Biomedicine (Placement Year)

BSc Hons

  • UCAS code C708
  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 4 years
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We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 3

    3rd for Career after 15 months (joint 3rd)

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • 3

    3rd for Biomedical Sciences

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • 4

    4th for Subjects allied to Medicine

    The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)

A degree in biomedicine offers a deep understanding of human health, disease, and medical research.

With career paths in research, pharmaceuticals, and clinical settings, biomedicine provides students with the skills to contribute to medical advancements and improve lives through science and technology.

Biomedicine is an interdisciplinary field that applies biological and medical principles to understand, diagnose, manage and treat diseases. It focuses on how cells, organs and systems function in the body.

Our four-year Biomedicine BSc (Placement Year) is ideal for students interested in developing a broad knowledge of human life processes within the context of health and disease, and gaining experience of the workplace making you more attractive to potential employers. You will study topics in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and physiology - which are at the heart of modern medical and health research.

These subjects are taught with a particular emphasis on the molecules and mechanisms fundamental to life processes and how these are disrupted by disease.

Together with your year placement year, your degree will be an ideal basis for a host of careers across the biomedical, research, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sectors, offering you the scientific knowledge, practical lab skills and career-ready mindset to succeed. Plus, you will pay just 20 per cent of the standard tuition fee during your placement year.

And, because you will build your skills and competence in experimental design, data recording, analysis and presentation, effective project management, teamwork and communication, you will have the highly transferable skills valued by employers both within the sciences and in broader fields such as marketing, finance and management.

Students interested in a more in-depth, research-oriented degree in this area should consider our Biomedicine MSci degree, which involves an extended independent research project in your fourth year.

Your journey through biomedicine

Our academics have carefully designed this course to provide you with a progressive training in biomedicine.

    • You will begin, in Year 1, by studying themes that will provide you with a firm foundation for the rest of your course, such as the molecules of life, infection, immunity, cell biology, anatomy and physiology.
    • In Year 2, you will study key topics in biomedicine in more detail for example microbiology, immunology, molecular genetics, cell biology and cellular metabolism, as well as either pharmacology or neuroscience.
    • You will spend Year 3 on a work placement in industry, building your professional toolkit and gaining valuable insights into a bioscience-related career. You will return to Lancaster to complete your fourth year with renewed confidence and drive to achieve your goals.
    • During Year 4, you will have greater choice in the modules you study (depending on the second-year modules you take) and may explore themes such as advanced drug design and development. You will also carry out your own independent research project. This is your opportunity to make a unique contribution to increasing scientific knowledge in an area of biomedicine that fascinates you.

You will be supported by our research-active academics whose research includes neglected tropical diseases like leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis and snakebite as well as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and inflammatory conditions like asthma and psoriasis.

A hands-on degree

Our state-of-the-art life science teaching laboratories will be at the heart of your degree. They are where you will put the knowledge you have acquired from lectures and tutorials into practice and get to know your course-mates and academics.

You will gain hands-on experience (depending upon your specialisation) of using equipment and facilities such as:

      • our bioimaging facility
      • protein purification and characterisation facilities
      • cell sorters
      • confocal microscopes
      • flow cytometers
      • PCR thermocyclers
      • cell culture facilities

In addition to laboratory practical classes and workshops, you will learn through lectures, workshops, tutorials, laboratory reports, essays and case studies, presentations, tests and exams. You will also benefit from digital resources through our online learning environment which will support your independent learning.

Altogether, your classroom learning and practical experience means you will graduate well-prepared for a successful career in biomedicine or in other scientific and non-scientific fields.

Stand out from the crowd with a placement year

There are so many benefits to completing a placement year as part of your degree:

  • Get practical experience in the workplace over a 12-month placement
  • Boost your CV with experience in a role related to your course
  • Return to your fourth year with more confidence and maturity
  • ‘Road test’ your ideal job and see if it’s really what you’re looking for in a career
  • Build your professional network – your connections in industry could stand you in good stead for the future
  • Graduate employers are increasingly using placement schemes as a way to identify suitable candidates for upcoming job opportunities

With our placement year option, you will spend your third year on an industrial placement, which may be science or non-science-based. The University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement. Your placement will offer you valuable experience working at a graduate level to gain a wide range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement or prefer to keep studying at Lancaster in your third year, you can transfer to the non-placement degree scheme to finish your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities to which you can apply.

If you successfully secure a placement for your third year, you will return to Lancaster for your final year of study, where you will focus in greater depth on specific aspects of your chosen subject.

Three people talk whilst standing in a modern wood-paneled office.

Careers

Our Biomedicine BSc (Placement Year) opens up a wide variety of careers investigating human diseases and conditions.

You will become competent in experimental design, gain practical lab skills and become adept in statistical analysis, data recording and presentation skills. And, because professional skills are embedded throughout our curriculum, you will develop wider expertise valued by employers, including project management and problem-solving skills, ethical and environmental awareness.

Your transferable skills and analytical training will open up potential careers in other fields such as management, teaching, marketing and finance and your placement year will help to further set you apart in the jobs market and build a valuable network of professional contacts.

You may consider roles such as:
• Analytical Chemist
• Research Scientist
• Biotechnologist
• Crime Scene Investigator
• Dental Therapist
• Genetic Counsellor
• Medical Chemist
• Medical Science Liaison
• Nanotechnologist
• Neuroscientist
• Science Policy Manager
• Science Writer
• Toxicologist
• Medical Writer
• Postgraduate study
• Physician Associate (with further training)
• Clinical Scientist (with further training)

Students who wish to enter the NHS as a Biomedical Scientist should consider our Biomedical Science degrees (BSc or MSci) which are accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science and are a pathway to employment as a Biomedical Scientist in the NHS.

Altogether, you will graduate with a scientific understanding of biomedicine, as well as the mindset, confidence and workplace experience to excel in the competitive world of employment.

Graduate destinations
Our biomedicine graduates have gone on to a variety of other roles in laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry, including:

• Clinical Trials Permissions Manager
• Data Quality Coordinator
• Medical Doctor (following a graduate-entry degree in medicine)
• Life Sciences Sales Executive
• Medical Laboratory Assistant
• Microbiologist
• Research Associate
• Science Teacher
• Senior Clinical Trial Coordinator
• Medical Writer
• Physician Associate (following further training)

You can also apply for a paid summer internship in our department, helping you to gain additional research experience. Past interns have worked on research topics including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer biology, immunology, microbiology and tropical infectious diseases.

Employability at Lancaster: preparing you for the world of work
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring that you gain a highly reputable degree. We are also committed to ensuring that you graduate with relevant life and work-based skills.

Because professional skills are embedded throughout our curriculum, you will develop wider expertise valued by employers including communication, teamworking and negotiation skills, project management and problem-solving skills, ethical and environmental awareness.

We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award, which offers you the opportunity to complete activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development.

Visit our employability section for full details.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. You may need to have qualifications in relevant subjects. In some cases we may also ask you to attend an interview or submit a portfolio. You must also meet our English language requirements.

Find more about these qualifications and others not shown here

Learn about how we will assess your application

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If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you.

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

Enhancing our curriculum

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future.

We will publish more detailed information about the structure of this degree course for 2026-entry in June 2025, ahead of our summer undergraduate open days. This will include overviews of the core modules you will take and examples of optional modules which may be available to you.

Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

As a guide, our fees in 2025/26 were:

Home International
£9,535 £29,820

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2026/2027 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

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We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

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