Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology

Bioengineers specialising in cell and gene biotechnology are capable of directing biological processes at DNA, protein, organism or ecosystem level, and of using their engineering mindset to put that knowledge into practice for industry and society.

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Master's Programme

2 year 120 credits

Faculty of Bioscience Engineering

English

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About the programme

Programme summary

Find out more

Off to a good start

After graduation

First year

(version 3 )

Course schedule 1st semester Course schedule 2nd semester

1 General Courses

1.1 Molecular Biology

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Protein Chemistry	1	sem 1	en	Els Van Damme	4

Gene Regulation and Epigenetics	1	sem 2	en	Tina Kyndt	3

1.2 Biotechnology

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Plant Biotechnology	1	sem 2	en	Laurens Pauwels	5

Industrial Biotechnology	1	sem 1	en	Wim Soetaert	5

Human and Animal Biotechnology	1	sem 2	en	Daisy Vanrompay	5

1.3 Biological Data Sciences

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Bioinformatics	1	sem 1	en	Wim Van Criekinge	5

Genome Analysis	1	sem 2	en	Tim De Meyer	5

1.4 Engineering and Technology

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Process Engineering 2	1	sem 1	en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Experimental Design	1	sem 2	en	Stijn Luca	3

Bio-imaging and Image Informatics	1	sem 1	en	Andre Skirtach	4

1.5 Society and Scientific Communication and Integrity

Course	Ref	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Microbiomics		1	sem 1	en	Nico Boon	4

2 Majors

Subscribe to 1 major from the following list.

Full-time standard learning track:
Students can choose which of the elective and major course units are taken in the first respectively the second standard learning track year (unless otherwise specified);
in combination with the general course units, students take a total of 54 to 66 credits per standard learning track year. The sum of the total number of credits taken up over the 2 standard learning track years must be 120 credits.

2.1 Major Red Biotechnology: Biomedical

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Immunology	sem 2	en	Daisy Vanrompay	5

Interphase Processes of Host-associated Micro-organisms	sem 1	en	Tom Van de Wiele	5

Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition	sem 1	en	John Van Camp	3

Stem Cell Biology and Reprogramming	sem 2	en	BJORN HEINDRYCKX	4

Cancer Genetics	sem 2	en	Kaat Durinck	5

2.2 Major Green Biotechnology: Plant

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Plants, Pathogens and Pests	sem 2	en	Monica Höfte	5

Plants and Microclimate	sem 1	en	Kathy Steppe	5

Molecular Plant Breeding	sem 1	en	Danny Geelen	5

Plant Phenotyping Technologies	sem 2	en	Kris Audenaert	3

Functional Plant Biology	sem 2	en	Danny Geelen	4

2.3 Major White Biotechnology: Industrial

Subscribe to 20 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Industrial Fermentation Processes and Downstream Processing	sem 2	en	Wim Soetaert	5

Metabolic Engineering and Modelling of Micro-organisms	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Functional (Meta)genomics	sem 2	en	Inge Van Bogaert	4

Synthetic Biology	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Enzyme Engineering and Modelling	sem 1	en	Tom Desmet	3

2.4 Major Computational Biology

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Biological Databases	sem 2	en	Wim Van Criekinge	5

Machine Learning for Life Sciences	sem 1	en	Willem Waegeman	5

Selected Topics in Mathematical Optimization	sem 1	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	3

Spatio-temporal Models				3

Linux for Bioinformatics Environment	sem 2	en	Herman De Beukelaer	3

Integrative Biology	sem 2	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

3 Elective Courses

Subscribe to 14 credit units for IMCEGBmajorWhite or 12 credit units for other IMCEGBmajors from no less than 1 and no more than 5 modules from the following list.

3.1 Courses from the Majors

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the majors, with the exception of the courses taken within the chosen major.

3.2 Master Specific Courses

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Elective courses complementary to major:

R = major RED

G = major GREEN

W = major WHITE

C = major COMPUTATIONAL

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
General Virology	R	sem 1	nl	Kristien Van Reeth	4

Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering	R	sem 1	en	Peter Dubruel	5

Medical Biotechnology and Parasitology	R	sem 2	en	Geert Raes	4

Applied Immunology	R			Jo Van Ginderachter	5

Cutting Edge Technologies for Drug Delivery - Nanomedicines	R	sem 2	en	Stefaan De Smedt	3

Crop Protection	G	sem 1	nl	Patrick De Clercq	5

Crop Husbandry	G	sem 1	nl	Steven Maenhout	5

Molecular Entomology	G			N. N.	5

Chemical Structure Determination	W	sem 1	en	Christian Stevens	4

Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Design	W	sem 2	nl	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Resource Recovery Technology	W	sem 2	en	Ramon Ganigué	6

Process Control	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

Capita Selecta in Bioinformatics	C	sem 1	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

Advanced Biosystems Modelling	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

3.3 Entrepreneurship and Management

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing of Bio-industrial products	sem 2	nl	Wim Verbeke	5

Intellectual Property and Valorization	sem 2	en	Benedikt Sas	3

Project Management	sem 2	nl	Mario Vanhoucke	4

Dare to Start	sem 2	en	Frank Gielen	3

Dare to Venture	sem 2	en	Johan Verrue	4

Entrepreneurship	sem 2	nl	Petra Andries	3

3.4 Skills and Attitudes

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list, with no more than 10 credit units with reference a.

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Extended Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Extended International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Bio-ethics		sem 1	en	Michiel De Proost	3

Scientific Communication in English		sem 2	en	Geert Jacobs	5

Seminar				Mieke Uyttendaele	3

Laboratory Animal Science		sem 1	en	Katleen Hermans	6

3.5 Open Choice

Subscribe to course units from courses offered at Ghent University and at the alliance partner VUB, including the Ghent University Elective Courses.

A maximum of 2 such courses is allowed.
Maximum 8 credit units language courses are allowed within this master programme.
Subject to approval by the Faculty.

4 Master's Dissertation

Course	Ref	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Master's Dissertation			year	en	Marjan De Mey	30

Second year

(version 3 )

Course schedule 1st semester Course schedule 2nd semester

1 General Courses

1.5 Society and Scientific Communication and Integrity

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Management for Engineers	2	sem 1	en	Jeroen Buysse	4

Biotechnology in a Professional and Societal Context	2	year	en	Tom Van de Wiele	4

2 Majors

Subscribe to 1 major from the following list.

2.1 Major Red Biotechnology: Biomedical

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Immunology	sem 2	en	Daisy Vanrompay	5

Interphase Processes of Host-associated Micro-organisms	sem 1	en	Tom Van de Wiele	5

Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition	sem 1	en	John Van Camp	3

Stem Cell Biology and Reprogramming	sem 2	en	BJORN HEINDRYCKX	4

Cancer Genetics	sem 2	en	Kaat Durinck	5

2.2 Major Green Biotechnology: Plant

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Plants, Pathogens and Pests	sem 2	en	Monica Höfte	5

Plants and Microclimate	sem 1	en	Kathy Steppe	5

Molecular Plant Breeding	sem 1	en	Danny Geelen	5

Plant Phenotyping Technologies	sem 2	en	Kris Audenaert	3

Functional Plant Biology	sem 2	en	Danny Geelen	4

2.3 Major White Biotechnology: Industrial

Subscribe to 20 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Industrial Fermentation Processes and Downstream Processing	sem 2	en	Wim Soetaert	5

Metabolic Engineering and Modelling of Micro-organisms	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Functional (Meta)genomics	sem 2	en	Inge Van Bogaert	4

Synthetic Biology	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Enzyme Engineering and Modelling	sem 1	en	Tom Desmet	3

2.4 Major Computational Biology

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Biological Databases	sem 2	en	Wim Van Criekinge	5

Machine Learning for Life Sciences	sem 1	en	Willem Waegeman	5

Selected Topics in Mathematical Optimization	sem 1	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	3

Spatio-temporal Models				3

Linux for Bioinformatics Environment	sem 2	en	Herman De Beukelaer	3

Integrative Biology	sem 2	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

3 Elective Courses

Subscribe to 14 credit units for IMCEGBmajorWhite or 12 credit units for other IMCEGBmajors from no less than 1 and no more than 5 modules from the following list.

3.1 Courses from the Majors

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the majors, with the exception of the courses taken within the chosen major.

3.2 Master Specific Courses

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Elective courses complementary to major:

R = major RED

G = major GREEN

W = major WHITE

C = major COMPUTATIONAL

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
General Virology	R	sem 1	nl	Kristien Van Reeth	4

Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering	R	sem 1	en	Peter Dubruel	5

Medical Biotechnology and Parasitology	R	sem 2	en	Geert Raes	4

Applied Immunology	R			Jo Van Ginderachter	5

Cutting Edge Technologies for Drug Delivery - Nanomedicines	R	sem 2	en	Stefaan De Smedt	3

Crop Protection	G	sem 1	nl	Patrick De Clercq	5

Crop Husbandry	G	sem 1	nl	Steven Maenhout	5

Molecular Entomology	G			N. N.	5

Chemical Structure Determination	W	sem 1	en	Christian Stevens	4

Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Design	W	sem 2	nl	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Resource Recovery Technology	W	sem 2	en	Ramon Ganigué	6

Process Control	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

Capita Selecta in Bioinformatics	C	sem 1	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

Advanced Biosystems Modelling	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

3.3 Entrepreneurship and Management

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing of Bio-industrial products	sem 2	nl	Wim Verbeke	5

Intellectual Property and Valorization	sem 2	en	Benedikt Sas	3

Project Management	sem 2	nl	Mario Vanhoucke	4

Dare to Start	sem 2	en	Frank Gielen	3

Dare to Venture	sem 2	en	Johan Verrue	4

Entrepreneurship	sem 2	nl	Petra Andries	3

3.4 Skills and Attitudes

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list, with no more than 10 credit units with reference a.

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Extended Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Extended International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Bio-ethics		sem 1	en	Michiel De Proost	3

Scientific Communication in English		sem 2	en	Geert Jacobs	5

Seminar				Mieke Uyttendaele	3

Laboratory Animal Science		sem 1	en	Katleen Hermans	6

3.5 Open Choice

Subscribe to course units from courses offered at Ghent University and at the alliance partner VUB, including the Ghent University Elective Courses.

A maximum of 2 such courses is allowed.
Maximum 8 credit units language courses are allowed within this master programme.
Subject to approval by the Faculty.

4 Master's Dissertation

Course	Ref	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Master's Dissertation			year	en	Marjan De Mey	30

Full programme

(version 3 )

Print

1 General Courses 56

1.1 Molecular Biology

7

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Protein Chemistry	1	sem 1	en	Els Van Damme	4

Gene Regulation and Epigenetics	1	sem 2	en	Tina Kyndt	3

1.2 Biotechnology

15

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Plant Biotechnology	1	sem 2	en	Laurens Pauwels	5

Industrial Biotechnology	1	sem 1	en	Wim Soetaert	5

Human and Animal Biotechnology	1	sem 2	en	Daisy Vanrompay	5

1.3 Biological Data Sciences

10

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Bioinformatics	1	sem 1	en	Wim Van Criekinge	5

Genome Analysis	1	sem 2	en	Tim De Meyer	5

1.4 Engineering and Technology

12

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Process Engineering 2	1	sem 1	en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Experimental Design	1	sem 2	en	Stijn Luca	3

Bio-imaging and Image Informatics	1	sem 1	en	Andre Skirtach	4

1.5 Society and Scientific Communication and Integrity

12

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Microbiomics	1	sem 1	en	Nico Boon	4

Management for Engineers	2	sem 1	en	Jeroen Buysse	4

Biotechnology in a Professional and Societal Context	2	year	en	Tom Van de Wiele	4

2 Majors

Subscribe to 1 major from the following list.

2.1 Major Red Biotechnology: Biomedical

22

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Immunology	sem 2	en	Daisy Vanrompay	5

Interphase Processes of Host-associated Micro-organisms	sem 1	en	Tom Van de Wiele	5

Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition	sem 1	en	John Van Camp	3

Stem Cell Biology and Reprogramming	sem 2	en	BJORN HEINDRYCKX	4

Cancer Genetics	sem 2	en	Kaat Durinck	5

2.2 Major Green Biotechnology: Plant

22

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Plants, Pathogens and Pests	sem 2	en	Monica Höfte	5

Plants and Microclimate	sem 1	en	Kathy Steppe	5

Molecular Plant Breeding	sem 1	en	Danny Geelen	5

Plant Phenotyping Technologies	sem 2	en	Kris Audenaert	3

Functional Plant Biology	sem 2	en	Danny Geelen	4

2.3 Major White Biotechnology: Industrial

20

Subscribe to 20 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Industrial Fermentation Processes and Downstream Processing	sem 2	en	Wim Soetaert	5

Metabolic Engineering and Modelling of Micro-organisms	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Functional (Meta)genomics	sem 2	en	Inge Van Bogaert	4

Synthetic Biology	sem 2	en	Marjan De Mey	4

Enzyme Engineering and Modelling	sem 1	en	Tom Desmet	3

2.4 Major Computational Biology

22

Subscribe to 22 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Biological Databases	sem 2	en	Wim Van Criekinge	5

Machine Learning for Life Sciences	sem 1	en	Willem Waegeman	5

Selected Topics in Mathematical Optimization	sem 1	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	3

Spatio-temporal Models				3

Linux for Bioinformatics Environment	sem 2	en	Herman De Beukelaer	3

Integrative Biology	sem 2	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

3 Elective Courses

Subscribe to 14 credit units for IMCEGBmajorWhite or 12 credit units for other IMCEGBmajors from no less than 1 and no more than 5 modules from the following list.

3.1 Courses from the Majors

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the majors, with the exception of the courses taken within the chosen major.

3.2 Master Specific Courses

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Elective courses complementary to major:

R = major RED

G = major GREEN

W = major WHITE

C = major COMPUTATIONAL

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
General Virology	R	sem 1	nl	Kristien Van Reeth	4

Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering	R	sem 1	en	Peter Dubruel	5

Medical Biotechnology and Parasitology	R	sem 2	en	Geert Raes	4

Applied Immunology	R			Jo Van Ginderachter	5

Cutting Edge Technologies for Drug Delivery - Nanomedicines	R	sem 2	en	Stefaan De Smedt	3

Crop Protection	G	sem 1	nl	Patrick De Clercq	5

Crop Husbandry	G	sem 1	nl	Steven Maenhout	5

Molecular Entomology	G			N. N.	5

Chemical Structure Determination	W	sem 1	en	Christian Stevens	4

Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Design	W	sem 2	nl	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Resource Recovery Technology	W	sem 2	en	Ramon Ganigué	6

Process Control	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

Capita Selecta in Bioinformatics	C	sem 1	en	Kathleen Marchal	3

Advanced Biosystems Modelling	C	sem 2	en	Paul Van Liedekerke	5

3.3 Entrepreneurship and Management

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list.

Course	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing of Bio-industrial products	sem 2	nl	Wim Verbeke	5

Intellectual Property and Valorization	sem 2	en	Benedikt Sas	3

Project Management	sem 2	nl	Mario Vanhoucke	4

Dare to Start	sem 2	en	Frank Gielen	3

Dare to Venture	sem 2	en	Johan Verrue	4

Entrepreneurship	sem 2	nl	Petra Andries	3

3.4 Skills and Attitudes

Subscribe to no more than 12 or 14 credit units from the following list, with no more than 10 credit units with reference a.

Course	Ref	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	5

Extended Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Extended International Internship	a	year	nl,en	Paul Van der Meeren	10

Bio-ethics		sem 1	en	Michiel De Proost	3

Scientific Communication in English		sem 2	en	Geert Jacobs	5

Seminar				Mieke Uyttendaele	3

Laboratory Animal Science		sem 1	en	Katleen Hermans	6

3.5 Open Choice

Subscribe to course units from courses offered at Ghent University and at the alliance partner VUB, including the Ghent University Elective Courses.

A maximum of 2 such courses is allowed.
Maximum 8 credit units language courses are allowed within this master programme.
Subject to approval by the Faculty.

4 Master's Dissertation 30

Course	Ref	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Master's Dissertation			year	en	Marjan De Mey	30

Learning outcomes

Competence field 3: Knowledge competency

Strategically research fundamental aspects with possible applications in mind
Have qualitative and quantitative insight into the genetic, cellular, biochemical and molecular-biological processes in living matter in order to understand and manage the interactions between organisms and between organisms and their environment
Apply biotechnological principles for eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and organisms in industrial fermentation processes, environmental sanitation, food, fine chemistry, human health, plant breeding, animal husbandry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry
As engineers of living matter make the unique connection between the knowledge of the biological world and the engineering sciences, in both a research & development context and an industrial environment, in order to enable (industrial) upscaling (e.g. via cell and tissue cultures, bioreactors or mass cultivation)
Know, understand and apply molecular techniques and diagnostics (protein, RNA or DNA based), for the detection of micro-organisms in the environment, the detection of fraud in food or in breeding, the identification of hereditary or infectious diseases, to make the modification or breeding process faster and more efficient
Have in-depth knowledge in biomedical biotechnology, plant biotechnology, microbial biotechnology and/or computational biology

Competence field 4: Scientific competency

Identify and analyze problems in cell and gene biotechnology and formulate clear research questions with a view to achieving effective and potentially applicable solutions
Consult and critically interpret professional literature according to scientific standards
Select, adapt or, if necessary, develop the appropriate analysis methods and process techniques
Extract yseful information from excessive, incomplete, or conflicting data
Plan, monitor and adjust scientific research
Accurately collect, scientifically process, critically analyze and interpret data in accordance with the principles of scientific integrity
Identify new or remaining bottlenecks and research questions based on knowledge, insight and experience

Competence field 5: Intellectual competency

Use one's own knowledge creatively, purposefully and innovatively in research, design and production
Argument scientifically in a multidisciplinary context
Demonstrate openness to new scientific developments and their applications in a broad scientific, economic and social context
Adopt an active and honest attitude towards permanent knowledge development, lifelong learning and independently steer one's own learning process

Competence field 6: Competency in collaborating and communicating

Have the required social and communication skills to work in a team
Collaborate and display early leadership in a multidisciplinary environment
Communicate clearly in writing and orally about one's own discipline in Dutch and English

Competence field 7: Social competency

Act ethically, professionally and socially responsible, also in an international or intercultural environment
Function autonomously within a short period of time in scientific research, in industrial functions, at consultancy firms, NGOs and government institutions
Consider sustainability aspects and social preconditions when developing a high-quality system, product, service or process
Situate the societal and ethical impact of biotechnology, including biosafety regulation
Have insight into aspects of patenting and property protection of molecular biotechnological inventions and realizations

Competence field 8: Engineering competency

Design, plan and execute an engineering project at the level of a starting professional in an independent and result-oriented manner
Understand the complexity of a problem/system using quantitative methods
Assess the risks and technical feasibility of a project
Integrate biological, physico-chemical, technological, economic and ecological aspects into research, production, quality management, management or policy