Master of Science in Medical Photonics

Understanding the cause of diseases, facilitating an early diagnosis, and providing a specific effective treatment are the goals of modern medicine. Light plays a key role in turning this ambitious vision into reality. In biomedical research, modern optical and photonic techniques allow for monitoring and manipulating life processes in cells and tissues on a molecular level. But also in clinical practice, optical and photonic techniques are well established in many fields of medicine, like in ophthalmology, endoscopy or biomedical imaging. To meet the demand for scientists trained in the interdisciplinary field of medical photonics, the Faculties of Medicine, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, and Physics and Astronomy of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena decided to conjointly establish the MSc Medical Photonics programme. It conveys basic and advanced insights into the quickly developing field of medical photonics. It is targeted at students holding a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology, but also at medical doctors and students of medicine. It provides students of these disciplines with the necessary training in the neighbouring disciplines and offers a comprehensive cross-disciplinary study programme. The aim of the programme is to provide all students with the necessary knowledge and practical skills to use and develop optical/photonic tools for biomedical research and clinical applications. Although the interdisciplinary training of students in medicine, life sciences, physics, and chemistry is a central goal of this programme, it is at the same time a big challenge. Since students with different knowledge and skills have to be taught, adjustment modules offered in the first year of the programme aim at complementing the students' knowledge in the neighbouring disciplines. Additional modules give all students training in fundamental techniques, such as programming, statistics, and image processing. Elective courses in the second and third semesters allow the student to focus on topics in which they are interested and to gather all the skills to work on the Master's thesis, which will be concluded in the fourth semester. You can find more details on the programme website. Assistance and advice are offered at all stages to students of the MSc Medical Photonics programme. Help to prepare the stay in Jena is given by the International Office. Counselling during the programme is provided by the coordinator and the lecturers. In addition, several courses aimed at improving the personal and scientific skills are offered to students, including training in presentation skills, scientific writing and good scientific practice.