Course Detail

We will focus on the opportunities presented by the growing contribution of human evolutionary and population genetics, and of human genomic information and technologies to interdisciplinary approaches in the study of variable responses of humans to drugs and toxic agents, and how research may benefit the individual. The course will provide an in depth analysis of salient examples where genetical thinking has impacted pharmacological sciences, including issues on genetic variability in biochemistry and physiology of drug action, drug uptake and metabolism; the opportunities for discovery and design of new therapeutic agents.  While a small section of the course will cover issues in personalizing medicine, understanding and managing adverse drug reactions, ethical, legal, regulatory and social consequences of genetics applied to medicines, the major part of the course will consist of in-depth studies of the primary literature on pharmacogenetics and genomics.   The course will aim to make students aware of the interdisciplinary research effort in human genetics and pharmacogenetics, which are poised to revolutionize drug development and therapeutic management.

Essential Reading
An anthology of review articles and original papers will be available before the course begins.

Principles of human genetics (Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, genetic mapping, haplotypes, linkage and linkage disequilibrium)
Human genome variation (population structure, effects of inbreeding and migration)
Cancer pharmagenomics
Pharmacogenetics in neuropsychiatric disease
Epidemiological approaches in pharmacogenetics
Adverse drug reactions
Translation into clinical practice

• Students will learn to understand important points in original current research publications in pharmogenetics/genomics
• Students will learn the importance of diverse disciplines that have the potential to impact pharmacogenetics and drug/therapy development

Quiz  5%
Exam 50%
Project report   30%
Presentation  15%