 2020).

Our flexible courses offer a broad training in biomedical sciences through the study of the cellular and molecular basis of human disease.

Taught by an international team of research scientists and clinicians, you will have the opportunity to complete a research project of your own that reflects our research interests in cancer biology, stem-cell biology and regenerative medicine or infection and immunology.

Our outstanding facilities include state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories, well-equipped lecture theatres and a specialist library.

Cellular and molecular medicine courses are flexible and you can transfer between them as your interests develop. Our BSc courses are available as four-year degrees with Study in Industry, allowing you to spend your third year on a placement that you will secure during your second year.

Lectures are at the forefront of knowledge about the mechanisms of human disease. Our teaching reflects our research, which aims to translate laboratory discoveries into clinical application.

Tutorials in small groups and workshops provide opportunities to improve your communication skills, strengthen teamwork and gain confidence in data handling and interpretation.

Laboratory sessions underpin learning during the first two years and are integrated with eBiolabs online resources. Through project work you will develop experimental design and problem-solving skills.

Your academic personal tutor will follow your progress and is available to give you advice and support throughout your time at Bristol.

You will be well suited to this course if you are interested in the causes and mechanisms of human disease and you enjoy practical laboratory and project work. There are project opportunities for those who prefer reading and exploring a specific subject in depth.

We welcome applications from those of you also applying for medicine.

Each first- and second-year unit involves lectures, small-group tutorials or workshops and laboratory practicals as well as independent study. There are chances for group work and opportunities to present a topic in detail.

Assessment occurs throughout the year and includes essays, data-handling exercises, oral presentations in tutorials, laboratory practical write ups, eBiolabs pre-lab and post-lab work and unit exams.

You will also take written exams during the January and May/June exam periods.

The final year includes research project work which you will write up as a dissertation. You will also take advanced lecture units which are assessed in final exams.

Many of our graduates go on to study for an MSc or PhD prior to a career in biomedical research or go on to study medicine. Other graduates find employment in industrial, academic or clinical laboratories or choose to use their transferable skills in non-scientific careers.

Find out more about what our students do after graduating.

Alternative Medicine: Is It Covered?

Multivitamins may help slow memory loss in older adults, study shows

A daily multivitamin — an inexpensive, over-the-counter nutritional supplement — may help slow memory loss in people ages 60 and older, a large nationwide clinical trial suggests.

The research, a collaboration between scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Columbia University, appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on Wednesday.

It was the second such multivitamin clinical study within the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) — a larger body of research examining the health effects of certain dietary supplements — to reach the same conclusion.

The most recent study found that those taking multivitamins showed an estimated 3.1 fewer years of memory loss compared with a control group who took a placebo. Put another way, the multivitamin group was an estimated 3.1 years “younger” in terms of their memory function than the placebo group.

“Older adults are very concerned about preserving cognition and memory, so this is a very important finding,” said JoAnn Manson, chief of Brigham’s division of preventive medicine and co-leader of the study with Howard Sesso, associate director of the division. “They are looking for safe and effective prevention strategies. The fact that two separate studies came to similar conclusions is remarkable.”

Manson, also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, described the effect of the supplements as “substantial.”

She stressed, however, that a dietary supplement “will never be a substitute for a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle.”

The study used a commonly available multivitamin — Centrum Silver — but “we think any high-quality multivitamin is likely to convey similar results,” Manson said. Centrum Silver contains vitamins D, A and B12, thiamine, riboflavin and manganese, among other substances.

Manson and Sesso reported grants to their institution from Mars Edge, which is a unit of the food company, Mars, and which focuses on nutrition research and produces the dietary supplement CocoaVia. Several of the 10 authors of the research also reported financial support from the National Institutes of Health.

Mars Edge and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon), maker of Centrum Silver, donated the multivitamins and placebo tablets and packaging. COSMOS is also supported by NIH grants.

Sesso also reported grants from supplements company, Pure Encapsulations, and biopharmaceuticals company, Pfizer; and honoraria or travel support for lectures from the trade group for the dietary supplement industry, Council for Responsible Nutrition; chemical company, BASF; NIH; and a group that focuses on nutrition research, American Society for Nutrition.

Multivitamins already are popular with older Americans; 39 percent of adults ages 60 and older take multivitamins, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. sales of multivitamins and multivitamins with minerals totaled about $8 billion in 2020, according to NIH.

Memory benefit of multivitamins lasted three years

The latest trial included more than 3,500 participants ages 60 and older who completed web-based exams of memory and cognition annually over three years. The tasks were recalling words and recognizing novel objects, and a measure of executive control.

Compared with the placebo group, participants randomized to multivitamin supplementation did significantly better on immediate recall of words after one year and sustained that benefit for an additional two years of follow-up, according to the study.

Multivitamin use, however, “did not significantly affect memory retention, executive function, or novel object recognition” when compared with placebo use, the study showed.

The findings that multivitamin use may help with memory and cognition are especially important because the brain, as all other organs in the body, requires nutrients for optimal functioning and can suffer cognitively without them, brain-health experts said.

“This study is groundbreaking,” said Andrew Budson, professor of neurology at Boston University and chief of cognitive behavioral neurology at VA Boston Healthcare System, who was not involved in the research.

Low levels of vitamins B1 — also known as thiamine — B12 and D are associated with cognitive decline, he said. “That a simple multivitamin can slow cognitive decline while they are aging normally is quite exciting, as it is something that almost everyone can do,” Budson said.

Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, said the brain requires a lot of vitamins and minerals to function properly. “Think of a complicated engine that requires lots of specialty parts and needs them all,” said Schulz, who also was not part of the study. “We regularly see people who are deficient in them who come in with cognitive impairment.”

Slowing of cognitive aging

The previous study, conducted by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, appeared in the fall in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia. It found a 60 percent slowing of cognitive aging among those who took multivitamins compared with the placebo group.

The two studies were independent of each other and had different designs. But, significantly, both were randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials, the “gold standard” of research in determining the efficacy of a drug or medical treatment — directly linking cause and effect.

“This is probably the best evidence there is for taking a multivitamin,” said Donald Hensrud, a specialist in nutrition at the Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the research. “A randomized, controlled trial — good study.”

Curiously, both studies suggest that participants who derived the greatest benefits may have been those with a history of cardiovascular disease, the researchers said.

“It’s most intriguing because this same finding was replicated in two studies, with different designs, and with no overlapping participants,” Manson said, speculating that those with heart disease may have had a lower nutrient status at the start of the study. “They may have started from a lower threshold, so the improvements may have been more easily detectable,” she said.

In the overall COSMOS trial, which includes different studies, there were lower rates of stomach pain, diarrhea, skin rash and bruising as side effects with multivitamin use compared with the placebo, but an increased rate of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Future research on multivitamins

The study population included people of different races, ethnicities, educational levels, socioeconomic status and household income. “However, as is the case for volunteers in any randomized clinical trials, the participants tended to be slightly more educated, had slightly higher socioeconomic status, and had less diversity than a cross-section of U.S. adults in these age groups,” Manson said.

The researchers said that future studies should explore whether the findings would be applicable to even more diverse participants, including those with lower education levels and social economic status, because the “benefits may turn out to be even greater in populations with lower incomes and poorer quality diets,” Manson said.

Additional studies also should try to identify the nutrients that provide the most benefits, as well as the specific mechanisms involved, the researchers said.

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