Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences

Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences degree is a Ph.D. program offered by the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University. Our four years Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences has been designed to generate a new generation of researchers, who will shape research in Kazakhstan and on the international level. It addresses highly motivated students, who want to be part of a research community working on finding causes and treatments for a variety of different diseases. Our School has strong ties to the hospitals around Astana and is therefore in an ideal position as a link between bench and bedside. Our researchers are working on various topics among them cancer, and inflammatory and infectious diseases.

The program provides broad training in topics necessary for good research as well as a focus on one specific area you are interested in. This program will prepare you for a career in academia as well as in an industrial setting.

The Ph.D. degree at Nazarbayev University is a four-year full-time lab-based program according to international standards. It is offered within the School of Medicine and is open to Master's students of different Life Sciences (such as Biology, Molecular Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, etc.) as well as MD students having completed a graduate program. The School of Medicine is in a unique position to offer this program as it has laboratory facilities as well as close links to the clinics in Astana. This program aims to bridge the gap between basic science and medicine.

A student graduating from the International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Sciences at the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University will be trained to independently conduct scientific research in the field of biomedical sciences in an academic or industrial environment. Biomedical scientists may use their knowledge of biomedical research to:

• Be part of a multidisciplinary team of scientists to solve problems of different illnesses
• Direct a research lab and conduct cutting-edge research
• Translate discoveries and inventions from fundamental level to application in an industrial setting
• Manage and coordinate large scientific projects (national and international)
• Teach at national and international universities
• Work in government advising policymakers about scientific matters related to health and disease development

The core element of the program is a biomedical Ph.D. thesis. In addition, Ph.D. students are offered a variety of key competence seminars (see the section CURRICULUM for more information). Each Ph.D. project will be supervised by one faculty member with the project lying in his/her area of research. A second co-supervisor will be allocated to each Ph.D. student.

The Ph.D. program will teach you important aspects of research such as grant writing, writing papers for publication, giving presentations on your research, and getting ethical approval.

Assessment of your progress will be done via annual reviews and progress reports as well as presentations of the work at Astana and conferences worldwide. Towards the end of your fourth year, you will concentrate on the writing of your Ph.D. thesis, which together with a thesis defense at the end of the fourth year will comprise your final grade.

Program aims are:

• To engage students through laboratory-based training in the field of biomedical sciences and enhance their knowledge and proficiency to carry out innovative research either in academia or industrial setting;
• To provide graduates with competencies to present scientific results internationally at conferences and via publications;
• To provide graduates with competencies in acquiring grants to fund future research studies;
• To produce skilled researchers, who can advance biomedical research nationally and internationally

After having graduated from our program you will be able to choose from a variety of different pathways. Our main objective will be to teach you to become an independent scientist enabling you to work as a postdoc in national and international laboratories gaining experience to ultimately set up your own research group anywhere in the world.

Of course, you can also use the experience you will gain in the course of our PhD in Biomedical Sciences to go into biotechnological or pharmacological industries or maybe even start your own company. Here you will be able to be involved in the discovery of new treatments, cures, and research advancements that enhance medical professionals’ approach to improved patient care and disease management.

You will also be able to fulfil a leading function in Diagnostic labs or Translational centres across the country as well as abroad. Or you can switch your career path and use the knowledge you have gained to shape the future of science in Kazakhstan by becoming part of the government, join the editorial of a scientific journal or become part of the world health organization.

So the opportunities are plentiful and it is up to you to decide where your path will take you in life. Our program will give you a strong basis, whichever path you will follow.

Our graduates leave the university prepared to use their skills in the global medical community and locally in Kazakhstan:

• Research – Work in international laboratories and translational research centers studying molecular and genetic biomedical studies.
• Health Service – Manage diagnostic laboratories, and research units in hospitals, or work as a scientist developing biomedical innovations.
• Education – Teach and research at universities or collaborate with scientific journals as a writer or editor of scholarly journals.

Possible future employers are:

• Universities and Research Institutes around the world
• Pharmaceutical and Biomedical industry (Pfizer, Merck, Sanofi, Roche, etc.)
• Translational centres
• Government
• Diagnostic laboratories
• Scientific journals
• World Health Organization (WHO)

On successful completion of the program, graduates will be able to:

• Design and conduct innovative research independently
• Present, discuss and assess scientific results at national and international conferences
• Discuss, assess and present scientific results in written form
• Develop grant applications for national and international grants to support further research
• Design research and scientific responsibilities in accordance with ethical and professional standards.
• Work in a multidisciplinary team
• Conduct research intended to lead to discovery of new treatments
• Appraise the quality of published research, draw conclusions from this and develop new research strategies

Before applying it is good to inform yourself about research done at NU SOM and to contact NU SOM Faculty are working on your areas of interest.

STEP 1. Create your personal account

Register on www.admissions.nu.edu.kz portal to create a Personal Account. Read the instructions about the application procedure given in your Personal account.

STEP 2. Complete your Application Form and attach the required documents

Fill out the application form and attach the required documents:

1. Scanned copy of a National ID card or passport;
2. Scanned copy of secondary school or higher education institution certificate (attestat/diploma) with final academic performance or certificate from the school (spravka) according to the sample in the personal account;
3. Project proposal in English;
4. Valid copies of certificates. The results of standardized tests must be sent directly to the University through test administrators;
5. Two reference letters;
6. CV.

STEP 3. Pay an application fee

The application fee is paid online via your personal account with a bank card.

The application fee is 10 000 tenge. The application fee is increased 3 times when paid within the last two weeks before the first approved deadline and during the extension period for accepting applications for participation in the admission process. This amount is non-refundable.

Step 4. Finish the registration process

Finish the registration process by pressing the “Submit application” button. After submission applicants can’t change their applications.

Step 5. Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates

Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates in your personal account in the section "Upload IELTS/TOEFL" and fill up the required information about the certificate.

Further steps

Check your e-mail for notifications from the NU Admissions Department and your personal account to learn about your application status.

If you experience any difficulties with the registration or online application, please contact info_admissions@nu.edu.kz. Refer to your IIN and/or Applicant ID while sending us your requests.

1. An undergraduate degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent);

2. Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, or a terminal medical degree (MD or equivalent). During the application period final year students may submit official current transcript for consideration;

3. A Minimum CGPA of 3.00 out of 4.00 CGPA in applicant’s Master’s (or equivalent) degree;

4. English proficiency:

1) Overall IELTS test score of 6.5 (with sub-scores no less than 6.0) or the equivalent TOEFL (except Home Edition) score as posted on the ETS website;

2) Candidates can be exempted from submitting the language proficiency test report if:

– one of their earlier academic degrees was earned in a country with English as the language of official communication, academic instruction and daily life;

– an undergraduate and/or graduate degree was earned in a program which was officially taught in English.

5. Relevant research interest and knowledge of research subject as demonstrated in a written Project proposal.

1. Complete Application form;

2. National ID (for the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and passport (for international applicants);

3.Official document confirming name change (if applicable);

4. Degree diplomas (Bachelor’s and Master’s or equivalents) with transcripts;

During the application period final year students may upload an official current transcript for consideration;

5. An official electronic IELTS/TOEFL (except Home Edition) certificate (valid at the time of document submission) sent to the University through IELTS/TOEFL VERIFICATION SERVICES. Code for IELTS: Nazarbayev University. Code for TOEFL: 6762;

6. Document confirming English as the language of instruction (only for candidates who earned their degree in a program that was taught in English and request an exemption from submitting IELTS or TOEFL). A candidate must indicate Nazarbayev University as a recipient when registering for the test. In case the candidate passed the test earlier, he/she can contact the test center and indicate Nazarbayev University as a recipient. Candidates can provide an official electronic score report of valid Academic IELTS or TOEFL IBT certificates from the Test Administrator and its scanned copy;

7. Project proposal (not more than 500 words);

8. Curriculum vitae;

9. Evidence of any professional and/or voluntary experiences that develop essential skills related to laboratory work;

10. Two confidential reference letters in English (or with notarized English translation) written within the last 12 months (to be provided by referees electronically or in hard copy);

11. 075/у medical certificate (for Kazakhstani candidates) or a similar medical certificate with indication of general health (for international candidates);

12. Document stating the presence or absence of a criminal record;

13. List of the applicant’s preferred three choices of PhD projects (optional);

Important dates for those who are applying for the 2025 - 2026 academic year

Online application deadlines:

• for the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan - April 21, 2025 inclusively (14:00 Astana time)
• for international applicants - March 03, 2025 inclusively (14:00 Astana time)

Deadline for submission of IELTS/TOEFL results:

• for the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan - May 5, 2025 (23:59 Astana time)
• for international applicants - March 17, 2025 (23:59 Astana time)

The start of orientation week (for newly enrolled students): August 2025

First day of classes: August 2025

All registered candidates can check the status of their application in the Personal account. Description of the status below is presented in the order of assignment to the candidate in the Personal account.

Application in processing. This is interim status, which means that the application is being processed. Admissions Committee will evaluate the application and inform the candidate on further steps/stages. Notification on final results will be sent to your email address.

Does not meet entry requirements. The status is assigned to the candidates who do not meet the minimum entry requirements. It is given after checking the application forms and the documents by the Admissions Department.

Disqualified. The status is assigned to candidates who are disqualified for gross violations of the conditions of the competition. For example, provided deliberately false information.

Rejected by Admissions Committee. At one of the competition stages, the Admissions Committee decided to reject the candidate’s application.

Transfer to another program. At the stage of an application screening the Admissions Committee has decided to recommend the candidate for consideration by the Admissions Committee of another program within the same School.

Pending. Candidate’s application is pending

Waiting list. The Admissions Committee has finished reviewing the candidate’s application and made a decision to put you on a waiting list. Such candidates should expect notification from the University, as there is a possibility that if other candidates reject to study, they may be sent an invitation letter to study.

Recommended for admission to NUZYP. The Admissions Committee has decided to recommend the candidate for the NUZYP program. “Zero year of Master’s programs” (NUZYP) is a two-semester full-time program for candidates, who do not meet the language requirements for direct admission to Master’s programs, with intensive language, academic and research preparation for Master’s programs.

Recommended for admission to program. Admissions Committee has decided to recommend candidate for the program without going through the NUZYP.

Recommended for conditional admission. The Admissions Committee has decided to recommend a candidate for the conditional admission with a requirement to fulfill the condition by the deadline specified in the notification.

Withdrawn. Candidate decided to withdraw from the competition.

Accepted Program admission offer. The status is assigned to candidates who received offer letter, signed Enrollment confirmation form and fulfilled all the сonditions of the University indicated in the offer letter.

Accepted NUZYP admission offer. The status is assigned to candidates who received offer letter to NUZYP program, signed Enrollment confirmation form and fulfilled all the сonditions of the University indicated in the offer letter.

Refused admission offer. The candidate was recommended for admission, but refused to study.

Refused in favor of another NU program. The status is applicable for those candidates, who applied for several graduate programs at NU. The status is assigned when the candidate chooses another program.

Deferred. The status is assigned to candidates who were accepted for the program, but decided to postpone their studies until the next year.

Did not submit the documents/Refused. The status assigned to candidates who did not provide originals of the documents by the stated deadline, which means that the candidate refuses to study at University.

Did not come to Orientation week/Refused. The status is assigned to candidates who accepted the offer letter, provided hard copies of documents, but did not participate in Orientation week. The vacant place, if available, can be offered to the candidates in the Waiting list.

Enrolled to program. The status is assigned to candidates who enrolled to the main program by the Decision of the Provost. Candidate officially became a student.

Enrolled to NUZYP. The status is assigned to candidates who enrolled to the NUZYP program by the Decision of the Provost. Candidate officially became a student.

Overall 240 ECTS

• Courses: 60 ECTS
• Thesis research: 180 ECTS

Year 1: Fall Semester

Year 1: Spring Semester

Year 1: Summer Semester

Year 2: Fall Semester

Year 2: Spring Semester

Year 2: Summer Semester

Year 3: Fall Semester

Year 3: Spring Semester

Year 3: Summer Semester

Year 4: Fall Semester

Year 4: Spring Semester

Year 4: Summer Semester

PhDBS-701 Thesis Research

This course comprises the main work of this program. In this course the student will learn to independently conduct and plan research. The student will be introduced to new methods by the supervisor or technician. Once (s)he has mastered the technique (s)he will conduct the research independently. Results will be discussed with supervisor and other lab members and a strategy formed, how to proceed. The student is also expected to independently search for literature connected to the project. The student will also be involved in determining the direction of the project based on the results achieved. At the end of these courses the student will be able to:

• Conduct innovative research independently
• Work in a team
• Design innovative research strategies
• Design experimental set-ups to analyze specific scientific problems
• Devise a thorough literature search
• Assess scientific research results in the background of published data

PhDBS-702 Molecular Basis of Health and Disease

This course will provide students with the advanced knowledge on basic cell structures and interactions occurring in health and disease. The molecular basis and cellular pathology of a variety of human diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases as well as the molecular basis of aging will be discussed. Advantages as well as limitations in the usage of cell culture, organ culture as well as different animal models in research to elucidate molecular mechanisms in disease development will be discussed. Up to date original, peer-reviewed papers will be used as a basis for discussions in seminars. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• critically evaluate the molecular mechanisms leading to a variety of different diseases
• critically evaluate current research and research techniques
• critically discuss opportunities and limitations of research techniques in the discovery of new treatments
• discuss and apply guidelines to select the appropriate experiment set-up to research the molecular basis of a variety of diseases
• critically assess the quality of publications in health and disease

PhDBS-703 Biomedical Research Analysis & Design of experimentation

In this course students will learn to extract information from data. This involves multiple stages including establishing a data set, preparing the data for processing as well as creating reports. Students are encouraged to analyse data not only from there own project, but from other topics as well. Experimental results and future directions of experiments will be discussed. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Present scientific research to peers
• Critically evaluate research results
• Critically appraise limitations of experimental set-up

PhDBS-704 NU SOM seminar

In this course internal and external researchers will give presentations about their research. Students are expected to discuss and analyze the research results presented in the different talks. Students are also expected to present and defend the results they obtain in the course of their research. This is also the platform for students to learn to present their work at conferences. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Discuss and critically analyze scientific presentations
• Discuss and critically evaluate scientific results
• Present and defend own research results at national and international conferences
• Develop connections with established national and international researchers

PhDBS-705 Biosafety, Animal Welfare & Ethics

In this course students will be taught about working with human and animal subjects as well as about working safely in a biomedical laboratory. They will pass CITI exams on ethical courses, animal welfare and biosafety. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Design research applying ethical considerations
• employ ethical conduct in all experimental circumstances
• design experiments taking into account animal welfareapply for approval to conduct experiments on animals
• evaluate biosafety and chemical hazards
• assess different biohazards and employ them in experimental design
• assess research application for compliance with ethical guidelines as well as guidelines concerning animal welfare and biosafety enabling the student to become committee member of ethical and biosafety committees

PhDBS-706 Advanced Biomedical Research Analysis & Design of experimentation

This course is based on knowledge acquired in course 703. Additionally students will learn to identify key findings and apply models. The results will be put into context with existing and newly emerging scientific knowledge. Based on this the students will be expected to develop future experiments determining the direction in which his/her thesis is leading. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Critically evaluate research results and use these as basis for future experiments
• Present scientific research to scientific community in general
• Autonomously design research implementing acquired results
• Discover, interpret and communicate new knowledge through original research of publishable quality, which satisfies peer review
• Assess scientific results in the context of existing literature
• Analyze potential applications of basic research results for future diagnostic and treatment methods

PhDBS-707 Publication Analysis

In this course literature relevant for PhD program will be introduced by supervisors as well as the PhD students. Strong and weak points of the paper will be discussed as well as the implication a paper has on the PhD project to which it is linked. Students are expected to present an in depth analysis of papers relevant to their thesis. At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• critically read, interpret and evaluate scientific papers in a variety of different fields
• critically evaluate current research and research techniques
• present scientific research to a scientific community
• communicate with the scientific community in general

PhDBS-708 Writing for a general audience, scientific paper and grant writing

This course combines the application of rhetorical analysis to stylistic conventions of writing in the sciences, with a focus on genre specific writing relevant to graduate students. Students will be introduced to writing and publication practices in their field as a component of academic practice, with an emphasis on conceptual and organizational knowledge they will need to write their research proposal and final theses.

Additionally students will be taught about the different possibilities to attract grant money, where to look for calls for grants and which are the important points to be considered, when writing a grant. The students will also be taught to carefully plan the grant writing and working towards a deadline. At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of rhetorically effective means of communicating science along a continuum;
• Identify appropriate genres and genre conventions to communicate with intra-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and public audiences;
• Analyze relevant genres and plan strategies to implement specific genre conventions in their own work;
• Evaluate challenges to academic integrity as it applies to the process of writing and publishing their work, and strategies to support it
• Employ available literature to write grant applications
• Independently design grant applications
• Integrate published data into grant applications

Electives

Electives can be chosen from courses offered at NU SOM as well as from other schools as long as they fulfill the requirements. To be taught at PhD level