Entry requirements

180 credits from candidate programmes in biomedicine, pharmacy, biology or international education that provides knowledge of cell and molecular biology, chemistry and biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology and neurobiology. English proficiency, normally attested by means of an internationally recognised test such as TOEFL or IELTS.

Learning outcomes

Atfer completion of the course the student shall:

- be able to describe the most important groups of proteins that are used in the pharmaceutical industry as drug targets.

- understand the fundamentals in how to identify and evaluate new drug targets and be able to suggest different methods.

- have knowledge about bioinformatics tools, be able toapply bioinformatic techniques in search for related sequences and to analyse specific genes in terms of genomic structure, primary structure and evolutionary relationship.

- be able to search important large data bases of biological relevance for drug target evaluation.

- have knowledge about and be able to apply alternative methods for determining expression levels of RNA and proteins for the drug target.

- be able to explain and exemplify the usefulness of human genetics and mouse genetics in drug development.

- understand the basics of animal behavioural testing of drugs.

- be able to describe the most common drug targets for common diseases including; chronic pain, overweight, drug dependence and depression.

- have insight in the frontier of drug development research with high priority by drug companies.

- be able to critically analyse and validate as well as draw conclusions from experimental data and present results in words and in writing.

Content

The course consists of several combined theoretical and practical sections that deal with target proteins, target systems, methods and applications within neuroscience. Structure-function relationships of important target families such as G protein-coupled receptors, ion channels, transporters and enzymes will be studied. The physiology and anatomy behind food intake, pain, dependency and depression will be studied. The future drug targets in these systems will be addressed. The methods sections will specifically address how data obtained with these methods should be interpreted. Drug development will be put into context by presentations given by active scientists, who will describe current research of their field of expertise. This gives the student an insight into the most recent results within high priority areas for the pharmaceutical industry such as regulation of food intake, drug dependence and depression. Through a written project the student is giventhe opportunity to develop ideas concerning how research projects can be pursued and thereby develop her/his ability to understand the interplay between theoretical and practical knowledge. The written project includes practice in critical reading of scientific literature and is also presented as an oral seminar. Real life cases will be used to provide food for thought. The students will be given laboratory practice to enhance the practical experience of drug development.

Instruction

The course includes lectures, cases, seminars and laboratory work. There will be particular focus on stimulating the student's independent thinking and problem solving ability.

Compulsory parts: Course introduction, cases meetings and laboratory moments. Each student shall provide a written project report.

Assessment

Written exam, laboratory reports and report of student's own work. In order to pass the course, all of these parts must be approved.