Undergraduate - UnitPHA3801 - Principles of pharmacology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 0 (NATIONAL PRIORITY), 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Offered	Gippsland First semester 2012 (Day) Sunway First semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	To be advised (Gippsland); Dr Amudha Kadirvelu and Dr Kyi Kyi Tha (Sunway)

Synopsis

The main theme is an introduction to drug use in our society. The following topics will be covered:

how drugs act at a cellular level, how they target specific body systems and how the body handles drugs (pharmacokinetics).
Sources of drugs - prescription vs over the counter vs herbal remedies and information available to the public about drugs. Rationale for choice of drugs for common diseases.
Drug development from the laboratory to the consumer. Factors influencing the development of new drugs (e.g. economics and logistics).

Assessment

Practical work: 20%
Semester test: 10%
Presentation and essay: 20%
Exam (3 hours): 50%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Amudha Kadirvelu

Contact hours

Three hours of lectures, one hour of tutorials and three hours of practicals per week (includes wet practicals, dry practicals and CAL-Computer Aided Learning).

Prerequisites

PHY2021 and PHY2032, or BIO1711 and BIO2752

Prohibitions

PHA2022