FARMA2010 Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy Course description

This course adopts a basis and critical perspective of Needs Led Research. The process linked to the first step in the research pathway dealing with the identification and prioritization of research issues. Needs Led Research is characterized by two parallel processes; user involvement and identification and verification of evidence gaps by systematic searches in databases.

User involvement is characterized by processes in which users/stakeholders (eg patients, relatives, health workers) suggest, discuss, prioritize and agree on research questions they consider important. Several framework and methodologies for user involvement in research exist, of which the most relevant ones will be focused on in this course.

Identification and verification of evidence gaps, being the core of evidence-based research, is based on a systematic and transparent review of existing research in order to guide new studies in answering relevant and valid research questions. The course will focus on how to identify, verify and document evidence gaps by systematically searching the existing evidence.

The course will be run as a five-day course over a period of three months.

Admission requirements

This course is primarily aimed at PhD candidates admitted to the PhD Programme in Health Sciences but is also open to other applicants. Admission requirements are a completed hovedfag, master's degree (120 ECTS credits) or equivalent qualification.

The course can also be offered to students who have been admitted to the “Health Science Research Programme, 60 ECTS”, by prior approval from the supervisor and based on given guidelines for the research programme.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of pharmaceuticals and of their reactions and reaction mechanisms in a physiological environment
• is capable of explaining different main groups of pharmaceuticals (ATC classification)
• is capable of explaining how pharmaceuticals are metabolised in the body
• is capable of explaining the use of different derivatives of pharmaceutical molecules and their significance in relation to pharmaceutical effects
• is capable of explaining the main principles of interaction between pharmaceuticals and their target molecules (receptors/enzymes/transport proteins) and how pharmaceuticals influence the activity in the body's different mediator systems
• is familiar with the classes of natural products and their traditional use

Skills

The student is capable of

• assessing the structure-activity relationship and molecular mechanisms of action for the main groups of pharmaceuticals and natural products
• analysing the chemical and physical properties of the substances, functional groups, stereochemistry, absorption and metabolism, structure-activity relationship (SAR), the connection between the chemical structure of pharmaceuticals and their pharmacodynamic properties

General competence

The student is capable of

• independently acquiring knowledge about and assessing the properties of a pharmaceutical product and its activity relationship

Work and teaching methods consist of lectures, seminars, small group work and discussions, self-study, and practical exercises. In the seminars the students will present and discuss the status of their work and progress in plenary sessions.

None

Individual home examination, to be submitted no more than two weeks after the end of the course. The candidates must submit an essay, which will describe the background and validation of the Needs Led Research questions to be answered. The essay, consisting of up to 5000 words, must describe the methodology and process for developing the Needs Led Research questions. This includes description of the process for user involvement, as well as the process for identification and verification of evidence gaps.

All

Pass / Fail

One internal and one external examiner will assess the essays submitted by all candidates