General provisions

Substitutes and corresponds to 3FN740 or 3FN006, Drug Discovery Based on Natural Products.

Entry requirements

For students in the Pharmacy programme, it is required that the student should have passed the course Pharmacognosy, 7.5 credits and have achieved at least 150 credits within the programme and followed all earlier courses on semester 1-7.

For students in the Dispensing Pharmacy Programme, it is required that the student should have passed the courses Pharmacognosy and the Origin of Drugs, 6 credits and Structure and Analysis of Drugs, 7.5 credits or the course Origin, Structure and Analysis of Drugs, 13.5 credits and have achieved at least 120 credits within the programme and followed all earlier courses on semester 1-5.

For students in the Master Programme in Chemical Engineering, it is required that the student should have achieved at least 150 credits within the programme and passed the courses Analytical Chemistry, 10 credits, Pharmacology, 10 credits, and Medicinal Chemistry, 7.5 credits.

Admitted to the Master Programme in Drug Discovery and Development.

Qualified to the freestanding course are those that have knowledge equivalent to:

a) Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science 120 credits, supplemented by advanced courses within pharmacy of at least 22.5 credits or Pharmacognosy B, 15 credits, b) 150 credits including 60 credits in chemistry or biology and advanced courses within pharmacy of at least 22.5 credits, or Pharmacognosy B, 15 credits, c) equivalent knowledge within the subject area. Knowledge in English equivalent to that required for basic level entry into Swedish higher education.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student should:

• be able to explain how natural products are used in the search for new drugs within research and pharmaceutical industry
• be able to account for the importance and the use of bioassay and high throughput screening
• be able to evaluate ecology and ethnopharmacology as sampling instruments in the search for new drugs
• be able to account for and evaluate the use of different methods for extraction, isolation, detection and characterisation of bioactive molecules

Content

Observation and selection of bioactive organisms. Ecology and ethnopharmacology as sampling instruments. Extraction, isolation, detection and characterisation of bioactive molecules. Bioassay and high through-put screening. Examples of industrial projects.

In this course the student obtains further and specific training to:

• compile and present information in writing in the form of two essays.
• evaluate information from different sources such as the Internet, commercial companies etc.

Instruction

Lectures, seminars and study visits presented with IT. An independent literature project is an important part of the course. The language of instruction is English.

The course is web-based and access to the Internet is required.

Compulsory parts of the course: Written presentation of two essays and seminar assignments.

Assessment

Examination takes place through passed written presentation of essays and seminar assignments.