Drug Development, Pharmacokinetics and Imaging

The Drug Development, Pharmacokinetics and Imaging module is a one-week module of the MSc in Experimental and Translational Therapeutics programme. Offered by the Department of Oncology and the Department for Continuing Education, the module will be led by Dr Emma Mead, and will feature face-to-face lectures and tutorials from some of Oxford's leading clinicians and scientists.

The module can also be taken as a stand-alone short course. It includes group work, discussions, guest lectures, and interaction and feedback with tutors and lecturers.

This five-day course touches on the basic principles of designing and identifying new drug molecules improving their properties, and monitoring their effect in cellular model systems and in vivo. The course comprises principles of medicinal chemistry, structural biology, structure-based design, in vitro and cell based screening technology, as well as principles of pharmacokinetics and optimisation of drug in vivo properties.

The course also covers aspects of target validation and identification. Finally it explores several state-of-art imaging technologies, aiming to assess the drug distribution and activity as well as to gain a broader view of disease pathology.

The Pharmacokinetics and Drug Therapy course will provide students with the opportunity to learn more about and discuss the following topics:

• Introduction to pharmacokinetics; absorption, distribution, elimination
• Single intravenous and oral dose kinetics
• Multiple oral dose kinetics, bioavailability and dosage regimens
• The role of PK in drug development and regulatory approval
• Screening and target validation strategies
• Rational drug design using protein structures
• Principles of medicinal chemistry and modulation of drug properties
• Using non-invasive imaging to assess clinical response
• Illustration of the drug development process using case studies

The course fees for January 2023 have not yet been confirmed.