SFKK18004U In-vitro Techniques in Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Volume 2019/2020
Education

MSc Programme in Pharmacy (Danish programme cand.pharm) - elective

MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Danish programme cand.scient.pharm) - restricted elective

MSc Programme in Medicinal Chemistry - elective

MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (English programme)- restricted elective 

MSc Programme in Environmental Science (SCIENCE) - restricted elective

 

Content

The following practical elements are included: primary neuronal cell culturing, neurotransmitter transporter assay, activation of GPCR receptors and ligand-gated and voltage-gated ion-channels, receptor binding, TEVC electrophysiology, voltage-clamp fluorometry (VCF), second messenger measurements, FRET, smooth muscle contraction/relaxation, use of radioisotopes, pharmacological profiling of unknown compounds, dissection of mouse tissue

Learning Outcome

By the end of the course, the students will be able to:

Knowledge

  • demonstrate a firm knowledge of in vitro pharmacology 
  • understand common in vitro experimental methodologies as applied in pharmacology
  • demonstrate a basic knowledge of pharmacodynamic theory
  • demonstrate a basic understanding of radioisotope theory in scintillation counting

 

Skills

  • The students will acquire practical and theoretical abilities and skills in pharmacological in vitro research techniques that are applicable in both academic and biotech/pharmaceutical drug discovery research environments. The specific aim is to acquire the abilities and practical skills required to be able to work in a pre-clinical drug discovery research environment and/or communicate proficiently with other professionals.
  • prepare cultures of primary mouse neurons
  • execute neurotransmitter uptake experiments employing cultured neurons
  • measure cAMP (second-messenger) in cultured cells by FRET
  • employ isolated mouse vas deferens to measure the effect of morphine-like pain-relieving drugs
  • employ two-electrode voltage clamp (TEVC) electrophysiology technique as a functional assay of drugs affecting the operation of ion channels
  • employ voltage clamp fluorometry (VCF) technique as a functional assay of drugs affecting the operation of ion channels
  • employ radioligand binding assays in drug investigations and interpret the resulting pharmacologial data
  • determine the pharmacological profile of a series of unknown compounds

 

Competences

  • work with and/or communicate proficiently with other professionals within the field of in vitro pharmacology
  • design simple in vitro assays of drug activity including choosing the proper model system and assay conditions
  • calculate and interpret pharmacological data (dose-response relationships)
  • apply knowledge of in vitro pharmacology to evaluate pharmacological data in relation to the drug discovery process
Literature
  • Lab manual (Pickering and Pless)
  • Receptor theory notes (Sheykhzade and Pickering)
  • Radioisotope theory notes (Hansen and Pickering)
None.
Students should have completed bachelor’s level lecture course(s) in biochemistry and/or pharmacology as well as a lab course in chemistry and/or biochemistry.
Lab exercises: 28 hours
Tutorials: 18 hours
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 18
  • Lectures
  • 1
  • Practical exercises
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 159
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination, 2 hours under invigilation
Examination design
The course examination will consist of 20 short-answer questions covering the practical and theoretical aspects of all the laboratory exercises. All written answers will be given an equal weighting and then the course leaders will assess the overall examination performance level.
Students must have attended all the laboratory exercises and tutorials to write the exam.
Aid
Without aids

There is access to the following at the exam on Peter Bangs Vej:

  • R – Statistical programme
  • MathType formel programme
  • Maple

USB memory stick is not allowed

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

To achieve the grade 12 the student must be able to:

Knowledge

  • demonstrate a firm knowledge of in vitro pharmacology 
  • understand common in vitro experimental methodologies as applied in pharmacology
  • demonstrate a basic knowledge of pharmacodynamic theory
  • demonstrate a basic understanding of radioisotope theory in scintillation counting

 

Skills

  • prepare cultures of primary mouse neurons
  • execute neurotransmitter uptake experiments employing cultured neurons
  • measure cAMP (second-messenger) in cultured cells by FRET
  • employ isolated mouse vas deferens to measure the effect of morphine-like pain-relieving drugs
  • employ two-electrode voltage clamp (TEVC) electrophysiology and voltage-clamp fluorometry (VCF) techniques as a functional assay of drugs affecting the operation of ion channels
  • employ radioligand binding assays in drug investigations and interpret the resulting pharmacologial data

 

Competences

  • work with and/or communicate proficiently with other professionals within the field of in vitro pharmacology
  • design simple in vitro assays of drug activity including choosing the proper model system and assay conditions
  • calculate and interpret pharmacological data (dose-response relationships)
  • apply knowledge of in vitro pharmacology to evaluate pharmacological data in relation to the drug discovery process