Entry requirements

The general rules laid down by the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy apply (see programme curriculum).

Aims

The course aims to give the student the knowledge needed to:

- account for the fundamental concepts of cell biology

- describe the structural and functional properties of cells, their chemical composition and their overall metabolism with special reference to the situation in man

- account for the fundamental concepts of molecular biology

- describe the digestion, absorption and metabolism of different nutrients and the main principles of regulation of these processes and pathological changes in the same

- understand the causes of disease and the effects of existing drugs.

Content

Cell biology: Biochemistry and function of cell elements, biological membranes, and transport through cell membranes.

Protein chemistry: Amino acids, composition, properties and structural levels of proteins.

Enzymology: Enzyme-substrate interaction, catalysis, substrates, coenzymes, inhibitors, enzyme kinetics.

Nucleic acid biochemistry: Replication, transcription, translation, gene regulation.

Human intermediary metabolism: Digestion and absorption of nutrients, energy metabolism of cells, including oxidative phosphorylation, metabolism and biosynthesis of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and regulation of the intermediary metabolism, biochemical functions of vitamins.

The laboratory exercises include enzyme kinetics and analytical methods used in clinical chemistry.

Instruction

The tuition comprises lectures, seminars, group exercises and laboratory sessions.

Compulsory parts of the course:

All laboratory elements.

Assessment

Written examinations are held at the end of the course. Students are required to pass the compulsory parts of the course as well as the final examination (examination code).

The grades used are either Passed (G) or Failed (U).