Pharmacology

Entry requirements

For full entry requirement details, please see the course page on the University website.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

The Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology provides excellent opportunities for basic and clinical research on drug safety science, immuno-pharmacology, individualized medicines, nanomedicines and HIV.

The department is among the most highly rated for research in the United Kingdom and hosts the MRC funded Centre for Drug Safety Science and the Wolfson Centre for Personalized Medicine.

We have state-of-the-art research facilities and funding from sources including MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Wolfson Foundation and the EU.

Our focus is on research that is directed towards understanding disease processes, defining therapeutic strategies for intervention, and the scientific basis of drug safety. The ultimate aim of this research is to translate laboratory findings into the clinic for the benefit of patients, the public and the healthcare system.

Our research specifically focuses on the following areas:

• Drug Safety Science - We undertake fundamental clinical and basic research into the causes, characteristics and consequences of adverse drug reactions to improve the benefit-risk ratio of current and new medicines
• Personalized Medicine – We aim to identify the specific differences which cause individuals to respond to drugs differently
• Immuno-pharmacology - We undertake basic and clinical research to characterize drug interactions with immune cells and identify novel drug targets
• The Pharmacology of Infectious Disease – We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the variability in response to HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis therapy
• Nanomedicines – We investigate the application of nanomedicines in infectious disease
• Neuropharmacology – We are working to discover the underlying causes of common nervous system disorders, examine their consequences and identify new treatments.
• Drug Safety Science Adverse reactions are a significant problem for patients, healthcare systems and the pharmaceutical industry. Recognizing its excellence in the field of drug safety science, the MRC awarded the department a Centre grant. The MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science is the only Centre of its kind in Europe. We carry out clinical and basic research into the causes, characteristics and consequences of adverse drug reactions and focus on the mechanisms and genetic predisposition of adverse reactions to drugs. Our mission is to improve diagnosis and clinical handling of these reactions.
• Personalised Medicine – Personalized medicine has the power to revolutionize the way in which serious diseases are treated in the UK and beyond. Working from the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine, the Departments research focuses on identifying predictive genetic markers for drug responses associated with clinical areas including cardiovascular disease, asthma and epilepsy. Clinical and basic scientists are dedicated to detecting genes and pathways that can determine a patient’s response to a drug. The ultimate aim of our research is to translate laboratory findings into clinical care for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems.