Master of Science [M.S] [Biotechnology] From Saarland University

Biotechnology is a very broad field and graduates from the M.Sc. programme in Biotechnology at Saarland University have access to a wide range of career options. Biotechnologists develop new drugs and diagnostic test procedures, they cultivate plants with specific resistance or tolerance properties and they design biofuels and biopolymers.

Students learn how to examine and analyse complex systems experimentally and how to describe these systems using mathematical and bioinformatics models. The focus of the programme is on systems biotechnology and on the associated fields of bioinformatics, natural products and active pharmaceutical ingredients, molecular biotechnology and bioprocess engineering.

In the Master's program in Molecular Biotechnology, you will deal with the production and construction of natural and artificial biomolecules. While classical biotechnology is mainly concerned with the production route and the associated engineering process – such as fermentation or separation processes – molecular biotechnology focuses on the biosynthetic performance of the cell itself. It also concerns the construction and efficient synthesis of artificial biomolecules with improved or completely new functions through protein design. This links to the new field of Synthetic Biology. By intervening in the structure and function of the biomolecule, you can change the genetic configuration of the producing cell or organism. This field of work therefore requires the interdisciplinary application of genetic engineering, protein chemistry and biophysical and bioinformatics methods.