PHRM 5100: Drug Discovery (3)
This course will explore the theoretical and practical aspects of drug discovery research. Topics will include detailed discussion regarding drug targets, such as enzyme, GPCR/ion channels, nucleic receptor and the methods used for modern drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. Original research journal articles will be used as case studies to illustrate the practical application of the research in drug discovery.

Prerequisites: Biochemistry and lab, Advanced Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5110: Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (3)
This course provides an extensive overview of the process of drug manufacture in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with an emphasis of the production of biopharmaceuticals. This course is designed for individuals entering the biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical development and vaccine industries. An understanding of the scientific, technical and regulatory aspects of developing safe and efficacious therapeutics will be detailed. The lecture series will cover drug production with an emphasis on microbial and mammalian systems. The roles of different departments such as process development, bioanalytical and QA/QC will be defined. The role of bioanalytical characterization as it applies to the issues of drug stability, formulation and delivery will be detailed. The lecture series will emphasize the requirements and application of good manufacturing practices (cGMP), with detailed reviews of process development procedures, standard operating procedures (SOPs), procedures for validation of equipment and computer systems, documentation and regulation of GMP facilities. The Regulatory process including an overview of CBER, CDER and ICH guidelines will also be included.

Prerequisites: Biochemistry, Genetics, Bioanalytical Chemistry, Bioprocessing and Cell culture or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5120: Advanced Biochemistry Lab (2)
This laboratory course is designed to expose students to advanced research techniques that are commonly used in biotechnology. This course will provide students with hands-on research training in preparation for individuals interested in entering the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. During this course, individuals will 1) become intimately familiar with research techniques commonly used in biotechnology, 2) gain important research experience and a better understanding of modern biochemical techniques, 3) learn to think scientifically and interpret experimental results and 4) enhance their scientific writing skills.

Prerequisites: Organic lecture and lab, Biochemistry lecture and lab or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5130: Enzyme Kinetics (3)
This course will explore the theoretical and practical aspects of enzyme kinetics. Michaelis-Menton kinetics will be thoroughly covered for one and two substrate reactions. Topics will include modes of enzyme inhibition and the methods used to determine mechanism of action for inhibitors and activators of enzyme activity. Original research journal articles will be used as case studies to illustrate the practical application of enzyme kinetics in research and drug discovery.

Prerequisites: Biochemistry and lab, Advanced Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5140: Advanced Methods in Protein Chemistry (3)
This course will examine the details of how structure determines function for all major classes of enzymes. A toolbox of methods will be presented to study any catalytic system. The material to be covered includes an in-depth review of the structure-function relationships of proteins, the use of computer modeling, structure analysis and reviews of the current research literature. Topics covered include; a review of protein secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure, folding patterns, specific enzymology and protein chemistry, and protein engineering.

Prerequisites: Advanced Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry II or with consent from Instructor.

PHRM 5150: Introduction to Biosensor technology (3)
Introduction to Biosensor Technology is an interdisciplinary course designed for upper level undergraduates and graduate students who have an interest in understanding theory and applications of biosensor technologies. Students will learn basic knowledge of biosensing molecules, various transducer techniques (optical, electric, electrochemical, mass, etc), detailed knowledge in immobilization of biomolecules to transducer surface, sensor micro-fabrication, and updated applications in various areas.

Prerequisites: General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, General Physics or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5160: Physical Biochemistry (3)
This course applies the concepts of physical chemistry to biological systems. Topics covered include the forces governing protein and nucleic acid stability and topology, the thermodynamics of protein folding and protein-ligand interactions, enzyme kinetics, and the physical basis for methods for protein purification, for probing protein-ligand interactions, and for the determination of macromolecular structure. Emphasis will be given to topics relevant to the drug discovery process.

Prerequisites: Physical Chemistry, Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5170: Bioinformatics: Protein Structure Modeling and Drug Design (3)
This course consists of lectures and computer lab sessions. It will cover the basic principles and practical applications of modern bioinformatics technologies in the context of drug discovery and design. These technologies (protein structure modeling, structure-based drug design, molecular docking) have been widely used by the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Emphasis will be placed on basic principles as well as hands-on experiences in using software tools to solve practical problems. No prerequisite in computational chemistry or computer science is necessary. Students from multiple disciplines (chemistry, biology, physics, or computer science) can benefit from participating in group projects during this course.

Prerequisites: General Chemistry; General Biology; General Physics or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5180: Cheminformatics: Small Molecule Modeling for Drug Discovery (3)
This course consists of lectures and computer lab sessions. It will cover the basic principles and practical applications of modern chemoinformatics technologies in the context of drug discovery and design. These same technologies have been widely used by the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Emphasis will be placed on basic principles and hands-on experiences regarding how to use software tools to solve practical problems. No prerequisite in computational chemistry or computer science is necessary. Students from multiple disciplines (chemistry, biology, physics, or computer science) can benefit from participating in group projects during this course.

Prerequisites: General Chemistry; General Physics or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5190: Plant Genomics (3)
This course is designed as an introduction to plant genomics for students with a background in biology. During the course, students will learn about techniques involved in tissue culture, gene mapping, gene cloning and genetic engineering of plants. The role of genetically modified plants in enhancing human nutrition and the application of plants in “biopharming” will also be discussed.

Prerequisites: Biochemistry and lab or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5200: Cloning and Expression (3)
This course covers key concepts in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic molecular biology. During lectures, various expression systems including prokaryotic, mammalian, plant, insect cell and yeast expression systems will be introduced. Criteria for commercial expression of macromolecules, expression of recombinant DNA in whole animal systems (such as: goat, chicken, etc) will be also discussed.

Prerequisites: Molecular or Cell Biology, Biochemistry and lab or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5210: Neurodegenerative Diseases (3)
This course will cover topics related to the major neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease (HD) and the autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Topics related to pathology and molecular mechanism of diseases, possible drug discovery targets, and therapeutic discovery approaches will be emphasized.

Prerequisites: Cell Biology, Advanced Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5220: Chemical Library Design (3)
This course will provide students the opportunity to become familiar with techniques used in chemical library design and synthesis like: computer aided library design, solution and solid phase rapid parallel synthesis (RPS) and parallel purification. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to 1) use the literature or data from a high throughput screen to identify biologically active molecules for library production, 2) design a library targeting a biological target, 3) determine the drug likeness of their proposed library using computational tools, 4) develop synthetic strategies for their proposed libraries using solution or solid phase rapid parallel synthesis (RPS) and other library synthesis techniques, 5) develop purification strategies for the proposed libraries and 6) propose new reactions, reagents and technologies for library production.

Prerequisites: Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5230: The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action (3)
The success in drug design is dependent on insights and advances from the combined use of chemical and biological research. The goal of this course will be to educate students in drug design and drug action. This course will provide students the opportunity to learn why drug-receptor interactions are important to drug efficacy, understand the mechanisms of drug chemistry, identify the pharmacophore of a target structure, examine structure modification to increase potency (SAR), become familiar with computational approaches used in the drug design and learn how medicinal chemists try to solve problems of metabolic destruction of drugs.

Prerequisites: Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry or with the consent of the instructor.

PHRM 5240: Assay Technologies (3)
This course will explore standard and cutting-edge assay technologies used for measuring biochemical and cellular properties. For biochemical assays, the topics will include radioactive and non-radioactive methods to assay enzyme activity, protein-protein interactions, and quantitative detection of biomolecules. For cell-based assays, the topics covered will include methods to measure proliferation, cytotoxicity, gene transcription, motility, signal transduction, cell compartment localization, and receptor activation. Original research journal articles will be used as case studies in assay development and employment of modern assay technology.

Prerequisites: Molecular or Cell Biology, Biochemistry and lab or with the consent of the instructor.