Medicinal Chemistry

Medicinal Chemistry is a multi-disciplinary major offered by the Discipline of Pharmacology in the Sydney Medical School and the School of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science. Units of study in this major are available at standard and advanced level.

About the major

The Medicinal Chemistry major will provide you with the knowledge, training and skills needed for possible employment and research opportunities in drug discovery and development.

The discovery of new drugs is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing fields in science, and there is a growing need for safer, more effective pharmaceuticals against diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS, in addition to diseases that are becoming more widespread, such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Society also faces challenges ranging from antimicrobial resistance and dementia, with the latter of special significance in the context of the aging population. Medicinal chemistry looks at how to design and prepare drugs to combat and manage these diseases, and the mechanism of action (how the drugs work).

Requirements for completion

A major in Medicinal Chemistry requires 48 credit points, consisting of:

(i) 12 credit points of 1000-level core units
(ii) 12 credit points of 2000-level core units
(iii) 12 credit points of 3000-level core units
(iv) 6 credit points of 3000-level selective chemistry units
(v) 6 credit points of 3000-level selective pharmacology units

A minor in Medicinal Chemistry is available and articulates to this major.

First year

1000-level Chemistry units are offered in two halves, Chemistry 1A (CHEM1XX1), which should be taken first, and Chemistry 1B (CHEM1XX2). Each of these is offered at four levels (Fundamentals, mainstream, Advanced, and the Special Studies Program) to suit the background and interests of students. These units underpin the Medicinal Chemistry major and will provide a solid understanding of chemical structure and reactivity.

Second year

CHEM2401/2911/2915 includes an extension of the skills and knowledge acquired in 1000-level Chemistry and provide the broad base for further specialisation in the third year of the medicinal chemistry major.

PCOL2011 provides the fundamental grounding in four basic areas in Pharmacology: (1) principles of drug action (2) pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism (3) experimental design and autonomic pharmacology, and (4) drug design. The delivery of material involves lectures, practicals, computer-aided learning and problem-based workshops. Practical classes provide students with the opportunity of acquiring technical experience and teamwork skills. Problem-based workshops are based on real-life scenarios of drug use in the community. These workshops require students to integrate information obtained in lectures in order to provide solutions to the problems. Online quizzes accompany each module and are to encourage continued learning throughout the semester.

Third year

MCHM3X01 and MCHM3X02 are the core units available to students on the Medicinal Chemistry major, and provide the essential knowledge and understanding relevant to drug discovery and design at an advanced level. Students may make a choice from remaining Chemistry and Pharmacology units of study, though are recommended to take 6 credit points from a selection of: CHEM3X10 and CHEM3X15, and 6 credit points from a selection of: PCOL3X11 and PCOL3X12.

In your third year you will have the opportunity to take at least one designated project unit that provides disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning in a practical and project based setting.

Fourth year

The fourth year is only offered within the combined Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Advanced Studies course.

Advanced coursework
The Bachelor of Advanced Studies advanced coursework option consists of 48 credit points, which must include a minimum of 24 credit points in a single subject area at 4000-level, including a project unit of study worth at least 12 credit points. Space is provided for 12 credit points towards the second major (if not already completed). 24 credit points of advanced study will be included in the table for 2020.


Honours
Requirements for Honours in the area of Medicinal Chemistry: completion of 36 credit points of project work and 12 credit points of coursework.

Honours units of study will be available in 2020.

Contact and further information

E

T +61 2 9351 4504

Addresses:
The School of Chemistry
Chemistry Building F11
University of Sydney NSW 2006
or
The Discipline of Pharmacology
Molecular Bioscience Building G08
University of Sydney NSW 2006

Learning Outcomes

Students who graduate from Medicinal Chemistry will know:

1. The major current themes in modern drug discovery, ranging from combinatorial synthetic methods to fragment-based screening (an example of Depth of Disciplinary Expertise).
2. How advances in science and technology are changing the way in which drug discovery and development is being pursued, and against which diseases (an example of Interdisciplinary Effectiveness).
3. How genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are applied to drug target validation.
4. The nature and impact of pharmacogenomics and pharmacoepidemiology.
5. The processes involved in translating a therapeutic to market.

Students will be able to:

1. Draw upon their training to judge a drug candidate vs. important criteria for development, such as physicochemical properties and synthetic accessibility
2. Independently propose and justify reasonable and efficient synthetic approaches towards small organic molecule drug candidates (an example of Inventiveness)
3. Collaboratively design a strategy to identify and validate a disease-specific target
4. Assess the efficacy of drug action against genomic and proteomic variation
5. Formulate an application for approval and registration of a new drug, generic or biosimiliar.