Imperial College London (ICL)

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, pharmacology module. Phar 2: introduction to pharmacology with pharmacokinetics. learning outcomes = - LO1 Administration: List the major routes by which drugs may be administered and their advantages and disadvantages. - LO2 Distribution: Identify the factors that affect the passage of drugs across membranes and thus determine drug distribution. - LO3 Metabolism: Identify the routes and biochemistry of Pha...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, pharmacology module. Phar 4 on psychoactive drugs, stimulants (cocaine, nicotine): stimulate or increase the activity of nerves within the central nervous system - LO1: Administration: Predict how the route of administration of cocaine and nicotine will influence the speed of onset of central nervous system effects. - LO2: Metabolism: Explain how the metabolism of cocaine and nicotine contribute to their addict...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, pharmacology module. Phar 3 on psychoactive drugs, depressants (alcohol, cannabis): - Lipid solubility: Predict how the lipid solubility of alcohol and cannabis will influence drug distribution. - Dosing: Calculate the amount of alcohol administered within specific doses and predict the likely bioavailability associated with each dose. - Pharmacokinetics: Compare and contrast how alcohol and cannabis are abso...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Pharmacology module Pharmacology 8 on cancer drug therapies: In this session, we will refresh our memories about the hallmarks of cancer, before thinking about how some of those hallmarks might help us design and use pharmaceutical agents in therapy. We will be focusing on small-molecular chemotherapeutic agents, paying particular attention to their mechanism of action. learning outcomes: LO1: Provide a conci...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Pharmacology module PHAR 7 on antimicrobials: we will consider drugs that are used in the treatment of microbial infection, exploiting key differences in biochemistry that permit treatments with varying degrees of selectivity for their target vs man. Importantly, this is an area where pharmacologists, toxicologists, and medicinal chemists face the challenges related to treatment efficacy i.e. the drugs don’t work...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Pharmacology module. PHAR 6, hypertension: treatments that are currently prescribed for hypertension, focusing on their pharmacodynamics to understand how these different drugs lower blood pressure and considering some of their side effects and important factors to consider when choosing treatment. - Explain the cardiovascular control of blood pressure and describe how it is measured - Classify the various stag...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Pharmacology module PHAR 5, on opioids: - Structure activity relationships: Predict how the chemical structure of opioids can determine lipid solubility and affinity/efficacy of these drugs. - Absorption: Review how route of administration may influence the bioavailability of drugs. - Metabolism: Explain how the metabolism of opioids can change the structure of opioid drugs and greatly influence their abi...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Cancer Biology (CBIO) module learning outcomes: - Define key terms relating to cancer (words to describe cancer and cancer-related processes) - Explain the differences between a normal cell and a cancer cell - Outline the risk factors for cancer, and identify which are most relevant to common cancers - Describe the different steps that are required for a metastatic cancer to arise - Name the 6 hallmarks of c...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences, 2nd year, Cancer Biology (CBIO) module A crucial characteristic of every living cell is its ability to communicate with neighbouring cells. This interchange of information between a cell and its environment is what is known as cellular signalling. Specifically, a cell must be able to give precise responses to the environmental signals that it is continually receiving. Cell signalling pathways regulate all the key processes in...

Lecture notes from Imperial College London, Medical Biosciences BSc, 2nd year, Cancer Biology (CBIO) module For a cancer to be initiated, certain changes must take place within the genes of a cell. These genes usually control the process of cells growing and reproducing only as required, in an orderly and controlled way (cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival). Studies of tumour viruses revealed that specific genes (called oncogenes) are capable of inducing oncogenic cell changes, ...