Postgraduate Course: Chemical Medicine PGT (CHEM11069)
Course Outline
| School | School of Chemistry |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This is a 20-credit lecture course on the applications of chemistry in medicine, with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The course will engender an appreciation of the importance of structure-activity relationships in modern day drug design and development; cover the design and synthesis of diverse compound libraries; compare rational design vs high throughput screening as routes to drug leads; show how a knowledge of modes and mechanisms of action allows screening and elaboration of leads; engender appreciation of how chemists contribute new molecular entities with applications in diagnostics, drug delivery, biomaterials and tissue engineering. |
| Course description |
The course comprises individual lecture courses on Medicinal Chemistry, Physical Organic Aspects of Medicinal Chemistry, Computational Approaches to Drug Design, Metals in Medicine, and Chemical Biology Approaches to Drug Design.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. show an understanding of how the physicochemical properties of drugs relate to their biological properties
2. appreciate how the field of chemical biology has impacted the discovery of new therapeutics in terms of enhanced understanding of protein-ligand interactions, new approaches to lead discovery and new methods for drug delivery
3. understand how the use of chemoinformatics, virtual screening and docking can impact upon drug design
4. explain the importance of metal ion homeostasis and understand the roles of metal ions in anticancer drugs, diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy
5. describe common routes of administration of drugs and drug delivery systems
6. describe common metabolic pathways and how they may be exploited in the design of drugs, prodrugs and soft drugs
7. show understanding of rational approaches towards the design of important drugs and the biological implications of such therapeutic agents including the use of enzymes to inhibit protein processing as a concept for the design of new pharmaceuticals.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Chemical Medicine Level 10 (CHEM10052)
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Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 30,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Formative Assessment Hours 40,
Summative Assessment Hours 5,
Revision Session Hours 6,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
105 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written exam 60%
Coursework 40% |
| Feedback |
Feedback is provided through the tutorials and workshops associated with the individual component lecture courses. Problem material will be made available for preparation in advance of the tutorial or workshop. Although these are not marked, material should always be attempted in advance as they are a good self-check on how well the material from the lectures has been understood, and the tutorials provide the opportunity to ask questions to resolve any difficulties with a particular topic. Formal written feedback will be provided on the poster presentation. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Show an understanding of the principal theories and concepts behind the application of chemistry to medicine, including the discovery of new therapeutic targets, the development of drugs, prodrugs and drug-like lead compounds, common routes to drug delivery and administration, and an awareness of current issues.
- Apply this chemical knowledge to: explain the properties of, propose synthetic routes to, explain the mode of action of, and propose new targets for, a range of drugs and drug-like lead compounds demonstrating originality and/or creativity in how this is knowledge is applied.
- Critically review current practices in the application of chemistry to medicine and demonstrate an ability to analyse or assess complex problems based on diverse, or limited, datasets demonstrating an informed judgement of the data supplied.
- Critically evaluate and use a wide range of numerical, graphical and schematic (including chemical structures and curly arrows) data and communicate this effectively.
- In workshops and small-group work, collaborate with peers in self-learning exercises and share findings and informed judgements on the application of chemistry to medicine with the rest of the class.
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Reading List
Recommendations on further reading will be provided by the individual lecturers.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Note-taking skills.
Numerical data interpretation and analysis.
Unseen problem solving skills.
Presentation skills.
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| Keywords | chemical medicine |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alison Hulme
Tel: (0131 6)50 4711
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Zoe Burger
Tel: (0131 6)50 7546
Email: |
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