Pharmacology

Major/Minor/Specialisation !R01-AA-MAJ+1026 (2015)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2015.

Year and Campus: 2015

Coordinator

Dr Michael Lew

Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Contact

Email: michaell@unimelb.edu.au

Overview:

Subjects in a pharmacology major introduce students to the unified study of the interaction between chemical agents and living matter. A pharmacology major will teach you how drugs work, and how drugs are used as therapies and as experimental tools for investigation of important problems in biology. Pharmacology extends and complements a range of other biomedical disciplines as well as medicinal chemistry. Graduates will gain an in depth understanding of drug actions and a broad appreciation of the scientific process of knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Thus, a pharmacology major will provide the springboard for students entering careers in many areas of biomedical research and associated industries and regulatory authorities.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this major a student should have:

  • knowledge of the actions of important drugs used clinically and in research;
  • an understanding of 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.
Structure & Available Subjects:

Completion of 50 points of study at Level 3.

Subject Options:

Both of

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
Semester 1, Semester 2
12.50

Plus at least one of

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:

Plus (if required to make up 50 points) electives selected from the following areas of study: Anatomy and Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, Neuroscience, Pathology, Physiology, Zoology or the following subject.

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
Summer Term, Semester 1, Semester 2
12.50
Notes:

This major is available to new generation Bachelor of Science students (B-SCI) and Bachelor of Biomedicine students. It is also available to Bachelor of Science students who commenced prior to 2008. The published structure of this major includes subjects available in the current year. Pre-2008 Bachelor of Science students who completed one or more Level 3 science subjects towards this major prior to 2010 should contact the Science Student Centre for advice on appropriate subjects to complete this major.

A quota has been applied to a core subject in this major.

Related Course(s): Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Biomedicine
Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science

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