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INFORMATION FOR

Pharmacology Courses

Here is a list of courses taught by the Department of Pharmacology

Pharmacology Course List - Fall

  • PHARM 502a Seminar Course. Titus Boggon, Susumu Tomita, Don Nguyen. Mon, 3-5pm. The objectives are to critically evaluate and discuss the scientific literature, (2) improve the ability of the students to give oral presentations, and (3) provide students with the opportunity to learn about individual topics from a physiological, pathological, and pharmacological perspective. Grades are given but a Honors does not qualify for the Graduate School's two Honors requirement.
  • PHARM 504a Molecular Mechanisms of Drug Actions. Elias Lolis and staff. Lectures covering antibiotics, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. Monday and Wednesday 9:25 a.m. - 10:40 a.m., Giarman Room, SHM B201.
  • PHARM 506a Methods in Pharmacological Research (Rotations). Elias Lolis. Students work in laboratories of faculty of their choice. Hours to be arranged.
  • PHAR 538a Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics in Neuropharmacology. Jason Cai. This course is designed to give a historical account of drug discovery and development for psychiatric and neurological diseases and introduce state-of-the-art methods to study the pharmacological effects of compounds on the nervous system. It is designed to lay a scientific foundation on Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Advanced Molecular Imaging for senior undergraduate students and graduate students who are interested in quantitative neuropharmacology. This course also introduces the theoretical basis of advanced imaging technologies and their applications in the preclinical and clinical neuropharmacology. The lecturer group is comprised with leading experts in Medicinal Chemistry, Neuropharmacology and multiple imaging modalities. The guest lecturers are industry leaders in pharmaceutical industry. Tuesday and Friday 1:30-2:45 pm Giarman SHM B201
  • PHAR 540b, Qualifying Exam Prep Course for Pharmacology. Mark Lemmon, Moitrayee Bhattacharyya, and Titus Boggon. The goal of this class is to teach students to conceive, write, and defend a grant proposal. The timing of this half-term course is aligned with the Pharmacology qualifying exam in the spring term, for which a written research proposal is required. This course takes students through the steps of proposal writing, guiding them in defining a problem of their own and training them in the mechanics of writing. Additional support is given as needed to students with more limited writing experience. By taking the “guesswork” out of the writing process, students can focus on the development of their research proposal without the added anxiety associated with an unfamiliar process. Students learn about the structure and components of fellowship and grant proposals. They engage in “mock study sections”, providing written critiques and participating in discussion of sample proposals assigned by the instructors. Students give oral presentations of their specific aims followed by classroom discussion. At the end of the course, students will have made substantial progress toward completing the written portion of their qualifying exam and gained a set of competencies central to this program. Open to graduate students only. Priority is given to Pharmacology students.
  • PHAR 550a Physiological Systems. W. Mark Saltzman. Human physiology is examined through homeostasis, and the biophysical properties of cells, tissues, and organs. These topics are through exploring the function of skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle, the physical basis of blood flow, mechanisms of vascular exchange, cardiac performance, and regulation of overall circulatory function are discussed. Other topics include respiratory physiology, renal physiology the digestive system from the perspective of substrate metabolism and energy balance, hormonal regulation is applied to metabolic control and to calcium, water, and electrolyte balance, and the biology of nerve cells. MWF 9:25–10:15

Pharmacology Course List - Spring

  • PHARM 502b Seminar Course. Titus Boggon, Susumu Tomita, Don Nguyen. Monday 3:00-5:00PM. Room TBA. The objectives are to critically evaluate and discuss the scientific literature, (2) improve the ability of the students to give oral presentations, and (3) provide students with the opportunity to learn about individual topics from a physiological, pathological, and pharmacological perspective. Grades are given by an Honors does not qualify for the Graduate School's two Honors requirement.
  • PHARM 506a Methods in Pharmacology Research (Rotations). Elias Lolis. Students work in laboratories of faculty of their choice. Hours to be arranged.
  • PHARM 528a Principles of Signal Transduction. Anton Bennett. The regulation of intracellular signaling is of fundamental importance to the understanding of cell function and regulation. This course will introduce the broad principles of intracellular signal transduction. More detailed lectures on specific intracellular signaling pathways will be given where students will learn both the basic and the most recent and cutting edge concepts of intracellular signaling. Topics covered will include regulation of signaling by protein phosphorylation, small G-proteins, G protein-coupled receptors, hormones, phospholipids, adhesion and gasses. Tuesday and Thursday 9:25 a.m.-10:40 a.m. SHM B201
  • PHARM 529b Structural Pharmacology and Drug Discovery. Ya Ha & Titus Boggon. The goal of this course is to show students how concepts of structural biology are applied to areas of great importance in pharmacology such as protein kinases, proteases, cell surface receptors, integrins and other membrane-bound enzymes, transporters and channels, and how these concepts facilitate drug development. Tuesday & Thursday 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Giarman Room SHM B201
  • PHARM 537 Systems Pharmacology and Integrated Therapeutics (SPIT). The goal of this course is to provide an in-depth experience in drug design, drug discovery, high throughput screening, state-of-the-are proteomics and target validation. This course is mandatory for all Predoctoral Pharmacology Training Program (PPTP) trainees.
  • PHARM 560 Cellular and Molecular Physiology: Molecular Machines in Human Disease. Emile Boulpaep. This course focuses on understanding the processes that transfer molecules across membranes at the cellular, molecular, biophysical, and physiological levels. Students learn about the different classes of molecular machines that mediate membrane transport, generate electrical currents, or perform mechanical displacement. Emphasis is placed upon the relationship between the molecular structures of membrane proteins, their normal function, and abnormal function in human disease. The interactions among transport proteins, their normal function, and abnormal function in human disease are also a focus. The interactions among transport proteins in determining the physiological behaviors of cells and tissues are also stressed. Molecular motors are introduced and their mechanical relationship to cell function is explored. Students read papers from scientific literature that establish the connections between mutations in genes encoding membrane proteins and a wide variety of human genetic diseases MWF 9:25 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. ML 104
  • PHARM 580/C&MP 650/PATH 660, The Responsible Conduct of Research. Organized to foster discussion, the course is taught by faculty in the Pharmacology, Pathology, and Physiology departments and two or three senior graduate students. Each session is based on case studies from primary literature, reviews, and two texts: Francis Macrina’s Scientific Integrity and Kathy Barker’s At the Bench. Each week, students are required to submit a reaction paper discussing the reading assignment. Students take turns leading the class discussion; a final short paper on a hot topic in bioethics is required. B.E. Ehrlich, Demetrios Braddock Thursday 11:00 am – 12:15 pm SHM B-201