Drug Screening

Year
2
Academic year
2022-2023
Code
01550783
Subject Area
HEALTH SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Language of Instruction
Portuguese
Mode of Delivery
Face-to-face
Duration
SEMESTRIAL
ECTS Credits
6.0
Type
Compulsory
Level
1st Cycle Studies

Recommended Prerequisites

Cellular and Molecular Biology, Histology, Biochemistry.

Teaching Methods

The teaching methods in this curricular unit include:
lectures
problem solving-based practical classes; execution of simple drug screening assays and project elaboration (design of a drug screening assay)
seminars.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this curricular unit the student will be able to:
- understand the purpose of drug screening
- discriminate between pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic drug screening and place each one adequately in the process of drug development
- understand the various levels and methods of analysis involved in drug screening
- identify the fundamental steps in the design of screening assay
- apply the knowledge acquired to the design of simple drug screening assays
- understand the basic mechanisms of drug action and their relationship with disease
- identify molecular targets suitable for drug development.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

• Concept, objectives and strategies of drug screening. Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic screening.
• Criteria for the design of drug screening assays and selection of molecular targets.
• Models and methods applicable to drug screening: small and large (high throughput) scale in vitro bioassays (molecular and cellular); applications of stem cells for drug screening
• Molecular mechanisms of drug action and their evaluation in drug screening
• Molecular targets in the central nervous system:
• Glutamatergic, GABAergic, noradrenergic, dopaminergic and neuropeptidergic systems
• Blood-brain barrier: structure, models, problems and opportunities in drug screening
• Molecular mechanisms and drug targets in acute and chronic inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and cancer.

Head Lecturer(s)

Alexandrina Maria Ferreira Santos Pinto Mendes

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Laboratory work report: 2.5%
Report of a seminar or field trip: 5.0%
Project: 25.0%
Exam: 67.5%

Bibliography

Brunton LL, Lazo JS, Parker KL (eds.) Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. McGraw-Hill, 11th Edition, 2006. ISBN 0-07-142280-3
Katzung B. G. (ed.) Basic and clinical Pharmacology. McGraw Hill, 9th edition, 2004. ISBN: 007-121931-5
Rang, Dale, Ritter & Flower. Rang & Dale's, Pharmacology. Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier, 6th Edition, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-443-06911-6.
A. N. Goktug, S. C. Chai, T. Chen. Data Analysis Approaches in High Throughput Screening. In Tech Open Science, 2013. Doi: 10.5772/52508.
JP Hughes, S Rees, SB Kalindjian, KL Philpott. Principles of early drug discovery. Br J Pharmacol. 2011; 162:1239–1249. Doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2010.01127.x
M. Ohlmeyer, M-M Zhou. Integration of small molecule discovery in academic biomedical research. Mount Sinai J Med. 2010; 77:350–357. Doi: 10.1002/msj.20197
Outros artigos científicos (a indicar anualmente)/Other scientific articles (to be indicated annually).