Master’s Degree Programme in Drug Discovery and Development

General Requirement

You are an eligible applicant for Master’s-level studies if

• you have a nationally recognized first cycle degree – normally a Bachelor’s degree – from an accredited institution of higher education,
• your degree corresponds to at least 180 ECTS (European credits) or to three years of full-time study,
• your degree is in a relevant field for the Master’s degree programme that you’re applying to. Please check the section on programme-specific admission requirements for detailed degree requirements.

Language Requirements

Applicants must have excellent English language skills and a certificate that proves those skills. You can indicate your language skills by taking one of the internationally recognized English language tests. 

Applicants must reach the minimum required test results to be considered eligible to the University of Turku. No exceptions will be made. Read more about the language requirements here.

Study right

You will not be granted a new, similar study right to pursue a degree or course of study that you are already pursuing, or have already completed, within the same field or a corresponding subject at the University of Turku. If your study right has expired or been moved to the passive register, you cannot apply for a new, similar study right. Instead, you must then apply for an extension to your study time or a reactivation of your study right.

Before you start preparing your application, always read the full admission requirements on the application portal Studyinfo.fi

The degree on basis of which you are applying to the MDP in Drug Discovery and Development must be in a relevant field of study. For the Drug Discovery and Development such fields are

• bioengineering
• biochemistry
• bioinformatics
• biology
• biomedical sciences
• chemistry
• medical sciences
• life sciences
• pharmacology
• pharmacy

The applicants should also be familiar with the basics of laboratory practice relevant to the programme, and with pharmacology, anatomy and physiology, histology and cell biology. In case the applicant gets admitted, they may need to conduct 0-18 ECTS supplementary studies in above mentioned areas in the beginning of the studies, depending on the admitted student’s background. This is to give the student the basic understanding on the subject and support the curriculum studies. Teaching staff evaluates the need for supplementary studies based on the student’s proficiency test at the beginning of the studies. Please note that supplementary studies are not included in the degree.

Since this knowledge and skills are crucial for successful completion of Master’s Degree Programme in Drug Discovery and Development degree, it is recommended that the applicant should have good prior knowledge on areas listed as supplementary studies already when applying to MDP in Drug Discovery and Development.

Both Finnish and foreign students can apply to the programme.

The applications are evaluated by the admission committee of the Master’s Degree Programme in Drug Discovery and Development. The evaluation is based on

• suitability of background studies
• previous academic success
• relevant laboratory experience
• motivation letter
• pre-assignment and interview (the most successful applicants only)

For the exact scoring, please see the full admission requirements at Studyinfo.fi.

The academic evaluation is made only for complete applications that are received during the application period. Any preliminary assessment of suitability or chances for admission will not be given.

The contents of formally eligible applicants’ previous degrees do not always correspond to the academic level of the Programme. Therefore, admitted students can be advised or required to complete additional, Bachelor level studies. These can be done while studying for the Master’s Degree, but they are not part of the degree and may extend the targeted study time. The amount of required additional studies cannot exceed 60 ECTS.

See the Study Plan of Drug Discovery and Development for 2024–2027 >

Drug Discovery and Development used to be one of the three specialisation tracks in MDP in Biomedical Sciences (Drug Discovery and Development, Biomedical Imaging and Molecular Biotechnology and Diagnostics). Starting 2025, the University has decided that the Drug Discovery and Development track will be changed to its own programme.

Click to enlarge the image describing the programme structure for the Master's Degree Programme in Drug Discovery and Development: 

Does this page answer your questions about the programme's content and academic matters? If not, contact med-mdp@utu.fi.

Turku is a great place to study drug discovery and development! Of the Finnish drug innovations, 90 percent have been made in Turku. To support the future discoveries, the University of Turku has chosen drug development as one of its strategic profiling areas.

The research in biosciences and medicine in the University of Turku is internationally ranked among the best in the world. The keys for success lie in long biomedical research traditions and a compact campus area where two universities and a university hospital co-operate to create an interdisciplinary and innovative study and research environment.

Research focus is on translational medicine, disease modelling, and biomedical imaging. Available research infrastructures include the world famous Turku PET Centre and Turku Centre for Disease Modeling, both of which offer services for drug development research.

Turku also has the largest cluster of pharma industry in Finland. Nearby companies not only provide experts for visiting lectures, but also create internship and job opportunities for the graduates.

The Master’s thesis project is based on independent and experimental research work.

You agree on your thesis topic with your thesis examiner and write a research plan, conduct a research project in a laboratory, analyse obtained results, and demonstrate your ability to interpret results and write a report in a form of a scientific article. The project work is always performed under the guidance of a supervisor.

In order to also practice scientific communication, you will present your results in seminars and write a press release to stimulate collaboration between the academia and the media. Additionally, you will act as a peer reviewer for you fellow student to practice feedback discussions.

Examples of past thesis topics:

• Drug development for receptor antagonists and their potential in treating cognitive disorders
• Pharmacological characterization of ion channels
• Optimization of Microfluidics Encapsulation with Nanoprecipitation for Controlled Drug Delivery
• Diagnostics tools for coronary artery diseases – characterization of antibodies
• Modelling of schizophrenic disorders in rats
• The Effects of Melanocortin Signaling on Hypertrophic Responses in Cultured Cardiomyocytes
• RNA interference in HSV-virus treatment
• The use of positron emission tomography (PET) to measure the effect of disease modifying therapies in MS disease
• The iron-entry pores in Dps-like proteins as potential drug-design target: Structural investigations

Turku has longstanding research traditions in the field of biomedicine. Especially the areas of drug discovery, diagnostics, and biological and medical imaging represent the top level expertise of the University of Turku.

The Drug Discovery and Development has collaboration with the other programmes in the field of biomedical sciences at the Faculty of Medicine as well as at the Faculty of Technology, and also with the Åbo Akademi University. 

The offered education is based on the true research strengths of the collaboration units:

• Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Turku
• Department of Biosciences at the Åbo Akademi University

Drug Discovery and Development programme is part of the BalticSeaBioMed network. The network brings together the Universities of Turku, Eastern Finland, Southern Denmark, Vilnius University, Åbo Akademi University and Karolinska Institutet to develop biomedical education in Nordic-Baltic countries. Students in Drug Discovery and Development have possibilities for course, internship and research project exchange in the partner universities.

The studies in Drug Discovery and Development provide you with a deep understanding of:

• up-to-date methods applied to identify and validate new drug targets, and to generate lead drug molecules that modulate biological activity of the target
• technological innovations made in lead optimisation process
• how new drug candidates are investigated during the non-clinical drug development phase
• methods of clinical drug research, clinical drug development phases, clinical trial design and biostatistical study planning
• various aspects of the drug regulatory science and pharmacovigilance

After graduation, you will be an expert in drug discovery and development processes. You will know the procedures applied in drug regulatory science and the role of drug regulatory authorities during the life span of a drug.

You will learn comprehensive skills to work in the field of biomedicine and drug discovery in companies, universities, research institutes or drug regulatory authorities. The Programme also gives a good foundation for those interested in entrepreneurship.

Possible job titles are:

• medical liaison
• medical writer
• regulatory consulting expert
• scientific/technical advisor
• research director
• project manager
• drug development pharmacologist
• university lecturer/researcher

The Master of Science degree completed in the Programme qualifies the graduates for PhD studies in Turku, elsewhere in Finland or universities worldwide. Graduates from the Programme are eligible to apply for a position in the University of Turku Graduate School, UTUGS. The Graduate School consists of doctoral programmes, which cover all disciplines and doctoral candidates of the University.

Together with the doctoral programmes, the Graduate School provides systematic and high quality doctoral training. UTUGS aims to train highly qualified experts with the skills required for both professional career in research and other positions of expertise.

Several doctoral programmes at University of Turku are available for graduates:

• Drug Research
• Molecular Life Sciences
• Molecular Medicine
• Clinical Doctoral Programme