Therapeutic Chemistry (11728.1)

Therapeutic chemistry is a dynamic, multifaceted scientific discipline dedicated to the improvement of our life through research leading to new concepts for the discovery, design and development of safe and effective therapeutic and diagnostic drugs. This unit will focus on 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 (enzymes and receptors); sources of new drugs or drug leads from nature and synthesis; methods to identify what structural features are important for biological activity (structure-activity relationships); what happens to a drug in the body and how it interacts with its biological target in the body (pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics); and how to make more active, selective or less toxic drugs. This is followed by an introduction to combinatorial chemistry and chemical biology, use of chemoinformatics in drug design and case studies (e.g. antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anticancer agents).

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Describe the chemical structures of common medicinal agents and evaluate their reactivity;

2. Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the structure-activity relationship of drugs;
3. Explain drug interactions with its biological target in the body and appraise the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties;
4. Appraise methods used in drug discovery and evaluate strategies necessary for new drug design; and
5. Collect experimental data and apply therapeutic chemical principles to the interpretation and validation of this data.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development

Prerequisites

11724 Chemical Concepts OR 1517 Chemistry 1b

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.