Module Code - Title:
BY4037
-
PHARMACOLOGY AND DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module: The module will present State-of-the-art concepts to students in the area of pharmacology and drug development. The module will set out the biology behind drug target choice including the function of the protein targets. The purpose of the module is to integrate the students learning with recent advances in drug screening techniques and new strategies employing non-Lipinski molecules as drugs. The course will use extensive reading of primary literature and reviews to embed the knowledge of techniques, capabilities and challenges in the area.
Syllabus:
1. Classes of drugs
2. Mechanisms of drug action
3. Pharmacokinetics
4. Drug discovery
5. High-throughput methods in drug discovery
6. In silico techniques in drug discovery
7. Drugs targeting infectious agents
8. Drugs targeting membrane proteins - CNS, hormone receptors
9. Drugs targeting inflammatory diseases - e.g. allergy, auto-immune disease, arthritis
10. Drugs for treating diabetes
11. Biologicals for the treatment of diseases - DNA, RNA, proteins and peptides
12. Drug delivery systems
13. Bringing lead candidate drugs forward for development, the challenges.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
Students will acquire a detailed knowledge of the major drug classes and their mechanisms of action. The students will develop an understanding of how to select and develop new drugs and use knowledge acquired through reading and analysis to evaluate new ideas for drug development. Reading of primary literature will develop skills in critical thinking and enable students to evaluate current research experimental strategies and to interrogate data from these studies.
The computer-based laboratory component of this module will provide the students with a detailed understanding of drug classes, drug targets and drug-target interactions as well as familiarity with rational and high-throughput drug design strategies.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
N/A
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
The module will be taught by a combination of lectures, computer based in silico analysis and directed reading. The module will incorporate a significant component of reading involving current primary literature, in this context research findings will be incorporated into the learning experience.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
()
This module will utilize primary literature as the main basis of acquisition of new knowledge. This will be primarily from journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Science, Nature, Cell series, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and other Nat Reviews, Trends in Molecular Medicine.
,
Kristian Stromgaard (Editor), Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen (Editor), Ulf Madsen (Editor) (2010)
Textbook of Drug Design and Discovery, Fourth Edition 4th Edition
, CRC Press, Boca Raton
Other Relevant Texts:
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Autumn
Module Leader:
george.barreto@ul.ie