The module covers some key aspects of medicinal chemistry and biomedicine to build an advanced, applied chemical/bio-chemical background for modern chemists and biochemists.
It focuses on
All aspects of chemistry, including organic, inorganic, physical, biological and structural will be included.
Aims include the:
Initially 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.T.
This set of lectures will focus on an explanation of some key molecular aspects of human physiology. It will introduce general classification of diseases (bacterial/viral infections, genetic/complex diseases). This course is a concise survey of the main types of genetic diseases, fundamentals of immune responses, and infections, building the basic biomedical background.
An exploration of current (and potential) cancer therapeutics. This will include well-established drugs that act on DNA (DNA alkylating agents, cross linkers, intercalating agents), drugs that act on structural proteins (taxol, epothiolones). It will be followed by survey of modern approaches in development of new cancer drug targets in the context of expanding hallmarks of cancer. Molecular challenges in a successful cancer eradication will be discussed.
The first part will cover: the interlink of the classical hormone:membrane receptor (insulin and Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF)) signalling, the impact of common switches in signalling pathways for treatment of diabetes, carcinogenesis of insulin, insulin alternatives to anti-diabetic drug targets (nuclear receptors (anti-obesity), metmorfin (oral anti-diabetics)), importance of insulin/IGF in cancer development. Secondly, the in-health/disease role of an alternative regulation of cell-cell communication (hormone=transcription factor), and its clinical modification will be discussed on examples of nuclear receptors (NR). Impact of protein aggregation in disease (Alzheimer, Huntington’s) will be presented. Some aspects of health maintenance (arteriosclerosis, blood pressure) will be covered.
This module will provide an understanding of the contribution chemical methods and thinking make to the drug discovery process, including target identification, hit identification and lead optimisation. The target-oriented approach to therapeutic intervention will be illustrated with examples from the molecular and cell biology (influenza, HIV, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and cancer). The examples will also show how a broad range of chemical, biological, structural and computational techniques are being applied in drug discovery. A recurring theme is the need for an understanding of the required properties for a drug molecule. This includes an appreciation of the biological processes that determine ADME and toxicity properties and the types of assays that are used to monitor these.
This part of the module provides an introduction to Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry, an emerging new area of chemistry. The field has been stimulated by the success of cisplatin, still one of the best-selling anti-cancer drugs. Topics include recent developments relating to platinum anticancer agents and other established metallodrugs, such as gold-containing anti-arthritic drugs. In addition, clinically useful ion chelators for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning, iron overload and neuro-degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, will be discussed. The focus of the final part of the course will be radiodiagnostic and radiotherapeutic isotopes and the development of MRI contrast agents.
Chemistry Core Modules 1- 4
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