MBS Curriculum
KGI's two-year Master of Bioscience degree program educates technically savvy professionals for the bioscience industry. Students learn to:
- Catalyze development of basic life sciences research into useful new products, processes and services
- Address the business and ethical leadership challenges confronting the applied life sciences
- Build professional skills essential to the industry workplace including public speaking, team leadership and dynamics, and project management
- Understand how the bioscience industry operates-considering the scientific, intellectual property and regulatory issues that dominate the industry
Entrepreneurial activities that promote the translation of basic science and engineering knowledge into beneficial products are actively encouraged throughout the program.
First Year
The first year of the MBS program provides a common educational experience for all students. At the end of this year, students have been exposed to a wide range of bioscience industry issues and activities. Please see the complete list of first-year courses.
Initial Projects
During orientation at KGI, first-year students participate in the Initial Projects. These intensive, projects require students to work in teams and perform a retrospective analysis of an event that occurred in the life sciences industry, e.g., the discovery of a new drug or the development of a new technology or device. The teams are given a variety of resources including the opportunity for discussion with an individual who was intimately involved in the event. The project culminates in a written report and a public presentation to the KGI community. The Initial Projects are not graded, but a prize is given for the best presentation.
Following orientation, first-year students take a common set of interdisciplinary applications-oriented technical courses, business courses and a bioindustry ethics course.
Applications-Oriented Technical Courses
Because of the effectiveness that an interdisciplinary approach brings to solving bioscience industry problems, KGI integrates three disciplines, systems biology, computational biology, and bioengineering, in a set of technical courses taken by all first-year students. The courses are Molecular Biotechnology; Systems Biology; Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Applied Life Sciences; Computational Biology; Medical Diagnostics; Medical Devices; Pharmaceutical Discovery and Development; Bioprocess Engineering Principles and Biologics. These courses highlight specific industry applications and follow the format of lectures that meet once or twice per week with hands-on projects that occur regularly throughout the semester.
Lecture Courses in Business and Bioethics
In addition to science and engineering courses, first-year students take a fixed set of courses that provide basic backgrounds in business and management of bioscience industries, and bioethics.
Summer Internship
Between the first and second years, students participate in a required, paid internship in a bioscience company. The summer internship actively engages students in the issues and current techniques associated with particular industry sectors and provides an understanding of the climate and culture of business. A summer internship represents approximately 400 hours of work.
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Second Year
Team Masters Projects
The capstone of the MBS program is the Team Masters Project in which teams of three to five students work with sponsoring companies to solve real problems. This project replaces the Masters thesis work required in traditional programs.
Students form interdisciplinary teams and work with faculty and industrial advisors to perform contract research. Student teams create budgets, develop timelines, and describe deliverables. At the end of the academic year, they present confidential and non-confidential reports of their work.
Career Focus Tracks
Coursework during the second year of the MBS curriculum allows students to achieve depth in an area that closely follows a specific industry career path. KGI's career focus tracks provide in-depth knowledge of specific functional areas of the bioscience industry. Each specialized program offers participation in real-world industry experiences and interaction with industry leaders coupled with a cutting-edge curriculum taught by faculty with extensive industry experience.
Career focus tracks currently offered are:
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