PHAR 600: Principles of Drug Discovery (3 Credits)
This interdisciplinary course describes the inter-relationship among the disciplines of the pharmaceutical sciences, and establishes the basic theoretical background essential to the drug design and development process. A progression of pharmaceutical sciences content is presented and considers the drug discovery process, beginning with traditional drug design and optimization of drug structure, continuing with principles of pharmacology, including macromolecular structure, followed by modern drug discovery methods based on knowledge of the structure and pharmacology of the target molecule.
PHAR 601: Principles of Drug Development (3 Credits)
This interdisciplinary course describes the inter-relationship among the disciplines of the pharmaceutical sciences, and establishes the basic theoretical background essential to the drug design and development process. Built on material presented in PHAR 600 Principles of Drug Discovery, the course covers the areas of pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, and drug metabolism. Integrative competency is developed and demonstrated in the final module.
PHAR 606 Experimental Success 1 (1 Credit)
This lab course builds on the principles of chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. The course covers basic lab techniques, instrumentation, as well as key databases and software.
PHAR 607 Experimental Success 2 (1 Credit)
This course emphasizes experimental design and is intended to build on practical skills learned in Experimental Success 1: Laboratory Skills (PHAR 606). The course will expose students to five experimental techniques in pharmaceutics, then challenge them to design an experimental plan that uses each technique to address a practical problem. While each technique is used in the laboratory of a faculty member associated with pharmaceutics, the learned skills will be relevant to all Pharmaceutical Sciences masters students.
PHAR 615: PSC Ethics and Biostatistics (2 Credits)
Recent decades have seen many examples of challenges to ethics in scientific research. With the goal to provide contemporary and complete training in research, this course will expose students to acceptable and unacceptable ethical behaviors. To help understand the issues and aid discussions, this course will be heavily case-based. Students will also gain training in appropriate experimental design and ways of conducting experiments and analyzing data. They will learn to identify ethical issues in a practical sense by critical review of manuscripts. This course will be offered to graduate students and Pharmacy students. Moreover, a basic understanding of statistical analyses is an essential complement to proper experimental design and data analysis. Knowledge gained will be considered an integral component of their research training in the pharmaceutical sciences.
PHAR 628: Bioanalytical and Pharmacological Methods (2 Credits)
This course describes current techniques and strategies for isolating, detecting and analyzing experimental data. Topics range from methods relevant to small molecules to tissues and cells to whole animals.
PHAR 639: Molecular Spectroscopy and Imaging (2 Credits)
This course introduces students to spectrometric techniques for the elucidation of molecular structure and to the analysis of pharmaceutically important materials. The methodologies covered include ultraviolet-visible, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass and fluorescence spectrometry. The class includes discussions of physical principles, instrumentation involved, exercises in the interpretation of spectrometric data, and examples of application.
PHAR 641: Technical Writing I (1 Credit)
This course will provide a platform for developing technical writing skills focused on identifying common components of academic writing and creating best practice guidelines. Students will be exposed to articles, visualizations, and software to prepare them for writing in their careers. Students will be challenged to review and breakdown academic literature. They will also lead discussions on effective methods of communication. Exercises from this course will build the foundational skills necessary to succeed in PHAR 642 Technical Writing “Chapter II”.
PHAR 642: Technical Writing II (1 Credit)
This course will act as a stage for students to develop their technical writing skills with a focus on academic publication. Students will be exposed to articles, visualizations, and software to prepare them for writing in their careers. Content for class will focus on identifying common components and structure of academic literature, style, writing behavior, and revision. Students will work collaboratively through writing and review sessions to construct quality written works. Exercises from this course will build the advanced skills required to write high level academic documents. Students taking this course will work to create documents that meets the general requirements for publication.
PHAR 705: PSC Journal Club (2 Credits)
This course is designed as a forum for students to present research projects to a peer audience and to help students thoroughly disseminate, analyze, and critique current research related to the pharmaceutical sciences. Students will be introduced to interdisciplinary research topics. Journal discussions with be coordinated with department seminar speaker’s research interests.
