Required Courses

• Required Courses
• Strongly Recommended Elective Courses
• Recommended Elective Courses
• Appendix: New Courses For Cancer Pharmacology

Required Courses

PHRM 623: Fundamentals of Pharmacology.

Course Director: Jeff Field. This course offers three lectures/week and is designed to provide a basic understanding of important areas in pharmacology. Major topics include: principles of drug disposition and metabolism with an introduction to pharmacokinetics, drug-receptor interactions and signaling together with radioligand binding, enzymes as targets for drug action with an introduction to enzyme kinetics, structural analysis and drug development. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 560: Principles of Cancer Signaling and Therapeutics.

Spring 2005 schedule

CELL 600: Cell Biology.

Course Directors: Kevin Foskett and Bill Skach. Topics include: cell structure compartmentalization and trafficking, cytoskeleton, membranes and membrane transport, and signal transduction. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 600: Medical Pharmacology.

Course Director: Marilyn Hess. This course is designed to introduce students to current concepts of the mechanisms of drug action. Beginning with lectures on pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism the lecture series continues with discussions of classes of drugs used in the treatment of cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, gastrointestinal, endocrine and renal system diseases. Also included are discussions of bacterial and cancer chemotherapy. Emphasis is placed on preparing students to evaluate critically the literature with regard to safety, efficacy and mechanism of action of therapeutic agents currently available as well as those to be developed in the future. Offered in the spring semester.

CAMB 512: Cancer Genetics and Biology.

Course Directors: Ruth Muschel, Fred Barr and Garrett Brodeur. The course will involve lectures and readings of important papers on cancer genetics, cancer cell growth, metastasis, angiogenesis and experimental therapeutics. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 640: Topics in Cancer Pharmacology.

Course Directors: Marcelo Kazanietz and Wenchao Song. Reviews of current literature on topics such as cancer genetics, hormonal carcinogenesis, environmental carcinogens, chemo- and gene therapy of cancer, cancer epidemiology and prevention. New hypotheses in cancer etiology, prevention and treatment will be discussed as they appear in the literature. The aim of the course is to introduce the students to the latest development in the above areas related to cancer pharmacology. Offered in the fall semester.

Fall 2002 schedule

PHRM 520: Molecular Pharmacology.

Course Director: Jim Eberwine. Reviews of current literature on topics related to molecular pharmacology. This course is designed to introduce students to the exciting new developments in molecular pharmacology. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 952: Laboratory rotation.

The purpose of the Lab Rotation is to provide the student with the opportunity to experience different laboratory environments and different experimental approaches and in so doing, assist the student in choosing a laboratory for thesis work. Students are encouraged to choose a Thesis Advisor by the end of the fall semester of their second year, so that they may start their dissertation research expeditiously. Students are required to do two laboratory rotations with the option of a third rotation, according to the following schedule:

• Rotation 1: Spring semester (year 1).
• Rotation 2: Summer semester (year 1)
• Rotation 3: Fall semester (year 2)

Each rotation is worth one credit, and must be done in three different laboratories within the Graduate Group. At the beginning of a lab rotation, the Faculty Supervisor and student are encouraged to discuss and clearly define the goals of the project. The student is required to: 1) present a talk to the laboratory in which he or she is working; or 2) prepare a short paper. Upon completion of the rotation, the Faculty Supervisor must submit a grade and a written evaluation of the student's performance for inclusion in the student's file.

PHRM 960: Pre-thesis seminar.

The purpose of this seminar is to help the student explore an area of interest, extensively, to summarize the work and ideas of relevant research groups, and to prepare a formal presentation. The seminar is a one-hour talk covering a subject chosen by the student with the concurrence of a GGPS faculty member who serves at the student's seminar advisor. The seminar is not intended to cover previous, or anticipated research projects but rather to provide an up-to-date and critical summary of a particular field of biomedical research. In making the choice of topic, the emphasis is on those areas that are particularly active and exciting.

PHRM 970: Preliminary examination.

All graduate students affiliated with BGS (Biomedical Graduate Studies) are required to pass a Preliminary Exam by July 31 of their second year. The Examination consists of both a written and an oral presentation. Only students in good academic standing are eligible to take the Preliminary Examination.

A. Preliminary Examination Committee

The Student's Working Preliminary Examination Committee will be composed of four faculty who have expertise in the field of the proposal. The Working Committee will be created by the student and his or her Faculty Advisor.

B. Purpose

The purpose of the Preliminary Examination is to examine the ability of graduate students at the end of their second year to: 1) identify an important problem in pharmacology; 2) review the literature; 3) formulate a testable hypothesis; and (4) write a research proposal that tests the hypothesis. The proposal should be in the format of a competitive three-year NIH proposal. Students are encouraged to be creative in their approach. Those projects lacking originality will be poorly received by the Preliminary Examination Committee.

C. The Written Proposal

The student may choose a topic for the research proposal that is non-thesis related and is distinct from past research experience. Students are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of their Thesis Advisor, other graduate faculty and students. The proposal should give a succinct account of the literature and detailed experimental approach. The proposal should represent a logical series of experiments to provide a solution to the stated problem. It is required that students give a description of their predicted results, their quantitation and, if necessary, tables or graphs showing the anticipated data. The level of quantitation should match the level of the question being asked. It is recognized that certain experiments and/or techniques may fail. With this realization, students should describe in outline form only, alternative approaches. The proposal (excluding references) should not exceed 12 typewritten pages and should have the same structure as an NIH grant. The proposal will consist of:

Specific Aims: state the specific purposes of the research proposal and the hypothesis to be tested.

Background/Significance: sketch briefly the background to the proposal. State concisely the importance of the research described in your proposal by relating the specific aims to broad, long-term objectives.

Research Design and Methods: the research design and procedures to be used to accomplish the specific aims, a tentative sequence for the investigation, the statistical procedures by which the data will be analyzed, and denote any procedures, situations, or materials that may be hazardous to personnel and the precautions to be exercised. Potential experimental difficulties should be discussed together with alternative approaches that could be used to achieve the desired aims.

Literature Citations: provided at the end of the research proposal. Each citation must include the names of all authors, name of the book or journal, title of article, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication.

The title and specific aims of the proposal must be approved by the Preliminary Examination Committee four (4) weeks before the exam. The completed proposal must be in the hands of the Examining Committee two weeks before the scheduled exam date.

D. Defense of the Proposal

The student will begin the Preliminary Examination by presenting a 15 to 20 minute synopsis of the proposal. Following the presentation, the Committee members will ask questions. In defending the proposal, the student should show an in-depth knowledge of pharmacology. Since the Graduate Group offers a Ph.D. degree in pharmacology, a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of this discipline is expected.

E. Pass/Fail Procedures

After the examination, the Preliminary Examination Committee will meet, without the student present, to make its decision on the student's performance. The Preliminary Examination Committee will decide whether the student has passed or failed and will inform the student of its decision immediately in writing and will provide a written critique of the proposal and its defense. The Preliminary Examination Committee will communicate the results of the preliminary examination to the Academic Review Committee. This Committee will assess the student's progress and ensure that the student is in good academic standing and that the 20 non-dissertation credit requirement has been satisfied. A student will receive written confirmation of passage of the Preliminary Exam from the Graduate Group Chair and will begin on dissertation status. If a student fails, a remedial course of action will involve rewriting and defending portions of the proposal. If necessary, the whole proposal may require a re-defense. Any re-defense must be completed before the commencement of the Fall semester of the third year. If the student fails a re-defense, the Committee may recommend that the student should be granted a terminal master's degree. Students may appeal any decision through the Academic Review Committee.

Strongly recommended elective courses

MOLB 421: Molecular Genetics.

Course Director: Eric Weinberg. A detailed analysis of gene structure and expression in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Rapid advances in recombinant DNA technology will be emphasized. The application of these advances to the molecular genetic analysis of development, cell function and disease will be discussed. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 523: Practical Modern Enzymology.

Course Director: Trevor Penning. The course will familiarize students with modern approaches to working with enzymes, using techniques of steady state and transient kinetics. Methods for elucidating kinetic and classical mechanisms will be explored. Structure-function relationships using structural information, site-directed mutagenesis and modeling will be emphasized. Offered in the fall semester.

BMB 550: Molecular Mechanisms of Signal Transduction and Control.

Course Director: Paul Liebman. The biochemistry of receptors, GTP-binding proteins, effectors, second messengers, post-translational modification, etc. is examined with the aim of understanding how cellular signal-response cycles such as growth, secretion, electric activity, movement, etc. are controlled and how control may be lost. Principles of signaling systems analysis are developed and used together with kinetic, thermodynamic and specific molecular structure to understand the best mapped specific systems. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 650: Topics in Pharmacological Chemistry.

Course Director: Ian Blair. This is a seminar-based class in which selected new developments in the area of pharmacological chemistry will be discussed. Current areas of interest include DNA-adducts, oxidative stress, antioxidants, cyclooxygenases, antiestrogens, and farnesyltransferase inhibitors. Offered in the fall semester.

PHRM 630: Medicinal chemistry.

Course Director: Pat Loll. Medicinal chemistry is a discipline wherein chemistry and pharmacology join forces to discover or design new therapeutic compounds and develop them into useful medicines. This course offers a survey of medicinal chemistry; topics covered include drug discovery methodologies such as analysis of drug-receptor interactions, QSAR, combinatorial chemistry, and structure-based design. Examples of the development of important therapeutic agents will also be discussed. Offered in the spring semester.

CAMB 530: Seminar in Cell Cycle and Cancer.

Course Directors: Sandra Holloway and Wafik El-Diery. This seminar will focus on molecular events, which regulate cell cycle transitions and their relevance to human cancer. Topics will include control of the G1/S and G2/M transitions, relationships between tumor suppressor genes such as p16, Rb, p53 or oncogenes such as cyclin D, cdc25A, MDM2 or c-myc to cell cycle control, apoptosis and cancer. Where appropriate, the focus will be on understanding regulation of cell cycle control through transcriptional induction of gene expression, protein associations, posttranslational modifications like phosphorylation or regulation of protein stability like ubiquitin degradation. Recent/current information on crystal structures of cell cycle active molecules, information on ATM gene, new information on cell cycle inhibitors, new information on apoptosis pathways, interactions between viral oncoproteins and cell cycle control and cell death, relationships between cell cycle control and cell phenotype (anchorage, adhesion, differentiation), studies using yeast or xenopus as model systems will be covered. Offered in the spring semester.

Recommended elective courses

PHRM 999: Independent study.

In general, the time commitment for a 1-course unit is considered to be approximately 12 weeks at 10 hours per week. Approval must be given by the graduate advisor and must be conducted under the supervision of one of the graduate group faculty.

CHEM 557: Mechanisms of Enzymatic Reactions.

Course Director: David Christianson. Physical and chemical foundations of catalytic reaction mechanism in nonenzymic, enzymic, and other macromolecular systems. Modern enzymology, site-directed mutagenesis, and x-ray crystallography are discussed in the study of enzyme mechanism. Specific examples of discussion include the proteases, allosteric enzymes, phosphoryl transfer enzymes, ribozymes and enzymes of protein biosynthesis. Offered in the fall semester.

CAMB 651: Seminar in Membrane Physiology and Cell Signaling.

Course directors: Mortimer Civan and Paul De Weer. Course instructors include Armstrong, Baylor, Deutsch, Drain, Foskett, Koval, Lu, and Pain. This is a one-semester lecture and seminar course meeting three times a week, presenting an in-depth examination of transport across membranes and cells, membrane excitability, and cell signaling. Specific topics will include driving forces; water, ion, and protein channels; transporters; calcium and other intracellular signals; exo-and endocytosis; and excitation-contraction and excitation-secretion coupling. Offered in the fall semester.

CAMB 631: Seminar in Integrins and Cytoskeleton.

Course Directors: Boettiger, Bennett, and Field. This seminar course focuses on current literature and problems in integrin mediated and cytoskeletal signaling. Topics will include integrin structure and function, integrin activation mechanisms, focal adhesion kinase, the link between cell adhesion and cell proliferation, the role of small G proteins, and control of cytoskeletal assembly.

CAMB 534: Signaling Pathways in Normal and Cancerous Development.

Course Directors: Thomas Jongens, Mark Fortini, Paul Stein. This seminar course will examine the role of selected cell signaling pathways in normal animal development and in aberrant development. Signaling molecules to be covered include receptor tyrosine kinases, tyrosine phosphatases, serine/threonine kinases, GTPases, the Notch receptor, Wingless/Wnt, Hedgehog, Bcl-2 and their associated interacting proteins and pathway components. Offered in the spring semester.

MOLB 608: Regulation of Eukaryotic Gene Expression.

Course Director Tom Kadesch. An advanced seminar course emphasizing the molecular biology and molecular genetics of transcription in eukaryotes. Based on current literature, the presentations and discussions will familiarize the student with present day technology and developing principles. Offered in the fall semester.

APPENDIX: New Courses For Cancer Pharmacology

PHRM 640: Topics in Cancer Pharmacology, Fall 2001

Course Directors: Marcelo Kazanietz and Wenchao Song: A seminar course on major topics related to cancer pharmacology. There will be one three-hour seminar each week during the semester. The course will review up to date developments in cancer etiology and therapy. Topics will include the study of oncogenes and the signal transduction/cell cycle machinery as targets for cancer therapy. Other emerging therapeutic approaches such as antisense technology and gene therapy will be covered in depth. One student will prepare and overview of the topic using references provided by relevant faculty member. After the presentation, all students will participate in a discussion of the topic with a faculty member as the moderator. The students' grades will be a derived from a combination of the oral presentation (35 %), class participation (35 %), and the final examination (30 %).

Topics in Cancer Pharmacology PHARM 640 2002-2003

Tuesdays, 9:00am-12:00 noon M100, John Morgan Building