Description

The course establishes a foundation of therapeutic principles from understanding disease pathophysiology to the whole pipeline of drug discovery and moving a drug from laboratory to regulatory filing and clinical implementation. This course includes didactic lectures from >35 experts including 1/3 basic research faculty, 1/3 clinical faculty, and 1/3 pharma/biotech industry veterans. It starts with discussions on disease processes, through therapy development, then to clinical translation.

The course is grouped into a series of general topics. The first topic includes disease mechanisms in microbial, viral, fungal, neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, aging, and malignant settings to better understand the nature of the problems. The second topic focuses on the development of lead molecules and drug design, including x-ray crystallography, molecular modeling, hit identification, lead optimization, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies. The third topic puts emphasis on drug screening methodologies, including high-throughput/content technologies and molecular imaging as well as in vitro and in vivo preclinical model systems. The fourth topic covers different therapeutic modalities and improved drug delivery systems. It also describes the latest development in immunotherapy, cell therapy, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation. The fifth topic focuses on the identification of novel molecular targeting strategies and efforts toward individualization of therapy with state-of-the-art –omics technologies and biomarker development. The final topic group focuses on translating therapeutic strategies to the clinic, including the phases of preclinical studies, clinical trial design and execution, and regulatory considerations.

>> Curriculum Committee Commended Course for Academic Year 2020-2021 <<