Université Côte d’Azur (UniCA)
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Membiomed
- Nice, France
- Genoa, Italy
Master degree
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
EUR 7,758 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* non-european students | european students: EUR 500
Key Summary
A programme designed to prepare a future generation of scientists, entrepreneurs and senior executives for a leading role in studying the complex behaviour of cellular membranes and exploiting their full therapeutic potential.
What are Biomembranes?
Besides providing semipermeable barriers, cellular membranes are nature’s most sophisticated biomolecular systems that serve vital roles in biogenic processes, energy conversion, information processing and transport. Consequently, membranes influence nearly every aspect of organismal physiology, making the modulation of membrane-bound molecules a powerful strategy for therapeutic intervention. In fact, drugs that target membrane proteins account for approximately 60% of the international market share of therapeutics.
Why are Biomembranes challenging?
They form collective assemblies of proteins and lipids that are functional over a wide range of time scales and undergo dynamic changes in composition, physical properties and shape in response to a variety of internal or external cues. The lipids can serve simultaneously as solvents, substrates, and regulatory co-factors for membrane protein activity, and these roles are often entangled and overlapping. Classical approaches of molecular cell biology fall short in addressing the intricate relationships among cellular lipidomes, the physicochemical properties of cellular membranes, and the regulation of membrane proteins by either or both. In the field of nanomedicine, drug delivery systems based on biomembrane-derived nanostructures attract increasing interest for their biomimetic properties and potential for clinical translation.
The future of Biomembranes?
As biomembrane research will occupy a central position in biomedical science for many decades to come, it is of utmost importance to train young scientists in this specific field. A detailed understanding of the pathways and mechanisms that govern the assembly and proper functioning of cellular membranes requires input from multiple disciplines, notably cell biology, structural biology, pharmacology, (neuro)physiology, (bio)physics, (bio)chemistry, and (bio)informatics.
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Scholarship
Scholarships will be awarded at the end of the application period, mid-April, following the completion of all interviews.
Scholarship holders are not required to pay participation costs or other mandatory costs related to their participation in the Erasmus Mundus course.
The scholarship is a contribution to the costs incurred by the students and covers travel, visa, installation and subsistence costs.
The scholarship is awarded for full-time enrolment and covers the entire duration of the Master programme (24 months). This period covers all the activities needed by the enrolled scholarship holder to complete the study programme: study, research, placement activities, thesis preparation and defence, in line with the requirement of the joint Master.
The scholarship amount is calculated (pro-rata of the actual number of days) as: 1 400 Euros/month.
It is calculated based on a monthly unit cost for the entire period, EMJM scholarships can be offered to students from all over the world*.
Students who have previously obtained an EMJM scholarship are not eligible to apply for an additional scholarship under the EMJM.
*EMJM scholarships can be offered to students from all over the world. However, consortia should ensure geographical balance – i.e. no more than 10% of the total number of scholarships awarded during project implementation should be awarded to candidates from the same nationality (this rule does not apply to top-up scholarships for targeted regions of the world).
Funding for non-scholarship students
For MemBioMed students who have not been selected for the EMJM scholarship :
- Students can apply for other scholarships in their home countries or via Campus France (Bourse Eiffel) or each HEI full partner.
- UniCA, UniGe and UOS have obtained envelopes for the Erasmus Europe mobility, application as soon as they are enrolled (subject to credit availability).
- France Excellence Europa is also a programme aimed at students from EU member countries and enables them to finance a Master's-level degree course
Semester 1
The first semester at UniCA will provide students with a foundation for the structure and function of biological membranes. The courses will focus on the physicochemical properties of biomembranes and on understanding the molecular and cellular properties of the constituents of cell membranes, mainly lipids and proteins.
Semester 1 : Université Côte d'azur
- Structural Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology of the Cellular Membrane
- Pathophysiology of Transport and Medicine
- Lab rotation
- Integration Week
Semester 2
The second semester in UniGe will provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of biomembrane-related pathologies and neurological functions. The courses will focus on the genetics and the molecular bases of disease, as well as the function and dysfunction and on therapeutics strategies used to modulate neuronal activity.
Semester 2: University of Genova, UNiGE
- Human genetics and molecular pathology
- Neurobiology and Neurophysiology
- Protein expression and engineering
- Creation, organization and management of the company
- Lab rotation
- Kick-off Days
Semester 3
The third semester in Osnabrück will focus on preparing the students for their master theses by providing methodological specialization in the field of cellular nanoanalytics. The courses will focus on advanced techniques to investigate biological functions at cellular membranes with the highest spatial and temporal resolution.
Semester 3 : University of Osnabruck, UOS
- Advanced methods in membrane biology
- Research Proposal
- Research project
- German language and culture
- Summer school
Semester 4
The Master's thesis can be prepared in any of the full partner institutions or associated partners. Projects from academia and industry are presented to students during the summer school between semesters 2 and 3, promoting direct interaction of students with supervisors. In addition to classical Master projects, supervised by a single supervisor, we also want to offer Masters projects with dual supervision by researchers from two laboratories.
Semester 4: Master thesis
The 4th semester will systematically consist in a Master Thesis, performed in one of the research laboratories or associated structure of the partner institution
Key competencies and skills
The MemBioMed programme's emphasis on training through research acts as a catalyst to transform students into active learners. By encouraging them to study a chosen field in greater depth, it enables students to become key players in the field of biomembranes. In this way, the academic programme transmits not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical knowledge in the laboratory and so-called 'complementary' skills. These skills are provided by both soft skills (scientific writing, dissemination of science and communication) and hard skills (animal experimentation, biological image processing, imaging of living organisms, organoids, bioinformatics, biological imaging techniques for research and medicine, scientific communication, health and safety, quality assurance, etc.), as well as project-based learning, introductory business and economics courses, language and culture courses, workshops and cultural activities. These complementary skills help to forge a mindset of continuous learning, communication, adaptability and innovation, preparing students to become leaders in a rapidly evolving field of biomedicine. Another advantage of the MemBioMed programme is the development of international networks between the programme's students (current and former), teachers and professionals. These networks extend beyond the academic world and can lead to collaboration on various projects, cultural initiatives and even businesses. The diversity of backgrounds and experiences of programme participants enriches these networks, encouraging innovation and intercultural dialogue.
9 ambitious objectives
The MemBioMed programme is designed to develop future leaders in biomedicine, neuroscience, and nanotechnology by providing advanced expertise in cell membrane biology. This Master's programme uniquely emphasizes multidisciplinary research on biomembranes, combining the strengths of the three partner universities to cover all aspects of membrane biology.
The master's program will provide its trainees with a comprehensive education that will significantly enhance their career perspectives in the academic or private sector by enabling them to meet future challenges in a variety of specialized fields, from drug development and nanomedicine to membrane engineering and neurophysiology.
This will be achieved by realizing the following objectives:
- to provide students with combined theoretical knowledge in biomembrane-related cell biology, structural biology, pharmacology, neurophysiology, biophysics, biochemistry and bioinformatics;
- to recruit the best students from all over the world, providing them with physical mobilities and access to world-class scientists in the field of biomembranes;
- to promote, structure and sustain collaborations among the partner universities through the organisation of joint training events and the exchange of students and staff;
- to promote innovative biomembrane research at the interface of different disciplines;
- to train students with state-of-the-art knowledge for studying cellular membranes across multiple scales and disciplines, from monitoring the complex interactions among protein and lipid components at the highest resolution to how their collective properties influence biological processes at the level of cells, tissues and organisms in health and disease;
- to produce well-rounded student profiles with practical work and project-oriented formation for the development of innovative downstream applications;
- to increase the employability of students in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries by providing them with hard and soft skills associated with entrepreneurship and industrial networks;
- to provide a valuable specialized workforce in line with unmet academic and industrial demands in clinical pharmacology, experimental medicine, neuroscience and nanotechnology;
- to improve the quality of the European Higher Education Area by intensifying academic cooperation and internationalisation among MemBioMed’s participating HEIs.
Graduated students can join research or development projects directly after the Master's. They can apply to public laboratories, university hospital centres, technological platforms, and R&D centres in biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies.
Employability
The impact of the programme is determinant for students, as it offers multidisciplinary training in the rapidly evolving field of biopharmacology, and provides them with a set of skills that enhance their employability and competitiveness in the job market. Graduates will have a wide range of career opportunities. If they continue their training with a PhD thesis, they will be qualified for positions as biology researchers in academic or industrial research to study biological or neurological processes, develop new therapies or medicines, or explore new biotechnologies. If they complete their studies after the Master's, they could work in a laboratory as a technician or engineer, designing, developing and improving products or understanding processes in the pharmaceutical or medical fields, often in academic, medical or industrial research environments. They will also have access to jobs as scientific or medical advisers, biotechnology consultants, pharmaceutical product or medical device developers, teachers or trainers in the life sciences or scientific communicators, although these examples are not exhaustive. If they wish to create or manage a company in the field of biotechnology by developing a product, services or innovative techniques, their academic training, the interpersonal skills they have acquired through the soft skills and particularly the entrepreneurial training at UniGe, and the Nucleate programme sessions throughout the programme will have provided them with the basis for the entrepreneurial world. In this case, access to Nucleate and MemBioMed partnerships with 40 or so industries, including two entrepreneurs who are members of the AC, will have created, if not the foundations, at least the bridges between academic learning and the industrial sector.
After studies
Respond to societal and labour market needs and contribute to a global workforce: We designed the MemBioMed programme primarily to train students to succeed in the job market in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The interdisciplinary theoretical programme provides students with combined theoretical knowledge of cell biology, structural biology, pharmacology, neurophysiology, biophysics, biochemistry and bioinformatics in disciplines related to biomembranes, in line with academic and industrial demands in clinical pharmacology, experimental medicine, neuroscience and nanotechnology. Extensive practical experience and project-based training, often at the interface of different disciplines, create well-balanced student profiles. Intercultural skills, compulsory mobility in three countries and multilingual skills (English, French, German and Italian) help to produce not only skilled professionals conducting innovative biomembrane research but also individuals who share a common sense of European values and a truly global mindset.