PHAR 5310
Biopharmaceuticals & Molecular Toxicology – Health & Life Sciences
Module Leader: Bob Chaudhuri
Module Characteristics
- This module will allow the student to examine how a biopharmaceutical (usually a proteinaceous medicine) relates to a therapeutic target (a toxic protein that causes disease) and will highlight the fact that a biopharmaceutical aims to precisely modulate the molecular toxicity manifested by a therapeutic target.
- Concepts of molecular pharmacology (the biochemical molecules involved in the pathway to a disease) will be employed by the student in an analytical manner to illustrate the advantages of biopharmaceuticals, over small molecule drugs that are currently used, as 21st century medicines.
- The underlying theme of the module will be to provide a comprehensive review of the underlying principles that allow for the selection of a biopharmaceutical in the treatment of a disease. With this in mind specific examples will be provided to students so as to focus on some of the therapeutic areas like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, lysosomal storage diseases (typically occuring in children but often used to model an array of adult neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, ALS, Alzheimer’s – particularly those with a genetic component), viral infections (with a focus on vaccines and nucleic acid based products), diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
