Coordinator: Dr Wayne Hodgson (Department of Pharmacology)
Pharmacology and toxicology has a broad contemporary educative function, teaching how a wide variety of chemicals and drugs produce their effects on living organisms.
An understanding of the way in which drugs produce their effects in the body is becoming increasingly important as the use and abuse of drugs becomes more widespread in society. The science of pharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on living organisms where the term drug can be defined as a chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which affects a biological system. Pharmacology is an interdisciplinary science that employs experimental approaches common to chemistry, biochemistry and physiology.
Minor sequence in pharmacology (24 points):
Major sequence in pharmacology (48 points):
Details of the PHY units, and some related sequences, are described in the `Physiology' entry in this section of the handbook.
The school offers one six-point unit PHA2022 at level two. This unit provides students with a broad understanding of the mechanisms of drug action, how drugs are developed, what problems are solved and what problems are caused by the use of drugs. It is of interest to all students taking biomedical science units (physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, microbiology) but also as an adjunct to a degree in law or psychology. This unit is not a prerequisite for further study in pharmacology but is highly recommended.
The prerequisites for PHA3011 and PHA3021 are normally an adequate performance in physiology at level two. Units studied at level two may also include pharmacology, biochemistry or chemistry.
The first semester units, PHA3011 and PHA3021 lay the foundations for understanding how drugs act and the use of drugs to treat disease and they are prerequisites for all second-semester units offered by the school. In second semester students may elect to take any combination of the three units PHA3032, PHA3042 and PHA3052. These units may be combined with units in other disciplines such as any of the biological/medical disciplines, chemistry or law.
Honours studies in pharmacology involve advanced course work and a laboratory-based project.
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