Course Descriptions
Courses in Physiology and Pharmacology
| Course Name | Course Number | Description |
| Bioorganic Chemistry | PHPH 605 | |
| Analytical Instrumentation | PHPH 605 | |
| Neurophysiology & Pharmacology of Pain | PHPH 614 | This 2 credit course focuses on functional organization of nociceptive pathways. Nociceptive transduction; effects of injury and inflammation; facilitatory and inhibitory synaptic mechanisms; endogenous pain control; peripherally and centrally acting analgesics; anesthetics. |
| Pharmacokinetics: Drug Adsorption, Distribution and Elimination | PHPH 617 | This 2 credit course is taught in the Fall and covers the basic principles of pharmacokinetics involved in understanding the onset, duration and termination of drug action. It involves student presentations for drugs of interest. |
| Pharmacodynamics | PHPH 618 | This 2 credit course is taught in the winter and will focus on select examples of drugs to understand the principles that govern their interactions with their environment and sights of action. Also included is a survey of the major classes of receptors and their downstream signaling. |
| Topics in Autonomic Physiology & Pharmacology | PHPH 619 | This 3 credit advanced topics course will survey the autonomic nervous system function and the basis of autonomic drug actions. Topics include autonomic control of cardiovascular function, respiration, energy balance (food intake and metabolism), and how drugs interact with the ANS to restore homeostasis. |
| Molecular Pharmacology: Principles of Drug Discovery and Design | PHPH 620 | This 2 credit course that will focus on drugs used in biomedical research and clinical practice as chemicals: how they are discovered and how they are designed. The objectives of the course are to provide biologists with: 1) a better understanding of traditional and state-of-the-art approaches to the development of drugs used in biomedical research; 2) a deeper appreciation for and knowledge about drugs used in their own research; and 3) an opportunity to explore, in-depth, the history and development of a drug of their own choosing. |
| Ion Channels and Genetic Diseases | PHPH 622 | This course will introduce the basic concepts of ion channel function in the context of the origin of inherited diseases and consider how alterations in channel function produce pathophysiological states such as cystic fibrosis, myotonias and cardiac arrhythmia and the potential bases for therapeutics and directed drug development. |
Courses outside of Physiology and Pharmacology
| Course Name | Course Number | Description |
| Organ Systems | CONJ 667 | This course provides an introduction to the interactions between cells, tissues, whole-organism mammalian physiology, and immunology. During this course, the student is expected to gain a better understanding of the interplay and communication that coordinates cells into organ systems and complex organisms. Different biological systems including the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, nervous system, cardiovascular regulation, reproductive system, and the immune system will be discussed emphasizing how these systems interact and how physiological and immunological homeostasis is maintained or challenged under conditions of disease and stress. |
| Molecular Biophysics and Experimental Bioinformatics | CONJ 668 | This course will cover the range of research using problem-based approaches. Topics will include 1) molecular biophysics: Introduction to the analysis of biomolecules in solution. Emphasis will be placed on widely used contemporary techniques, especially spectroscopic methods used for structural and dynamic studies. These lectures will provide a basis for the subsequent lectures in the class. 2) experimental bioinformatics: Theory of key bioinformatics tools and algorithms, their applications towards databases, data analysis and mining, alignments, 3-D structure prediction/visualization and genome analysis. Theory and application of approaches to analyze gene and protein expression using high-throughput methods. |
| Cellular Neurophysiology | NEUS 624 | This course presents the fundamental principles of how nerve cells work. Starting with ion channels themselves, it integrates them into the functioning of individual neurons. The way in which voltage-dependent ion channels act in concert to generate action potentials and synaptic potentials is discussed in the framework of basic physical laws. The mechanisms of transmitter release and the postsynaptic actions of transmitter are studied. The overall aim is to provide students with a quantitative understanding of how individual nerve cells communicate with each other. This course is the first in a sequence of three courses and will be followed by Cell and Molecular Neurobiology. |
| Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology | NEUS 625 | The course is a survey of the cellular and molecular biology of the nervous system and designed to introduce the cell and molecular mechanisms underlying the development, structure and function of the nervous system. The course is divided into two general topic areas: (1) Developmental Cell Biology of the Nervous System and (2) Molecular Mechanisms of Signaling in the Nervous System and concludes with case studies that illustrate the basic principles discussed throughout the course. |
| Topics in Neuroendocrinology | NEUS 633 | This course covers topics such as circadian rhythms, steroid hormone actions in the brain, reproduction and sexual orientation, control of energy homeostasis, stress physiology and development of the neuroendocrine axis. Areas discussed will integrate current views of molecular mechanisms involved in gene expression, receptor coupling and intracellular signal transduction, and the physiologic basis of homeostatic control of neuroendocrine systems. |
[ Curriculum | Course Descriptions | Timeline of Studies | Registrar's Office: Graduate Medicine Basic Sciences Course Schedule ]
Date Updated: 09/16/2007
