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This is one of my modules for next year - Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry.
The module concentrates on disease and the impact of chemistry on the understanding of disease at the molecular level, and in terms of providing chemotherapeutic agents for the prevention, control and cure of disease. All aspects of chemistry, including organic, inorganic, physical, biological and structural will be included. We will begin with a historical overview of the development and major achievements of chemotherapy and go on to consider the molecular basis of disease and disease pathways. The course will conclude by focusing specifically on cancer, looking at current and potential drugs. In addition three topic workshops will be held.
Learning Objectives:
to understand the importance of chemical approaches to target disease
to understand selected disease pathways
to study the biological action of cancer therapeutics
to understand the role of targeted drug delivery in developing new
chemotherapeutics
Topics
An Introduction to Chemotherapy, Drug Metabolism and DeliveryInitially this set of lectures will give an overview of the historical development of medicinal chemistry and chemotherapy. Focus will then be on the way in which a pharmaceutical interacts with the human body - the problems this can cause, and the opportunities it can provide for more efficient therapy via targeted drug delivery.
8 lectures
Introduction to the Molecular Basis of Diseases
This set of lectures will focus on an explanation of the key molecular aspects of human physiology. The course will cover general classification of the diseases (infections, genetic, complex, protein aggregation/misfolding) and will give a short survey of the main types of genetic diseases. The course will also cover the fundamentals of immune, innate and adaptive responses to disease.
Cancer ChemotherapyAn exploration of current (and potential) cancer therapeutics. This will include drugs that act on DNA (DNA alkylating agents, crosslinkers, intercalating agents, and antisense therapy), drugs that act on structural proteins (taxol, epothiolones), on receptors (tamoxifen) and on enzymes (fluorouracil, methotrexate). We will also look at biological prodrugs in specific relation to cancer chemotherapy (ADEPT/GDEPT-antibody and gene directed prodrug therapy).
Assessment
1½ h written paper (70%) plus continuous assessment (30%): three workshops will contribute 7% each and a written article, 9%. The three workshops will be associated with each of the three topics. Three workshops will be assessed by a multichoice quiz based on both the lecture course and material covered in the workshop and assessment of preassigned questions. In addition, a 1 page article suitable for an A-level student (9%) will be prepared on one topic chosen from a selection related to the course.