CMB 5301 MECH OF DRUG ACTION
The course is organized around weekly lectures (one hour) and discussions (two hours). During the first part of the course, the general principles of pharmacology are examined. Topics include the entry, distribution and elimination of drugs; the time course of the drug action; the molecular basis of pharmacological selectivity and efficacy; the adaptation, tolerance, and addiction to drugs; and pharmacogenetics. These sessions are followed by discussions of the molecular bases of antibiotic chemotherapy and autonomic pharmacology. During the final weeks of the course, a range of topics is explored, using examples from contemporary literature.
Topics include peptides and proteins as drugs, rational drug design, the use of RNA and DNA as drugs, gene therapy, prodrugs, immunotoxins, anticancer chemotherapy, and strategies of selective drug delivery.