Summary:

This week we keep moving down in scale to the level of cells and molecules. There will be a lot of medical discussions in the next few weeks, which I know is an interest of many in our class. Unit 12 is about Drug Discovery and Development with specific examples from clinical trials having to do with cancer. We’ll be bringing in some Structural Biology when we talk about creating drugs and then we’ll take an in depth look into how drugs come to market. In the process, we’ll be talking a lot about experimental design and models.

Learning Objectives:

  • understand the importance of models to the chemistry and biology involved in drug development
  • explore experimental design in clinical drug trials

Unit 12, Class 22 [day/date] Required Readings/Videos:

  1. SF video: Drug Discovery and Development.
  2. Reading: Chapter 3: Biological Macromolecules from  Biology. 21 October 2016.
  3. Reading: Gorson and Holford 2016. Small Packages, Big Returns: Uncovering the Venom Diversity of Small Invertebrate Conoidean Snails. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 56(5):962-972.

Unit 12, Class 22 [day/date] OPTIONAL Reading:

Rogers. 2022. Venomous Snail Unlocks New Diabetes Drugs. Scientific American.

Unit 12, Class 22 [day/date] Self-Assessment

[insert form]

Unit 12, Class 23 [day/date] Required Readings/Videos

  1. Video: TED talk: Collins – We need better drugs now.
  2. Reading: Mullard. 2012. Drug repurposing progammes get lift off. Nature. 11:1-2.

Unit 12, Class 23 [day/date]Self-Assessment

[insert form]

Unit 12 Major Assignments

Poster first draft is due [time/date]