BIOPL 3800 - Strategies and Methods in Drug Discovery

Spring. 2 credits.

Prerequisite: two majors-level biology courses and organic chemistry course or permission of instructor.

M. A. Aregullin.

Covers strategies and methodologies in chemotaxonomy, chemical ecology, and ethnobotany, as they are used in chemical prospecting for new pharmaceuticals. Discusses the biosynthesis and distribution of plant secondary metabolites, the use of techniques in isolation and structure elucidation of natural products, and biological assays in the discovery of chemicals with pharmacological activity.

Outcome 1: To develop an understanding of the dynamic behind the discovery of lead chemicals in the development of a drug, the distribution of natural products with pharmacological potential, modes of action and mechanisms of disease that permit to propose therapies for their treatment.