2009 Course Handbook
CBMS342: Medicinal Chemistry
Primarily designed for the BMedScs students but of value to all chemistry and biochemistry majors, this unit is an introduction to research in the modern pharmaceutical industry. The central core of the unit is the description of methods used for the discovery of new drugs, how these are modified to produce more active compounds, transportation to and from their points of action and how they are cleared from the body.
Topics covered include: the structure and function of biological targets (proteins and DNA); lead generation/sources of drugs; methods of lead modification. The discovery of new drugs cannot be carried out without bioassays so a variety of screening methods is examined. This is followed by a study of structure-activity methods (QSAR, combinatorial chemistry, computational methods) and biodisposition (pharmaco-kinetics, drug metabolism, prodrugs) and finally a look at regulatory affairs and patents.
The unit is taught from a series of case studies to exemplify one or more topics. This is supplemented by practical classes utilising synthetic chemistry, spectroscopic methods, bioassays and computational chemistry.
| Credit Points: | 4 |
| Contact Hours: | 7 |
| When Offered: | D1 - Day; Offered in the first half-year |
| Staff Contact: | Associate Professor Joanne Jamie, Associate Professor Peter Karuso, Associate Professor Bridget Mabbutt |
| Prerequisites: | (CBMS204(P) or CHEM204(P)) and (CBMS223(P) or BIOL223(P)) |
| Corequisites: | |
| NCCWs: | CHEM339, CHEM342 |
| Unit Designations: |
Technology
Science Medical Sciences |
| Assessed As: | Graded |
| Offered By: |
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences |
Timetable Information
For unit timetable information please visit the Timetables@Macquarie Website.