Working in the laboratory
The Pharmaceutical Research Project is a mandatory module that is designed to introduce you to the practical research in the lab.
During the Research Project, you are actively participating in current scientific investigations at a working group at the institute of Pharmacy. During this early stage of your lab career, you will be working closely together with a PhD student or PostDoc to get valuable experience, develop practical skills, and learn important methods. The topic of your research project is often offered by your supervisor. However, we always encourage you to think about your research interests and develop your own ideas.
Timeline:
The research projects span a duration of ca. 8 weeks working full time in the lab.
In addition to practical work , the research project includes the mandatory participation in the seminar of the respective working group to present and discuss your results.
Examination – Research Report:
At the end of your research project, you need to hand in a written report.
This report should loosely resemble the structure of a journal article and should be around 10-15 pages.
For a detailed structure or specific requirements, please contact your respective supervisor/proffesor.
The report will be graded to determine pass or fail.
Credit Points:
10 CPs upon successful completion of the Research project, including the passed examination.
Registration
For your research project, you need to find a working group and a professor, or habilitated group leader, from the Institute of Pharmacy as supervisor.
Finding a place for your research project depends on your initiative.
The seminars of the module “Current Topics” are a great starting point to get in touch with prospective supervisors for your research project. In these working group seminars, you can also get to know the working group and see whether it might be an interesting field for you to work in. At the seminars you can talk to the group members, visit the labs, and express your interest in joining a group.
If you have identified a specific working group, please contact the PI to ask whether an open spot is available. Together with your PI, fill out the registration form, get a signature of the PI, and send it to the examination office.
For registration, you need to fill out the registration form:
This form needs to be submitted to the examination office first. This will then passed to the examination board to determine whether the suggested project fulfills the requirements. If everything is accepted, the examination office will register you for the Module “Pharmaceutical Research Project” in Campus Management.
External Research Projects
The Master Program is specifically designed to provide a profound education in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Thus, performing your Research Project at the Institute of Pharmacy will give you the best opportunity to gain experience in the pharmaceutical research community. However, we are aware that sometimes the space for Research Projects at the institute is limited. It can also be the case that you have found another working group outside of the Institute of Pharmacy where you would like to conduct your Research Project.
Upon request, you can also perform your research project externally, i.e. in another research institute than the Institute of Pharmacy.
To ensure that the external Research Project matches the requirements of the study program, you need to find an internal supervisor at the Institute of Pharmacy who confirms that your project is up to standard.
To register an external Research Project, you need to follow these steps:
- Find an external working group and an external supervisor who is willing to host you for the project
- Get the registration form
- Get your external supervisor to fill out the points 2 and 3 in the form
…..
…. - Find an internal supervisor at the Institute of Pharmacy that needs to sign point 4.
Finding an internal supervisor might be easier if you ask around in your external research institute, whether they know anyone from the Institute. Often, collaborations are already established or were done in the past.
Your internal supervisor should work in a similar field than your Research Project. This will not only enhance the possibility to find an internal supervisor but will also enable a thorough grade of your report. - Hand in the form to the examination office
- After your Research Project is completed, you need to bring this form back to your internal supervisor
- Your internal supervisor needs to grade your report and either sends the form directly to the examination office or hands it back to you and you need to send it to the examination office.