Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students are expected:
- to have the ability to explain the process of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Specifically, students will be able to describe the movement of drugs within the body as well as their interactions with their cellular targets through which they exert their actions,
- to evaluate individual genetic variation as an important factor contributing to drug response,
- to identify and evaluate molecules that regulate or participate in physiological and pathological cellular processes, which constitute potential drug targets,
- to have understood the modern approaches based on which new drug molecules are designed,
- to become familiar with the search, analysis and synthesis of data and information from recent international bibliography,
- to have an understanding of advanced topics arising from modern cutting-edge developments in the field of pharmacology,
- to have acquired the ability to develop and publicly present a topic in the specific field.
Course Content
This course describes all stages of drug development, from discovery up to the drug market. Specifically, the course focuses on the analysis of the basic principles that govern the action of drugs and the identification of new possible targets. At the same time, modern approaches are described based on which new drug molecules are designed using computational biology. Particular emphasis is given on the detailed analysis of both preclinical (i.e., pharmacological profile, administration route, drug interactions) and clinical trials (i.e., phases I, II, III) of drug development. Finally, the clinical applications of the rapidly growing branch of pharmacogenetics-pharmacogenomics, which aims at personalized treatment with drugs adapted to the genetic profile of each patient, are reported in detail.
The course includes the following lectures
- Basic principles of drug action
- Stages of drug development
- Protein kinases as drug targets
- Metabolic regulatory molecules as drug targets
- Transcription factors as therapeutic targets
- Bioactive molecules
- Modern approaches in drug design
- Clinical applications of pharmacogenetics – pharmacogenomics
Student Evaluation
Students are evaluated through written exams and public presentations. Specifically, students are graded based on their performance in written examinations at the end of the semester. The exams include multiple choice questions, true/false questions, matching questions, questions with short answers, as well as essay questions requiring written responses of one to two paragraphs. This particular examination system provides the possibility of examining a wide range of the course material. The total of correct answers corresponds to 70% of the total grade.
In addition, students will present publicly, in groups of 2 individuals, a research article or review related to the subject of the course, which has been published in an international scientific journal. Students are graded based on their presentation skills, as well as their in-depth understanding of the topic it addresses, based on their ability to answer the questions following the presentation. The presentation grade corresponds to 30% of the total course grade.
The final score of each student is announced on eClass (https://eclass.uth.gr/courses/BIO_P_148/). The evaluation criteria are explicitly defined and made public to the students via the course website.
Recommended Bibliography
Books
- Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (2009), Katzung B. 1st edition, Εκδόσεις Broken Hill Publishers LTD.
- Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Brunton L (2015). 2nd edition, Broken Hill Publishers LTD.
- Color Atlas of Pharmacology (2005). Lullmann H, Mohr K, Hein L, Bieger D, 3rd edition, Thieme.
Scientific journals
- Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics
- The Pharmacogenomics Journal
- Journal of Personalized Medicine
- Pharmacogenetics and Genomics
- European Journal of Pharmacology
- Molecular Pharmacology
- Advances in Pharmacology