Research
& Training Program in
Biomolecular Pharmacology
David
H. Farb PhD, Program Director
Program
of Study
Pharmacology
has historically been an interdisciplinary field, positioned at the
point of convergence of physiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry,
behavioral science, and medicine. The pharmacology of this century
will bring together an even wider range of disciplines, combining
traditional aspects of pharmacology with novel approaches drawn from
other disciplines, such as biophysics, biomedical engineering, and
molecular genetics.
The
predoctoral training program in Biomolecular Pharmacology is based
on a training partnership among faculty in the Departments of Pharmacology,
Anatomy and Neurobiology, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology and Biophysics,
Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Molecular Medicine. The curriculum
formalizes interdisciplinary predoctoral training in molecular pharmacology.
Students receive formal training in the principles of molecular pharmacology,
as well as in molecular genetic, biophysical, and structural approaches
to the study of drug-receptor interactions. A major benefit of the
program is to expand opportunities for students to carry out research
in these areas.
Oversight
and coordination is provided by a Program Graduate Education Committee
composed of faculty representatives from the participating components
in the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering. The structure
of the program catalyzes continued and expanded collaborations among
the participating faculty, and fosters interactions among students
and faculty of the participating components. This program produces
scientists who have an understanding of and firsthand experience with
a broad range of technologies at the cutting edge of research in molecular
pharmacology. The excellence of our training program has been recongized
nationally by the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences
in the form of funding for our Interdepartmental University-wide Program
in Biomolecualr Pharmacology.
