Course Catalogue

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This course covers core concepts in modern pharmacology set within the context of drug discovery and development. Pharmacology is a quantitative discipline and a key element of this course will be to develop skills and understanding of the quantitative aspects of pharmacology. Another strong theme is the understanding of drug action based on knowledge of drug structure and drug-receptor interactions and the discovery of good drug targets. 

Normally, there is one 3-hour session on Mondays.

Normally, only available to final-year School of Life Sciences students in a Pharmacology programme. Visiting students may be allowed to enrol, at the discretion of the School of Life Sciences Chief Adviser and the Course Coordinator. 

None

The course will be assessed by a 2-hour examination (75%) and in-course assessment consisting of a data handling and interpretation written assignment (25%). 

This course aims to provide students with a thorough background in advanced concepts in modern pharmacology and drug discovery, coupled to a detailed theoretical background, and containing a strong numerical component.

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 

■ Plot graphs, handle data sets and calculate key pharmacological parameters; 

■ Discuss the fundamental role of chemistry in drug discovery; 

■ Evaluate the power and theoretical basis of modern drug screening approaches; 

■ Discuss how drug:protein interactions can be identified and quantified, both in vivo and in vitro; 

■ Illustrate the power of bioinformatics in drug discovery, with a clear appreciation of the technology, strengths and limitations of the approaches; 

■ Discuss the principles of key stages of the drug discovery process from target identification and compound screening to preclinical and clinical testing.