Undergraduate Pharmacology 2023-2024

• Biochemical pharmacology and toxicology is a broad ranging course covering many fundamental aspects of pharmacology. It lays appropriate foundations upon which advanced Pharmacological understanding is developed.
• Key aspects are:
  - critical concepts of pharmacological and toxicological relevance are covered in-depth at a molecular and biochemical level, with the ultimate significance to the human organism also studied
  - a modern and relevant practical thread (partly funded by the British Pharmacological Society) permits application of lecture materials, and enhances employability through development of relevant core practical skills
  - research-led special topics are also embedded where the materials studied are put in context through teaching driven by recent medical research discoveries

The course is designed to give the students a basic understanding of the mechanisms of disease.

• by understanding the process of a disease we can find ways of both treating it and/or preventing it;
• this course uses the examples of cancer, infectious disease and inflammatory disease to illustrate this;
• the factors leading to or causing the disease will be described;
• using this knowledge the way in which the drugs used to treat the disease work will be discussed;
• problems that arise from drug treatment such as drug resistance will also be covered

• this course provides topical reviews of receptor diversity, expression and signalling in the contexts of both basic science and applications in the treatments of disease and ill health;
• modern and developing aspects of pharmacology are linked with proteomics/ genomics, therapeutics and methods of drug discovery;
• specialist emerging aspects of molecular pharmacology including biased ligands and receptor trafficking and their role in disease will be studied in detail;
• in addition to lectures the course includes advanced data analysis-based tutorials and data presentation which will enhance transferable skills and add to graduate portfolios

The course aims to develop an understanding of pharmacological targeting and molecular toxicology at an advanced level. The learning outcomes are:

• To gain knowledge of drug-induced toxicity including organ specific toxicity, oxidative stress and the role of drug transport
• To develop advanced understandings of the processes surrounding pharmacological drug design and molecular targeting using specific examples
• To develop knowledge of the processes involved in cell death including apoptosis, autophagy and necrosis
• To enhance understanding of the use of biomarkers in pharmacology and toxicology
• To develop advanced knowledge of molecular carcinogensis (genotoxic and non-genotoxic)