Pharmacology (PHT)

PHT 282 Pharmacology/Toxicology Orient (1 credit)

Introduction to research literature in pharmacology/toxicology.

PHT 305 Fundamentals of Pharmacology (3 credits)

Basic principles and therapeutic approaches to the treatment of diseases. Students will be introduced to the role and actions of drugs and their classes as they relate to biological receptors, disease, health, and body systems.

PHT 306 Biomethods in Pharmac & Tox (3 credits)

Survey of biological methods employed in pharmacology and toxicology to assess efficacy and safety of drugs and chemicals. Experiments are designed to illustrate pharmacological principles and to detect and evaluate potential local and systemic toxicities.

PHT 307 Introduction to Toxicology (2 credits)

"his course introduces the basic principles of the effects of toxic substances on biological systems, including consideration of the history, scope, and applications of toxicology, toxicant exposure, the mechanisms of toxic action, some major types of toxicants, and fundamental methods of toxicology studies. Students will apply the basic principles of toxicology to evaluate the safety risks in preclinical, environmental, and forensic studies and practices

PHT 320 Techniques in Pharmacol & Tox (2 credits)

A laboratory course designed to familiarize students with standard methodology used to assess drug and chemical safety.

PHT 324 Pharmacology & Toxicology Sem (1 credit)

Presentation by students and discussion of primary scientific literature in pharmacology and toxicology by students and faculty.

PHT 340 Intro Neuropsychopharmacology (3 credits)

This course will provide a working knowledge of the neurobiological and neurochemical basis of behavior and the mechanism by which drugs influence synaptic neurotransmission to alter behavior and function in neurologic and psychiatric disorders.

Attributes: Undergraduate

PHT 350 Toxicology of Drug Abuse (2 credits)

This course will consider the toxicity of deliberately ingested, inhaled, injected materials that are used to alter the psychological state. The course will provide a working knowledge of the neurobiological and neurochemical basis of behavior and the mechanism by which drugs influence synaptic neurotransmission to alter behavior and function in Addiction. No prior courses in pharmacology are required.

PHT 395 Research Experience (1-4 credits)

this course is a research opportunity for students to work with a faculty mentor (or faculty’s lab team members) to gain insight and skills in research literature interpretation, hypothesis testing, laboratory measures, and data analysis. The course is pass/fail, with specific objectives and expectations agreed upon by mentor and students, and can be taken multiple times.

PHT 403 Advanced Toxicology (3 credits)

This course introduces the biochemical, genetic, cellular basis of cytotoxicity. Based on this knowledge, the course will study the toxic effects and their underlying mechanisms in different organ systems (e.g., liver, kidney, lung, eye, immunity, endocrine, and reproductive system).

PHT 404 Pharmacology&Toxicology Sem II (1 credit)

Formal science-based presentations by students using primary scientific literature.

PHT 407 Applied Toxicology (3 credits)

This course considers special topics related to organ-specific pathology and applications of clinical toxicology. Special topics may include substance use disorders, cancer therapeutics, immunotherapy, nanotherapy, and the toxicology of medical devices. The course will provide a working knowledge of toxicology principles that impact specific disease states and therapy. No prior courses in pharmacology are required.

Attributes: Undergraduate

PHT 421 Advanced Medicinal Chem/Pharm (4 credits)

This course will introduce concepts involved in drug actions in the body. Principles of medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics will be explored from a theoretical standpoint with integration of chemical and biological principles.

PHT 440 Drug Disc Neurodegenerative (3 credits)

PHT 450 Analysis of Publications (1-3 credits)

The purpose of this course is to use the information learned from retracted scientific papers in the medical/pharmaceutical field to teach many aspects of scientific publication. The class will discuss the specific reasons for the retractions, for example, errors in data, plagiarism, or fraudulent data including manipulated photo images. Using data from subsequent publications that led to the particular retraction, we will analyze the original data in terms of the rigor of statistics, reproducibility, and hints of data manipulation. We will also analyze the impact of the retracted papers on the scientific concepts and to public health. A retracted paper means that the particular data no longer exist in the literature; therefore in this course, we will discuss the ethics and responsibility of authorship, including coauthors. We will also discuss the process of scientific publication and the peer review process that varies widely among journals. Examples of the adverse consequences of retracted papers to medical science, to the biomedical community, and to the public at large will be given in class and discussed in terms of the responsibility of scientists and the ethics in scientific publications. For students electing to receive a letter grade in the course, two written assignments will be required.

PHT 460 Toxicology of Drug Abuse (3 credits)

This course will consider the toxicity of deliberately ingested, inhaled, injected materials that are used to alter the psychological state.The course will provide a working knowledge of the neurobiological and neurochemical basis of behavior and the mechanism by which drugs influence synaptic neurotransmission to alter behavior and function in Addiction.

Attributes: Undergraduate

PHT 470 Special Topics Pharmacology (4 credits)

This course will describe pharmacological classes of therapeutic agents with emphasis on mechanisms of actions at the cellular and organ levels. Students will also participate in interactive learning related to special topics in pharmacology.

PHT 471 Special Topics in Toxicology (3 credits)

PHT 495 Independent Research Project (1-4 credits)

"This course is a research opportunity for students to work with a faculty mentor (or faculty’s lab team members) to gain insight and skills in research literature interpretation, hypothesis testing, laboratory measures, and data analysis, as well as research summarization and conclusion generation, with poster preparation and data presentation to a broad audience. Faculty mentor and student should agree upon the specific objectives and expectations for the course at the beginning of the course; usually the course will follow one or more PC 395 courses, with the added course requirement here for preparation and presentation of data at a local or regional science meeting. This course can be taken multiple times."

PHT 750 Research Ethics and Conduct (2 credits)

"This course discusses research ethics and publication ethics and delves into data manipulations, including image manipulation, statistical manipulation such as p-hacking. The course uses retracted literature that are known to contain errors or manipulated data, and failed to be reproduced by other scientists. This course discusses the adverse consequences of retracted papers to medical science, to the biomedical community and to the public at large and focuses on the responsibility of scientists and the ethics in scientific publications as an author or co-author. The course is entirely online. There will be 5 modules of different topics. "

PHT 799 Master’s Research (1-10 credits)

"Candidates for the master of science degree complete an independent research project, equivalent to at least 10 research credits, under the direction of an Advisory Committee of graduate faculty."

PHT 801 Research Lit in Pharm/Tox (1 credit)

"Weekly presentations by graduate students and faculty on current research papers from journals relevant to the fields of pharmacology and toxicology, followed by group discussion. Attendance and active participation are required during fall and spring semesters."

PHT 811 Research Techniques Laboratory (1-3 credits)

"During the first year of enrollment, each student satisfactorily completes an experiential rotation through the research laboratories of at least two departmental graduate faculty and selects a primary research topic."

PHT 821 Molecular Pharmacology (3 credits)

"This is an advanced pharmacology course with a focus on cell signal transduction. Major mammalian signaling pathways will be reviewed and how therapeutics, especially anticancer therapeutics, perturb these signaling pathways for therapeutic purposes will be discussed. Instructors will provide appropriate recent review and research papers to the class. Students are required to read these papers and actively participate in class discussion. Students are also required to write a mock research proposal and present it in class."

PHT 840 Drug Disc Neurodegenerative (3 credits)

The goal of this course is to examine the drug discovery process with focus on neurodegenerative disorders. Using Alzheimer’s disease for illustration, we will examine diagnosis, epidemiology, current therapeutics, strategies for drug discovery (amyloid hypothesis, tau, apo E, insulin, and various receptors) in vitro and in vivo disease models. We will examine the in vivo models to see how well they simulate the disease and thus how reliable they may be in translational studies. Although the focus of the course is on preclinical studies, we will examine how some of the compounds that have done well in preclinical studies have fared in clinical studies thus illustrating challenges in this field.

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Doctoral level students.

Attributes: Doctoral

PHT 851 Drug Discovery & Development (3 credits)

"This is an advanced 3-credit course of pharmacology & toxicology focusing on drug discovery & development. The primary objective of this course is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge about the major steps involved in drug discovery and development with real examples. The course will cover all major stages for advancing a molecule from the pre-clinical space into clinical FIH (First in Human) trials. These include target identification and validation, screening and selection of appropriate targeting molecules, non-clinical safety assessment, PK/PD modeling, clinical trial design, FIH dose calculation and efficacy assessment, et al. In addition to the didactic teaching, students will be assigned with a group project to use the knowledge they have learned to solve problems in drug discovery and development. After completing the course, students will have a deep understanding and practical knowledge of how pharmaceutical industry develops small molecule chemicals and biological macromolecules to become life-saving medicines."

PHT 880 Pharm Tox Seminar (1 credit)

"Reports on current research topics by guest scientists, departmental faculty, and graduate students, followed by group discussion. Attendance and participation are required during fall and spring semesters."

PHT 899 Doctoral Research (10 credits)

"Candidates for the doctor of philosophy degree fulfill their thesis-directed research requirement, equivalent to at least 20 research credits, under the supervision of an Advisory Committee of graduate faculty."