Infectious and Tropical Diseases

The Biomedical Sciences programme trains highly skilled scientists who are able to conduct research in a wide biomedical field and supervise such research in academic, clinical or industrial settings.

In this specialisation, you study relevant infectious and tropical diseases, gaining practical insights into the interaction between the ecology and the disease.

The focus of this programme is on research.

You will spend half of your study time on practical research while doing internships and on writing a dissertation. Collaboration between the Institute for Tropical Medicine and the university laboratories provides you with the unique opportunity to participate in high-level research on HIV, malaria and other infectious and imported diseases.

In addition, you are offered the opportunity to study abroad for part of the programme.

Graduates often go on to work as researchers at the Institute for Tropical Medicine, or in pharmaceutical or biotech companies and university labs where tropical diseases and imported diseases in general are studied.

Model Path part 1

Major courses

• Human parasites, micro-organisms and zoonoses
• Immunology of tropical infectious diseases
• Ecology, epidemiology and control of infectious diseases
• Pathogenesis and clinical aspects of tropical infectious diseases
• Health economics and mathematical models of infectious diseases
• Molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases
• Molecular microbiology of infectious diseases

Mandatory courses

• Bio-ethics
• Integrated Research Practicals
• Fundamentals of protein technology and proteome analysis
• Fundamentals of gene and genome technology
• Preclinical drug research
• Patents and innovation
• Advanced data analysis

Model Path part 2

Mandatory courses

• Laboratory Animal Science
• State-of-the-Art lectures in Biomedicine
• Project proposal with internship
• Master thesis with internship

Requirements

• Applicants should hold an academic Bachelor’s degree in the related area. Students who are still completing their Bachelor’s degree are also encouraged to apply. They should submit an official letter in English from their university confirming that the student is expected to finalise her/his Bachelor’s studies at the end of the current academic year, and submit up-to-date authenticated transcripts with the results of the previous years.
• Applicants are also required to submit a GMAT or GRE test score. Both the verbal and quantitative score will be taken into consideration.
• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language): paper-based TOEFL level of minimum 550, a computer-based TOEFL level of minimum 213 or an internet-based TOEFL level of minimum 80. You can find more information about TOEFL at www.toefl.org
• IELTS (International English Language Testing System): a minimum score of at least 6.5, and on each part minimum 6.0. You can find more information about IELTS at www.ielts.org;
• A copy of your valid passport or identity card/a curriculum vitae
• A motivation letter
• A legalised copy of your degree certificate (please read more information on legalisation)
• Applicants that are enrolled in the final year should submit an original and signed letter from their college or university confirming that they are expected to finalise the program at the end of the current academic year
• A copy of your academic transcripts, provided with a stamp of the university

Scholarships

• VLIR-UOS: scholarships for students from developing countries: Scholarships are available for students from 54 scholarship countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America to follow a training or master programme at the University of Antwerp.
• ASEM-DUO: Scholarships are available for students from China, India, South-Korea and Vietnam.
• Transition Fellowship Programme: Scholarships are available for students from 4 countries in transition (Brazil, Morocco, South Africa and Turkey).
• Mastermind: Scholarships are available for international students who want to take up a master degree programme.
• Global Study Awards: An individual global study award with a maximum value of £10000