Pharmacology

Major/Minor/Specialisation !J07-MAJ+1010 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Year and Campus: 2009

Coordinator

Dr Michael Lew

Department of Pharmacology

Email: michaell@unimelb.edu.au

Overview: Pharmacology is the study of the interactions between drugs and living systems, and pharmacologists develop new drugs, determine how drugs act, and utilise drugs to discover the inner workings of cells. The discipline of pharmacology stands at the intersection of many areas of biomedical science and so a major in pharmacology will provide the springboard for a career in a wide array of biomedical research areas and industries. Drugs are essential tools for the practice of medicine so students contemplating clinical careers would be well served by gaining the understanding of the scientific basis of drug action that comes from a pharmacology major. Graduates will gain an in depth understanding of drug actions and a broad appreciation of the scientific process of knowledge acquisition and problem solving.
Objectives: By the end of this major a student will have:
  • knowledge of the actions of important drugs used clinically and in research;
  • understood how the actions of new drugs are characterised and how drugs can be used to investigate questions of biological processes and signaling;
  • an understanding of the process of drug discovery and development;
  • used modern molecular approaches to solving pharmacological problems, and obtained an appreciation of their application to specific biological problems;
  • applied laboratory techniques and analytical approaches in different areas of pharmacology including the analysis and interpretation of data derived from experiments;
  • gained experience in the written and oral presentation of scientific data and developed an appreciation of the scientific literature.
Subject Options:

Second Year

Fundamentals of Pharmacology is not a prerequisite for a Pharmacology major in the Bachelor of Biomedicine but provides an introduction to the therapeutic use of drugs.


Third Year

Students will need to complete the following third year level subjects:

Principles of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Experimental Pharmacology
Drug Discovery and Development

Plus one subject from:

Cardiorespiratory Pharmacology
Neuropharmacology
Immunopharmacology and Cancer Therapy

Or another relevant biomedical science subjects as approved by the Major Coordinator.

NB Complete information on third year level subjects will be available in the 2010 Handbook which will be published late 2009.

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
Links to further information: http://www.bbiomed.unimelb.edu.au/bachelor_of_biomedicine/course_structure
Related Course(s): Bachelor of Biomedicine

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