Postgraduate Course: Quantitating drug binding (PGBI11038)

Course Outline
School	School of Biological Sciences	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	In three practical sessions, students individually will determine the binding constant of an agonist to rat-brain muscarinic acetylcholine receptor using a filter assay to measure bound receptor. Further sessions will derive the binding constants and total number of receptors from the data, including use of non-linear least squares fit to the hyperbola describing binding. This analysis will be used to determine variances for the parameters fitted and will lead to a critical examination of the design of the experiment. Other techniques for determining binding constants will be considered, with an emphasis on the appropriate windows in which they can be applied and on potential artefacts and pitfalls.
Course description	Week Title 1 Introduction 2 Setting the biological context 3 Practical - Day1 4 Practical - Day 2 5 Practical - Day 3 6 Isothermal Calorimetry and demonstration 7 Fitting binding isotherms - theory 8 Fitting binding isotherms - practice 9 Demonstrations - Surface Plasmon Resonance, fluorescence 10 Formative Peer Assessment on Posters

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: 16
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 6, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 14, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 78 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Extended Practical report 50 % Webfolio on a specific technique 30 % Blog/e-Portfolio 20 %
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, students should be able to: ż acquire a deeper knowledge and critical appreciation of how binding constants for drug molecules to their targets are determined. ż find references and read into an academic subject given a starter reference; ż set up a workflow for a numerical calculation on a spreadsheet such that it self-documents and is resusable; ż be meticulous in checking details; ż be prepared for tasks by reading in advance and organising time; ż deliver and receive peer-feedback, and learn from it;and ż show, through an e-portfolio, reflection at a deep level on the material in the course and relate it to high level graduate skills. ż be competent to carry out the experimental manipulations to determine a binding constant of a drug to its target using a radioactive filter assay; ż work safely with radioactivity; ż understand how to derive a binding constant of a drug to its target and the stoichiometry; ż use a spreadsheet to carry out calculations; ż apply non-linear least squares methods to fit equations and to derive the variances in the parameters fitted; ż appreciate how best to design an experiment so that the parameters are well determined; ż acquire working knowledge of a number of techniques to determine drug binding to their targets; ż design and populate a web site (WebFolio)explaining a specific technique used to measure drug binding