Pharmacology

Broadly defined, pharmacology is a discipline that deals with mechanisms of action of naturally occurring mediators and drugs at the level of the whole organism and the cell. Often confused with pharmacology,pharmacyis a separate discipline in the health sciences.Pharmacyuses the knowledge derived from pharmacology to achieve optimal theraputic outcomes through the appropriate preparation and dispensing of medicines. Pharmacology is an integrative science, encompassing a variety of disciplines ranging from genetics to molecular biology to biochemistry to physiology. The major objective of the pharmacological sciences is the molecular understanding of signal transduction and signal transmission events that regulate and interfere with specific cell functions. Another important objective of our research programs is to develop new therapies and strategies for treatment of various disease processes; for example, by interfering with specific cell surface receptor and signaling mechanisms and by the use of novel gene-directed approaches. The importance of discoveries in pharmacological research has frequently been recognized by the Nobel Committee. For example, in recent years, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to scientists doing pharmacological research five times: in 1994, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2012. After obtaining the PhD degree, a pharmacologist can pursue many career paths; for example, in academic research at a medical school, in the pharmaceutical...

Recent Examples on the Web Larry Segars, an epidemiologist and chair of basic sciences and associate professor of pharmacology at Kansas City University, is traveling with his wife, his adult daughter and her husband to feast on three separate Thanksgiving dinners with family in Texas. — Julie Wernau, WSJ, 24 Nov. 2022 Andrea Gore, a UT professor of pharmacology and toxicology, said during the council’s Monday meeting that educators need to take a stand to protect their academic freedom before policymakers try to censor other topics. — Dallas News, 18 Feb. 2022 The first, Craig W. Lindsley, is a professor of chemistry and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. — Isaac Arnsdorf, ProPublica, 23 Dec. 2020 With advances in pharmacology, the time had come for an agency to inform the public about the differences between medicine and snake oil. — Thomas R. Insel, STAT, 12 Apr. 2023 Phoebe Stapleton, an assistant professor in the department of toxicology and pharmacology at Rutgers University, led a team that placed extremely small nanoplastics in the lungs of rats and found that the particles migrated to the heart, placenta and fetal tissue. — Peter Krouse, cleveland, 7 Aug. 2022 Her interest was in the sciences — first biology, then biochemistry and finally pharmacology, the study of how chemicals act on the human body. — Nancy Kriplen, Discover Magazine, 5 Feb. 2017 His research focuses on pharmacology and toxicology. — Brad Reisfeld, USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2023 But few realized ho...

Understanding how drugs act in the body is vital for effectively treating patients. In HMX Fundamentals Pharmacology, you’ll learn about the principles governing what the body does to a drug and in turn what a drug does to the body. Along the way you will see how this knowledge comes into play in real-world scenarios and clinical settings. This foundational course prepares participants for more in-depth study of pharmacology, including advances in Kate McDonnell-Dowling, PhD Lecturer in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School Associate Director of Curriculum, HMX Why do you think it’s important for aspiring health care professionals to learn pharmacology? In order to really understand the treatment of disease, you have to understand the basics of how a drug acts in the body. When a clinician is choosing a treatment for a patient, they are considering many pharmacological parameters such as the properties of the drug, the dose of the drug to give, how often the drug should be given, the age, weight, gender, and race of the patient, the disease itself, and the stage of disease. Eventually, without even knowing it, the clinician is processing all this information and all of these basic concepts of pharmacology in order to decide on the most efficient and beneficial treatment for the patient. To get to this point, and to be able to treat and prevent various conditions, knowing the fundamental concepts of pharmacology is vital. What do you want s...

The Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences (DPMS) at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine seeks to discover, translate, and disseminate knowledge important for the development and application of new therapeutics. The DPMS pursues and promotes frontier research and training in diverse areas in drug discovery, protein chemistry, glyco- and lipid-pharmacology, anti-infective agents, oncology therapeutics, neuropharmacology, and clinical pharmacology. The DPMS also promotes the Hopkins core values of promoting diversity, maintaining high standards of safe and ethical behavior, and demonstrating civil and respectful conduct in all interactions with students, staff, and faculty colleagues. Pharmacology Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative (DEII) Applications to the graduate program in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences will be accepted through December 8, 2022. Students from HBCUs and MSIs are also encouraged to apply to the December 1, 2022. Apply now!

Pharmacology is more than the study of the mode of action of drugs. It is a science which uses the basic concepts of biology and chemistry to determine how drugs affect the organism; it gives a unique perspective in understanding how cells, organ systems, and organisms function. Unlike other basic science fields, pharmacology is a special field in which one can systematically investigate the mechanism for a biological event--from the molecular level to the whole animal. Pharmacology also allows us to study how biological systems fail to function, providing information on the etiology of disease. Pharmacologic research is essential for the development, testing and clinical use of drugs to treat disease. The objective of pharmacology as an area of concentration for biology majors is to provide students with knowledge of the basic principles for the actions of drugs and toxic substances. In addition, it provides the opportunity to apply these principles in a research setting. Ultimately, an introduction of pharmacology to undergraduates will encourage interested students to consider graduate study in the field of pharmacology leading to a career in academic research or in the pharmaceutical industry. Students fulfilling the requirements of the Concentration in Pharmacology will receive a note on their official transcript. Area Advisor Area Advisor Area Faculty Dr. Jessica Sawyer, Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology Gerry Blobe, Romain Cartoni, Chris Counter, Don Fox...

Pharmacology is the scientific study of the effects of drugs and chemicals on living organisms where a drug can be broadly defined as any chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which affects a biological system. Pharmacology may involve how organisms handle drugs, identification and validation of new targets for drug action, and the design and development of new drugs to prevent, treat and cure disease. Pharmacology research is also a critical component in the development of modern 'personalized medicine'. There are many sub-specialties within the general discipline of pharmacology. Pharmacodynamics is the study of the effects of drugs on biological systems and specifically addresses the chemical properties and physiological and behavioral effects of drugs arising from their interaction with molecular targets such as receptor proteins or enzyme systems. In contrast, pharmacokinetics is the study of what biological systems do to the drug and encompasses investigations of drug absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion, essential information for the design of drug treatment schedules in different patient populations and experimental animals, and for the prediction of drug-drug interactions that may enhance or compromise the effectiveness and safety of t therapeutic agents. Pharmacologists require sound basic knowledge of physiology, biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology upon which to build their specialized knowledge and experimental approaches f...