UWA is Western Australia's top ranked University, and is also one of the Group of Eight leading research universities in Australia. UWA's biological disciplines, including Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, are particularly renowned nationally and internationally and rank amongst the world's best 100 in their subject area.
A bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UWA is highly recognised amongst employers. Career options include biotechnology, drug development, food production and quality control, fermentation industries and chemical production. Biochemists and molecular biologists find jobs in diagnostic laboratories in hospitals, veterinary health, toxicology and in broader public health. Opportunities beyond the laboratory include education, patent law and policy-making, as well as in agriculture and the environment, sales and marketing for medical, research and pharmaceutical industries. With their specialist knowledge of living systems, biochemists can work as journalists and science communicators. A degree in biochemistry and molecular biology is a starting point for specialised courses such as bioinformatics, synthetic biology or forensics. Many biochemists and molecular biologists choose to follow further study towards a higher degree by research, so that they can reach more senior positions in research and development, whether in academia or in industry.
To prepare you for these diverse career pathways, UWA's unique degree structure provides you with the widest range of specialisation options amongst Western Australian universities. For example, it is possible to do the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major with a second major in Chemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Data Science, Neuroscience, Human Biology, or Population Health. You can use your personal interests as a basis for your choice of subjects to study, and, ultimately, to direct your career. Through the unique design of the UWA curriculum, a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will enable you to become the next leader in biotechnology, synthetic biology, biomedicine or science communication.
There are numerous companies and institutions in diverse industries that seek for biochemists and molecular biologists in Western Australia (indicated by *), nationally and internationally:
* Pharmaceutical companies (e.g. Pfizer*, CSL, Abbvie, GlaxoSmithKline, EvansPetersen Healthcare)
* Biotechnology companies (e.g. Dimerix*, PYC Therapeutics*, Orthocell*, Novozyme, Life Cykel, Qiagen, Roche, Merck)
* Molecular diagnostics laboratories (e.g. Pathwest*, Safe Work Laboratories*)
* Biochemical/protein analytical laboratories (e.g. Proteomics International*)
* Provisioners of scientific instrumentation (e.g. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Westlab, LabGear Australia)
* Research Centres (e.g. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)*, Telethon Kids Institute*, Ingham Institute, Garvan Institute for Medical Research)
* Top-ranked universities around the world