Høst 2024

MBI-2005 General pharmacology and toxicology - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for medisinsk biologi

Type of course

This course is a part of the bachelor program in biomedicine. The course is also available as a singular course, and for exchange students.

Course overlap

BIO-262 General and human toxicology 10 ects

Course contents

The course is an introduction to basic pharmacology and toxicology. The pharmacology part includes the following topics: drug nomenclature; general principles of passage of drugs/toxic substances across biological barriers; drug absorption and excretion; the autonomic nerve system; biotransformation of drugs; dose-response and time-response relationships, attributed to conditions of administration and to the biological system. The toxicology part describes the classification of toxic reactions; how acute poisoning can be measured and how toxicity can be treated.

Admission requirements

Applicants from Nordic countries: Generell studiekompetanse + Matematikk R1 eller (S1+S2) og ett av følgende fag:

Matematikk (R1+R2)
Fysikk (1+2)
Kjemi (1+2)
Biologi (1+2)
Informasjonsteknologi (1+2)
Geologi (1+2)
Teknologi og forskningslære (1+2).

International applicants: Higher Education Entrance Qualification and certified language requirements in English. It is a requirement that students have some prior knowledge of biology and ecology, chemistry and mathematics (Participants must have taken introductory level university courses, and achieved pass grades, in these subjects).

A list of the requirements for the Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway can be found on the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education website - nokut.no

Application code: 9197 (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The main aim of the course is to give the students a general introduction into human pharmacology and toxicology.

Knowledge:

After the course, the students

Can explain the importance of pharmacology and toxicology in history and place in society
Can describe differences between trade names and generic drug names
Can describe the different steps in preclinical and clinical drug development
Can describe how drugs and toxic substances are absorbed, distributed and reach their site of action (pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics)
Can explain how drugs and toxic substances are metabolized and excreted (pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics)
Can describe 4 different main types of drug targets and their biological functions
Can explain how drugs and toxic substances interact with their targets and mediate their action (pharmacodynamics/toxicodynamics)
Can describe quantitative aspects of pharmacological/toxicological action, dose-response relationships and time-response relationships
Can describe factors modifying the effects of drugs and toxic substances in individuals
Can explain pharmacological/toxicological aspects of drug abuse
Can explain how drugs and toxic substances alter physiological function
Can classify adverse effects of drugs
Can explain selective and non-selective toxicity
Can explain how toxic effects are evaluated when new chemicals are introduced in medicine, industry or everyday life
Can explain the basic principles of toxicity treatment

Skills:

The candidates should be able to use general terms in pharmacology and toxicology, both orally and in written text.

General competence:

At the end of the course the student has acquired knowledge to be able to critically judge public information regarding drugs and toxic substances.

Language of instruction

English

Teaching methods

The course includes lectures (36 hours), group lectures (28 hours) and a compulsory semester project. The students will be appointed a supervisor for the semester project, and the project needs to be approved prior to the final exam. It is also mandatory to give a presentation of the semester project for the other students.