Training Courses

Medicinal chemists need to understand the relationship between chemical structure and the physical properties of molecules and how this translates into compound stability and the interaction of the molecule with biological structures.

These biological targets include proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and cell membranes. Interaction of the molecules with these targets affects the distribution of the compound in biological systems and modulates biological function.

To do this successfully the medicinal chemist needs to be aware of how target selection is carried out and how this affects lead generation. The medicinal chemist needs knowledge of structure property relationships, the physico-chemical properties of drugs and how these molecules interact with the body - pharmacokinetics and ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion).

The course also includes an overview of the use of computational chemistry in virtual screening and library design. The lectures are backed up by a number of case studies and tutorial sessions, which involve the participants in using the concepts discussed.

Course Outline

• Introduction: Overview of drug discovery process, target selection in the post-genomic era
• Medicinal Chemistry introduction and terminology
• Physico-chemical properties and absorption 
• Lead generation approaches.
• Lead generation using computational techniques: molecular recognition, structure- and ligand-based virtual screening, success stories.
• What has computer aided design ever done for drug discovery?
• Introduction to pharmakinetics
• Introdution to Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion
• Lead Optimisation, Case Studies: gastro intestinal diseases
• Molecular Diversity and Combinatorial Library Design
• Overview of some of the reasons for project failure, of safety, in particular to its relationship to chemical structure and of critical issues in Drug Development
• Lead Optimisation: management of multiple parameters
• Intellectual property issues related to drug discovery
• What happens next? - a (very) brief overview of process development issues

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, particpants will have gained:

An understanding of how biological disease targets are selected.

An insight in to the terms, definitions and analysis methods used by medicinal chemists in the pharmaceutical industry.

An introductory knowledge of the Pharmacokinetics and ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion) and how physiocochemical properties influence absorption

An introduction to the use of computational chemistry including pharmacophore generation, virtual screening and library design.

An overview of safety assessment and of chemical structure and safety