Topic outline

  • Welcome to the course on Medicinal Chemistry

    Remdesivir, Dexamethasone, Hydroxychloroquine, antibody cocktails, a big spoon of horse dewormer, or some good old-fashioned internal bleaching? Nature has once again delivered an extremely powerful reminder about our vulnerability in face of infectious diseases. And the last 21 months have also illustrated how an effective response to those threats does not only depend on the ingenious science itself, but also on an informed science-conscious society.   

    Many of you probably came to this course to make more sense of Sars-CoV-2, and I will hopefully be able to provide you with some insights into that topic. But as the science moves on in full speed, I myself am trying to gather (and understand!) informations on this small bug that keeps us in those remote learning environments. I am not a medical expert, definitely not an epidemiologist, but I will try my best to give you a rudimentary blueprint of the relationships between the various parts of our body and strategies for medical interventions regarding infectious (and non-infectious) diseases. 

    Overall, the course on Medicinal Chemistry is offering a comprehensive overview of the developments in pharmaceutical research, from historically relevant examples to modern medicinal chemistry and 'biologicals'. Particular emphasis is put on the understanding of molecular principles and biosynthetic relationships.

    The virtual contact sessions will include in-depth discussions of important aspects such as modes of drug-target interactions, transport & metabolism, structure-activity relationship, and lead optimization & rational design. The course is complemented with general considerations regarding the development of pharmaceuticals and drug-to-market processes.


    Course environment:

    This course will be taking place fully remotely. That means that all of our contact sessions, the graded home assignments as well as the final examination will be accessible from wherever you may find yourself in November and December. Not everybody has made it yet to Finland so in the interest of providing a fair and non-discriminative setting, I chose to stay online for a little longer. 

    The lectures – You can access all lectures through the following Zoom room: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61620493625. The lectures are live sessions and benefit from an active participation by you. Don't be shy! If however, you should be unable to join them, you will also be able to revisit the material and lecture recordings. All slides and the videos will be available in the lectures section.

    The chat – We use Presemo as a Q&A platform for interaction in the course:  https://presemo.aalto.fi/medchem2021. Here you can post your questions both during and after the contact sessions. The chat should serve as means of communication between you, the students, but I will of course also try to answer asap if things have been unclear (either directly during the lecture or afterwards).


    Course content:

    2.11. General Terms & Basic Principles

    4.11. Transport & Metabolism

    9.11. Cyclooxygenase Inhibition

    11.11. Lipid Regulation

    16.11. Steroid Hormones

    18.11. Protease & Transpeptidase Inhibition

    23.11. Antiviral Strategies

    25.11. Microtubule Interference & DNA Binders

    30.11. Antibodies & Vaccines

    2.12. Neuroactive Drugs

    7.12. Pharma business

    9.12. Guest lecture by Magne Olav Sydnes (Stavanger, NO, likely offered as hybrid session)



    Course grading:

    Your learning success is evaluated in various steps throughout the course, with a final examination at the end of period II. All assessments are performed remotely, i.e. as assignments in this MyCourses platform. We're gonna start with a brief questionnaire in week 44, and you will be able to earn points for your overall grade via three quizzes as we progress through the course.

    8.11.: questionnaire (5%, due on 10.11.)

    12.11.: quiz #1 (15%, covering sessions 1-4, due on 15.11.)

    26.11.: quiz #2 (15%, content of sessions 5-8, due on 29.11.)

    8.12.: quiz #3 (15%, sessions 9-11, due on 12.12.)

    14.12.: final exam (50%)