Disease-focused pharmacology

This unit will provide a solid grounding of knowledge as to how biological systems are affected in disease states, and how drugs can be designed to better treat these conditions. This unit builds on previous physiology and pharmacology units and starts from a strong understanding of pathophysiological processes, the impact of chronic disease states on homeostasis, body function and complex behaviours. Logical approaches to designing experiments using different biological research methods to identify new therapeutic targets will be studied. Target identification and validation processes will be explored using disease conditions that affect key physiological and neurological processes, such as:

• cardiovascular diseases, e.g. myocardial infarct,
• metabolic disorders, e.g. diabetes, and
• diseases affecting neuronal signalling and central nervous system functions, e.g. Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.