BSc (Hons) Medicinal Chemistry and Geology

This course prepares you to help solve problems at the intersection of chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, and pharmacology. The goal of medicinal chemistry is to support the search for new drugs to treat conditions such as heart disease and cancer. You’ll work in well-equipped laboratories, and learn to conduct effective independent research. Keele also offers support to find an industrial or research placement for a summer. You’ll develop essential skills for employment, such as problem-solving, presentation, and communication. The Geology element of the course covers geological processes such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate tectonics, and how these processes produce different geological materials.

Year 1

• Minerals and Rocks
• Earth Structure
• Academic, Professional, and Fieldwork Skills
• Stratigraphy and Palaeontology
• Practical and Professional Chemistry Skills
• Chemical Structure and Reactivity

Year 2

• Petrology
• Field Techniques
• Molecular Chemistry and Reactions
• Principles of Drug Design
• Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure

Year 3

• Independent Fieldwork Project – ISP
• Mechanisms of Drug Action
• Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

OPTIONAL MODULES

• Natural Hazards
• Economic Geology
• Exploration Geophysics for the Hydrocarbon Industry
• Structure and Geodynamics
• Hydrological and Engineering Geology
• Micropalaeontology: Principles and Applications
• Advanced Topics in Sedimentology
• The Science of Soil
• Chemical Kinetics, Photochemistry, and Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
• Advanced Organic Chemistry
• Chemistry/Medicinal Chemistry Research Project
• Chemistry/Medicinal Chemistry Dissertation

Employability

Our Medicinal Chemistry graduates have excellent employment prospects, whether at the cutting edge of drug discovery or in a wide range of related fields. You might go to work for a pharmaceutical company, either as a research scientist or in a more business-related role. Alternatively, you might work in a different organization as a development chemist, a research assistant, or a site chemist. Modern industrial society depends on geologists to find natural resources such as minerals, hydrocarbons, metals, aggregates and water, for designing foundations, tunnels and other engineering projects, and environmental projects such as radioactive waste disposal or carbon dioxide sequestration.

Previous employers

• Vision Express
• Pharmaron UK Ltd
• Johnson Matthey
• GSQ
• Endeavour Speciality Chemicals Ltd
• NHS
• Education First