Early Drug Discovery

Year 2: Fall semester, 3 credits

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Goal of the Course

Provide students with an overview of the drug discovery process and explain many of the core technologies used therein. Introduce students to different approaches and perspectives to drug discovery using guest speakers from industry and academia. Assist students in developing skills to investigate new technologies and their applications.

Course Objectives

By the completion of the course, student should be able to:

  • Outline the early drug discovery process, beginning with target identification up to preclinical trials.
     
  • Identify a variety of resources where technical information for drug discovery can be found.
     
  • Develop a scientific understanding of mechanisms of one or more disease processes.
     
  • Identify a disease target and explain how modulation of that target could prevent, cure, or treat a disease.
     
  • Describe current and emerging methods for generating compound diversity in chemical libraries, natural products, and antibodies.
     
  • Identify several technologies and describe where they are used in drug discovery.
     
  • Identify a current bottleneck in drug discovery and offer a solution to overcome the bottleneck.
     
  • Understand the basic scientific principles of special topics covered in the course, including stem cell applications in health care, drug formulation and targeting, medical devices, vaccines, and bioimaging and how those may be developed in the future.

This course will cover early stage drug discovery, beginning with disease mechanisms and target identification and concluding with safety pharmacology. Technologies covered will be organized to illustrate key principles of drug discovery activities.

Several special topics will also be introduced, including stem cells, vaccines and medical imaging technologies. Instructors will present scientific lectures in significant depth. In order to expose the class to a sufficient breadth of current technologies, a significant part of the lectures will be given by outside scientists from biotech and pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.