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Biotechnology is an exciting interdisciplinary field of research, which is seeing rapid growth.
The development of new pharmaceuticals, enzymes for washing powder and beer brewing, or dyes and other ingredients used in food production is based on years of research in biotechnology.
Europe, USA, and Asia are making large investments in biotechnology and are increasingly relying on biotechnology in the production of new medicine, sustainable energy, natural food additives, and much more.
Study programme focus
Through the programme, you will gain fundamental knowledge of biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, and process technology. You will learn to apply this knowledge to biotechnological problems, ranging from basic research issues to the development of new cell factories and the study of their behaviour in bioreactors. You will acquire the relevant competencies for collecting and analysing wide-ranging data, for instance by using statistics, bioinformatics, and mathematical models.
Focus areas
The MSc programme in Biotechnology contains no predefined study lines or recommended programmes. Instead, you can define your own study plan and tailor your biotechnological profile from a wide range of general competence courses, technological specialization courses, and elective courses at DTU. There will be considerable scope for taking individual special courses where you can explore a topic of own choice in-depth, and you will also have the opportunity to spend a semester studying abroad.
Programme provision
In order to obtain the MSc degree in Biotechnology the student must fulfil the following requirements:
- Have passed General Competence Courses adding up to at least 30 ECTS points
- Have passed Technological Specialization Courses adding up to at least 30 ECTS points
- Have carried out a Master Thesis of at least 30 ECTS points within the scope of the general program
- Have passed a sufficient number of Elective Courses to bring the total number of ECTS points for the entire course of study to 120
Courses
General Competence Courses
At least 5 points must be achieved from these courses:
| 23531 | Entrepreneurship in Food and Bio Engineering | 5 | point | August |
| 23532 | Beer brewing and quality control course | 5 | point | June |
| 24690 | Module 1: From idea to project plan in biotech and pharmaceutical research | 5 | point | E4B (Fri 8-12) and E3B (Fri 13-17) |
| 27692 | Module 3: Value creation in pharma- and biotechnology | 5 | point | June, January |
| 28310 | Chemical and Biochemical Product Design | 10 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) and January |
| 28855 | Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and quality in pharma, biotech and food industry | 5 | point | F1B (Thurs 13-17) |
| 42435 | Knowledge based Entrepreneurship | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) and F2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 42490 | Technology, economics, management and organisation (TEMO) | 10 | point | E5 (Wed 8-17), F5 (Wed 8-17) |
The remaining points (up to minimum 30 points) must be achieved from these courses:
| 27106 | Research Immersion, Life Science | 5 | point | July |
| 27107 | Research Immersion, Life Science | 5 | point | August |
| 27230 | Prokaryotic Cell Biology | 5 | point | E1A (Mon 8-12) |
| 27270 | Advanced trends, uncharted frontiers and novel technologies in molecular medical microbiology | 5 | point | F2B (Thurs 8-12) |
| 27303 | Protein science and technology | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 27430 | Eukaryotic Cell Biology and Disease | 5 | point | E2B (Thurs 8-12) |
You may also obtain General Competences by Special courses in:
- iGEM International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. See here for more information
- BBIP BioBusiness and Innovation Program. See here for more information
Technological Specialization Courses
| 23205 | Fighting Infectious Diseases | 5 | point | E4B (Fri 8-12) |
| 23258 | General Medical Microbiology | 5 | point | F1B (Thurs 13-17) |
| 24101 | Assay Technology | 5 | point | January and June |
| 24102 | Development and production of vaccines | 5 | point | F4A (Tues 13-17) |
| 27250 | Molecular Medical Microbiology | 5 | point | E4A (Tues 13-17) |
| 27254 | Experimental Molecular Medical Microbiology | 5 | point | January |
| 27322 | Immunology | 10 | point | F3A (Tues 8-12) |
| 27405 | Cell factories: Design, engineering and analysis | 10 | point | E4 (Tues 13-17, Fri 8-12) |
| 27412 | Microbial Chemistry | 5 | point | E3A (Tues 8-12) |
| 27417 | Advanced mass spectrometry and chromatography for metabolomics and biochemical analysis | 5 | point | F2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 27419 | Filamentous Fungi: Biology and applications | 5 | point | F1A (Mon 8-12) |
| 27421 | Comparative microbial genomics in biotechnology | 5 | point | January |
| 27422 | Biosynthesis of natural products | 5 | point | F1B (Thurs 13-17) |
| 27432 | Experimental Molecular Biology of Eukaryotes | 5 | point | January |
| 27617 | Protein structure and computational biology | 5 | point | F5A (Wed 8-12) |
| 27636 | Metagenomics and Microbiome Analysis | 10 | point | E5 (Wed 8-17) |
| 27641 | Systems Biology | 5 | point | E5A (Wed 8-12) |
| 28233 | Recovery and purification of biological products | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 28246 | Applied Enzyme Technology and Kinetics | 5 | point | E3A (Tues 8-12) |
| 28247 | Advanced Enzyme Technology | 5 | point | E1A (Mon 8-12) |
| 28871 | Production of Biofuels | 10 | point | F2A (Mon 13-17) and F2B (Thurs 8-12) |
| 28872 | Biorefinery | 5 | point | E4B (Fri 8-12) |
Elective Courses
Any course classified as MSc course in DTU's course base may be taken for credit as an elective course. This includes general competence and technological specialization courses in excess of the minimal requirements. Master students are allowed to take Bachelor DTU courses with the objective to obtaining basic skills not originally obtained in the qualifying bachelor degree (maximum 10 ECTS) In addition, it is possible to take MSc level courses at other Danish universities or abroad.
General admission requirements
Only applicants holding either a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, a Bachelor in Engineering or a Bachelor of Natural Science degree can be admitted to a Master of Science in Engineering programme. From September 2017 the bachelor degree must be less than 10 years old.
The individual MSc Eng programme states in detail which bachelor programmes qualify and whether applicants have to complete supplementary educational activities.
Requirements for supplementary educational activities can equate to up to 30 ECTS credits and are specified in the form of a list of courses under the individual MSc Eng programmes.
The specific requirements must be met before graduating from the bachelor programme or in connection with conditional admission to a particular MSc Eng programme. The courses must be passed prior to the commencement of studies within one year from the conditional admission.
Supplementary educational activities in connection with conditional admission to an MSc Eng programme do not form part of the MSc Eng programme, and partial tuition fees are charged. If the supplementary courses have not been passed within the deadlines specified, the conditional admission to the programme is withdrawn.
The Master of Science in Engineering programmes are offered in English. Therefore applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English (B-level, IELTS, TOEFL- or Pearson test).
Academic requirements for this programme
The following Bachelor programmes from DTU entitle students to admission to the MSc Eng programme in Biotechnology:
- Biotechnology
- Chemistry and Technology
- Human Life Science Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
Students from other bachelor programmes can apply and the applications will be evaluated individually based on the documents submitted. For all students it is recommended to have completed the following courses as these courses constitute a major part of the academic foundation for the Biotechnology field of study:
| 27022 | Biochemistry | 5 | point | F4B (Fri 8-12) |
| 27026 | Theoretical Molecular Microbiology | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 27027 | Exercises in Molecular Microbiology | 5 | point | E4A (Tues 13-17) and E5B (Wed 13-17) |
As an alternative to 27026 and 27027 the former course in Molecular Microbiology 27025 is recommended.
It is recommended that the following courses have also been completed:
| 27051 | Applied Biodiversity | 5 | point | F5B (Wed 13-17) |
| 27451 | Experimental Applied Biodiversity | 5 | point | January |
| 27461 | Mycotechnology | 5 | point | E1B (Thurs 13-17) and E3B (Fri 13-17) |
| 27611 | Introduction to Bioinformatics | 5 | point | F4A (Tues 13-17) |
In addition, Bachelors in Engineering from DTU specializing in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Chemistry and Business Economy, or Food Analysis may be admitted, provided that at least 10 ECTS credit points from among the following courses form part of their program:
| 01035 | Advanced Engineering Mathematics 2 | 5 | point | E1A (Mon 8-12), E2B (Thurs 8-12), F2B (Thurs 8-12) |
| 01037 | Advanced Engineering Mathematics 2 (Summer University) | 5 | point | August |
| 02405 | Probability theory | 5 | point | E4B (Fri 8-12) |
| 02413 | Statistical Quality Control | 5 | point | E1B (Thurs 13-17) |
| 02601 | Introduction to Numerical Algorithms | 5 | point | F1B (Thurs 13-17) |
| 27022 | Biochemistry | 5 | point | F4B (Fri 8-12) |
| 27026 | Theoretical Molecular Microbiology | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17) |
| 27027 | Exercises in Molecular Microbiology | 5 | point | E4A (Tues 13-17) and E5B (Wed 13-17) |
| 27051 | Applied Biodiversity | 5 | point | F5B (Wed 13-17) |
| 27451 | Experimental Applied Biodiversity | 5 | point | January |
| 27461 | Mycotechnology | 5 | point | E1B (Thurs 13-17) and E3B (Fri 13-17) |
| 42101 | Introduction to Operations Research | 5 | point | E2A (Mon 13-17), F2A (Mon 13-17) |
Biochemistry (27022) and Molecular Microbiology (27025 or 27026) are recommended by the program coordinator of the MSc degree program.
In addition, it is recommended that Bachelors in Engineering have completed
| 27611 | Introduction to Bioinformatics | 5 | point | F4A (Tues 13-17) |
Bachelors from other universities
Students with a bachelor degree in Biotechnology, Life Sciences or equivalent from other universities may be admitted to the MSc program provided their education comprises academic elements equivalent to the elements described above. The applications will be evaluated individually based on the documents submitted. In general it is recommended to have competencies in biochemistry, molecular biology and preferable a basic knowledge in bioinformatics.
As an example BScs in Biology from the University of the Faroe Island are admitted but it is recommended that they have passed courses equivilent to those recommended to other bachelors from DTU described above. Furthermore they may expect that they need further courses in mathematics and physics.
