Science
The Discipline of Pharmacology offers a general training in Pharmacology to students in the Faculty of Science. It provides two Intermediate 6-credit point units of study and four Senior 12-credit point units of study.
PCOL 2011 Pharmacology Fundamentals
Course Co-ordinator:
6 credit points. B Sc, B Sc (Bioinformatics), B Sc (Molecular Biology & Genetics), B Sc (Nutrition), UG Study Abroad Program. Dr Jonathon Arnold. Session: Semester 1. Classes: 3 lectures/wk, 8 PBL tutorials/semester, 5 lab sessions/semester. Prerequisites: 6 credit points of Junior Chemistry and 6 credit points of Junior Biology. Prohibitions: PCOL2001. Assessment: One 2 hr exam, four 20 question WebMCQ quizzes, three lab reports, four 1 page research topics.
NB: The completion of 6 credit points of MBLG units of study is highly recommended.
This unit of study examines four basic areas in Pharmacology: (1) principles of drug action (2) pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism (3) autonomic and endocrine pharmacology, and (4) drug design. The delivery of material involves lectures, practicals, computer-aided learning and problem-based tutorials. Practical classes provide students with the opportunity of acquiring technical experience and teamwork skills. Problem-based tutorials are based on real-life scenarios of drug use in the community. These tutorials require students to integrate information obtained in lectures in order to provide solutions to the problems. Online quizzes accompany each module for self assessment.
Textbooks
Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM & Flower RJ, Pharmacology. 6th edn, Churchill Livingstone, 2007.
Study aid:
Neal MJ, Medical Pharmacology at a Glance. 5th edn, Blackwell Science, 2005
Reference books
Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics 10th edn, editors JG Hardman, LE Limbird, 2001.
Patrick GL, An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry 2nd edn, Oxford Uni press, 2001.PCOL 2011 Pharmacology Fundamentals
PCOL 2012 Pharmacology: Drugs and People
Course Co-ordinator:
6 credit points. B Sc, B Sc (Bioinformatics), B Sc (Nutrition), UG Study Abroad Program. Dr B McParland. Session: Semester 2. Classes: 3 lectures/week, 8 PBL tutorials/semester, 5 lab sessions/semester. Assumed Knowledge: PCOL2011. Prerequisites: 6 credit points of Junior Chemistry and 6 credit points of Junior Biology. Prohibitions: PCOL (2002 and 2003).. Assessment: One 2 hr exam, four 20 question WebMCQ quizzes, three lab reports.
NB: The completion of 6 credit points of MBLG units of study is highly recommended.
This unit of study examines four important areas of Pharmacology: (1) drug action in the nervous system (2) drug discovery and development (3) pharmacotherapy of inflammation, allergy and gut disorders, and (4) drugs of recreation, dependence and addiction. The delivery of material involves lectures, practicals, computer-aided learning and problem-based tutorials. Practical classes provide students with the opportunity of acquiring technical experience and teamwork. Problem-based tutorials are based on real-life scenarios of drug use in the community. These tutorials require students to integrate information obtained in lectures in order to provide solutions to the problems. Online quizzes accompany each module.
Textbooks
Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM & Flower RJ, Pharmacology. 6th edn, Churchill Livingstone, 2007.
Study aid:
Neal MJ, Medical Pharmacology at a Glance. 5th edn, Blackwell Science, 2005
Reference books
Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics 10th edn, editors JG Hardman, LE Limbird, 2001.
Senior Courses in Pharmacology
Third year Pharmacology Units of Study are available in both first and second semester. Each Unit of Study is 6 credit points. In order to major in Pharmacology, 24 credit points are required. Each Unit of Study comprises 2 lectures per week and 3 hours of tutorials or practicals per week. Further information on each of the units of study is available below. Third year Pharmacology Units of Study are also available as Advanced options. Participation in the Advanced program is by invitation only followed by consultation with the Unit of Study coordinator. A distinction average or above in second year units of study is required for invitation into the Advanced units of study.
PCOL3011/PCOL3911 Toxicology/Toxicology (Advanced)
Unit of Study Coordinator: Dr Slade Matthews
(93516200, )
This unit of study is designed to introduce students with a basic understanding of pharmacology to the discipline of toxicology. The unit considers the toxicology associated with therapeutic drugs (adverse drug reactions) and the associated issue of drug interactions. The unit also considers aspects of environmental toxicology, particularly toxic reactions to environmental agents such as asbestos and pesticides and their effects on different target organs (lung, liver, CNS). As a consequence of exposure to toxins the biology and causes of cancer are discussed. As part of the unit students are introduced to basic ideas about the collection and analysis of data from human and animal populations, both in the structured situation of clinical trials and in analysis of retrospective data.
Prerequisites: PCOL2001 or PCOL2011 and PCOL2012 or 36 credit points from intermediate BMED units of study.
Prohibitions: PCOL3001, PCOL3901, PCOL3911
Assessment: One 2 hour exam, tutorial presentations, assignments.
Textbooks: Klaasen, Curtis D and Watkins, J.B. (2003); Casarett and Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology.1st edition. McGraw Hill.
PCOL3012/PCOL3912 Drug Design and Development/Drug Design and Development (Advanced)
Unit of Study Coordinator: Dr Rachel Codd
(x16738, )
Course Overview: Lectures. The purpose of this course is to provide students with some fundamental knowledge of principles in drug design. The course content melds these fundamental principles in medicinal chemistry with case studies and integrates methods used to design drugs. The course has some general chemistry content, as reflected by the pre-requisite for first year Chemistry; key concepts in chemistry will be revised in the first part of the course, as a refresher for students. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge of how they might proceed to design (on paper) a drug or to modify an existing drug to have a particular set of properties (water solubility, a particular shape, modulation of binding). Students will also be able to describe methods used in drug design and discovery, such as combinatorial chemistry and the isolation of drugs from nature. Students will be equipped with core knowledge that will serve them in their future endeavours in drug design in biomedical research in a tertiary setting or in industry.
Course Overview: Laboratory and Tutorials. Students will experience the excitement of seeing their own ‘drug discovery’ project through the stages of: (a) synthesis to (b) analysis of activity; and (c) consideration of structure-activity relationships. Structured over three laboratory sessions, students will work in small groups (approximately 4 students per group) to prepare using well-defined methods an enzyme inhibitor unique to each group. In the second session, students will determine how well their compound inhibits the target enzyme and in the third session, class data will be pooled for each of the different inhibitors to decipher any relationship between what the drugs look like (structure) and how they work (activity). Computers serve as a valuable learning tool in drug design, since it is often useful to be able to see in 3D what a drug might look like and to
predict the properties of the drug before going through the costly exercise of preparing the drug. In this course, students will be introduced to simple molecular modeling tools that allow them to build drugs and to predict the shapes of the drugs that might be useful in the clinic. Over three sessions, students will learn how to use the program to model a drug (d) and; (e) model the structure of a
drug to be assigned to each student; and (f) construct a 3D energy map of a given drug. Students will have three tutorial sessions during the course which will underscore key principles from lectures: two sessions will involve worksheets and problem solving exercises and one session will be a computer assisted learning exercise.
Course Overview: Advanced students. Students undertaking the advanced stream of the course (PCOL3912) will complete exercises at an advanced level, will have a modified tutorial exercise and will have less choice of questions in the final theory examination.
Prerequisites: PCOL2001 or PCOL2011 and PCOL2012 or 36 credit points from intermediate BMED units of study. 1st year Chemistry.
Prohibitions: PCOL3001, PCOL3901, PCOL3912
Assessment: group lab report (15%), individual molecular modelling exercise (10%), mid-semester test (10%), computer-based assessment (5%), final theory exam (60%).
Textbook: Patrick, Graham L. (2009) An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry. 4th edition. Oxford University Press.
PCOL3021/PCOL3921 Drug Therapy/ Drug Therapy (Advanced)
Unit of Study Coordinator: Dr Hilary Lloyd
(x12836, )
This unit of study builds on pharmacological knowledge acquired in the intermediate PCOL and BMED units of study with a major emphasis on gaining an understanding of the scientific basis of drug therapy. Lecture topics, tutorials and laboratory sessions cover drug treatment of arthritis and asthma, cardiovascular disorders, microbial infections and cancer. Elective projects relate to current research areas in Pharmacology. Advanced students complete the same core lecture material as students in PCOL3021 but carry out advanced level elective projects, practicals and tutorials.
Prerequisites: PCOL2011 and PCOL2012 or 36 credit points from intermediate BMED units of study.
Prohibitions: PCOL3002, PCOL3902, PCOL3921
Assessment: One 2 hour exam, tutorial and practical assignments and elective project.
Textbook: Rang, HP. Dale, MM. Ritter, JM and Flower, RJ (2007). Pharmacology, 6th ed. Churchill Livingstone.
PCOL3022/PCOL3922 Neuropharmacology/Neuropharmacology (Advanced)
Unit of Study Coordinator: Dr Tina Hinton
x13217, tinah@med.usyd.edu.au)
This unit of study builds on pharmacological knowledge acquired in the intermediate PCOL and BMED units of study with a major emphasis on gaining an understanding of neuropharmacology. The neuropharmacology of the major neurotransmitters is explored together with the treatment of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, epilepsy, insomnia, pain and schizophrenia. Elective projects relate to current research areas in Pharmacology. Advanced students complete the same core lecture material as students in PCOL3022 but carry out advanced level elective projects, practicals and tutorials.
Prerequisites: PCOL2011 and PCOL2012 or 36 credit points from intermediate BMED units of study.
Prohibitions: PCOL3002, PCOL3902, PCOL3922
Assessment: individual laboratory report (12%), tutorial questions (8%), elective project (20%). And
final theory examination (60%)
Textbook: Rang, HP. Dale, MM. Ritter, JM and Flower, RJ (2007). Pharmacology, 6th ed. Churchill Livingstone.
Pharmacology Honours
Course Co-ordinator:
Subject to a satisfactory standard being attained in Pharmacology, a student may arrange to read for the Honours degree in this subject area. Much of the work will be arranged to suit the interest of the individual. The student will participate in a research project in progress in the Discipline. A research plan, literature review and a 50-page thesis on the research project must be prepared. Seminars on the literature review, the project and another chosen topic will be given by the student.
Bachelor of Medical Science
Medical Science Liaison: Dr Tina Hinton
Medical Science BMED2802: Dr Tina Hinton
Bachelor of Science (Medicinal Chemistry)
Medicinal Chemistry Liaison:
Medicinal Chemistry is an interdisciplinary major offered within the BSc. It is concerned with the chemistry underpinning the design, discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals, and is jointly administered by the School of Chemistry and the Discipline of Pharmacology. Medicinal Chemistry examines why some types of chemical compounds are toxic, why some have therapeutic value, and the mode of drug action at the molecular level. A major in Medicinal Chemistry includes the study of natural and synthetic compounds of biological and medicinal importance, how molecules interact with each other and how specific molecules can influence metabolic pathways in living organisms.