A year-long practical module that develops laboratory, analytical and professional skills required by each discipline. You’ll gain hands-on experience in biochemistry, immunology, microbiology and pharmacology, supported by practical competency checks. Workshops cover statistics, ethics, data analysis and presentation skills, alongside student-led sessions exploring science in the media, technology and society.

This module covers the fundamentals of biochemistry and cell biology across five themes. You will study how genes are expressed and how that control fails in disease, and how human genetic variation is used in medicine and forensics. You will look at the structure and function of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates and how proteins work as enzymes, how cells obtain energy and how metabolic pathways are regulated in health and disease, and the pathways that control cell growth and death.

This module introduces the fundamental concepts of immunology. You will study the anatomy of the immune system and the cells within it, the difference between innate and adaptive immunity, and how immune cells recognise antigens. You will look at humoral and cell-mediated responses, how the body responds to bacteria, parasites and viruses, and how B and T cells are activated. The module also covers immune tolerance, and what happens when responses become harmful, in autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, allergy and hypersensitivity.

This module introduces the fundamental concepts of microbiology and the ways microorganisms shape human, animal and planetary health. You will study how microbes are classified and how they differ from one another, their roles in health and disease, and how infection is controlled at both individual and population level. The module also covers the part microorganisms play in climate regulation and ecosystem function, how they adapt to hostile environments, and how they can be harnessed for biotechnology in medicine, industry and sustainable manufacturing.

This module introduces how drugs act on the body and what the body does to drugs. You will study the principles of drug and receptor interaction and four main targets drugs act on: receptors, enzymes, ion channels and transporter proteins. You will cover introductory principles of toxicology, including exposure, dose and mechanisms of toxicity; the pharmacology of the autonomic nervous system and the heart; and of the central nervous system. The module ends with pharmacokinetics, how drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolised and eliminated, and the role of the pharmacologist in developing new medicines.

The aims of this module are to:

• give you generic practical skills in biomolecular science
• further develop your practical skills in pharmacology
• enhance your report writing and presentation skills

This module covers how drugs how drugs produce effects in the body, from their interaction with biological targets to the responses they generate in cells, tissues and organ systems. You'll study how drug action is measured and quantified, how different signalling mechanisms shape a response, and how factors such as potency, efficacy and selectivity influence therapeutic and unwanted effects.

The module also introduces the major classes of drug targets, including receptors, enzymes, ion channels and transporters, together with examples of the medicines that act on them. Tutorials develop the scientific writing and data interpretation skills used throughout the rest of the degree.

The aims of this module are to help you develop and apply the principles of:

• quantitative pharmacology
• pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modelling
• data science skills in pharmacology
• network and systems pharmacology
• artificial intelligence and machine learning in pharmacology
• reproducible and open science

This module covers the pathophysiology of major human diseases and the drugs used to treat them. You will study the mechanisms of the principal drug classes, how the underlying biology of a disease determines the molecular targets a treatment exploits, and how novel and targeted therapies compare with established ones. Workshops develop your ability to evaluate pharmacological evidence and reasoning in a clinical context.

The aims of this module are to help you develop and apply the principles of:

• discovery and development processes for pharmacologists
• the drug discovery pipeline: target identification, target validation, hit identification, lead optimisation, candidate selection
• modern target discovery approaches: genomics, proteomics, phenotypic vs target-based screening and chemical biology approaches
• hit-to-lead and lead optimisation
• preclinical development
• pharmaceutical formulation and drug delivery

A year-long research project under academic supervision. Projects fall into four categories: experimental research, data science, literature-based work, and industrial or societal projects. You'll work on your project through the year, analyse and interpret your results, present your findings, and write a thesis, including a statement of your project's impact and how it relates to wider societal, health and environmental challenges.

This module covers active areas of pharmacological research, taught by academics within the department who research them. You'll study drug targets and therapeutic strategies across a range of disease areas, from receptor pharmacology and drug discovery through to animal models and clinical trials, including drugs in early development and concepts that may lead to new therapies.

Each topic is built around a recent scientific research paper or clinical trial: you read it in advance, then work through the critical appraisal of it in a workshop, developing the ability to critique published data and interpret primary literature.

The aims of this module are to help you develop and apply the principles of:

• experimental design in pharmacology
• in silico models in pharmacology and deep learning models for target identification and hit prediction
• receptor pharmacology assays
• cell culture for pharmacology
• tissue and organ pharmacology
• in vivo pharmacology
• non-animal methods (NAMs) and human-relevant models
• data quality, rigour and reproducibility
• research integrity, image data integrity and good laboratory practice in pharmacological research

This module explores how the fundamental principles of drug action are applied to patients, where treatment is rarely straightforward. Working within a systems pharmacology framework, you'll examine how factors such as age, disease and individual variation shape the way medicines behave in the body, and why the same drug can produce very different outcomes in different people.

Using the nervous system as the principal clinical context, the module draws on patient case material, current literature and prescribing data to develop the critical judgement expected of a pharmacology graduate in a healthcare-facing role.

The aims of this module are to help you develop and apply the principles of:

• pharmacogenomics fundamentals
• translating pharmacogenomics into practice
• personalised and stratified medicine
• pharmacotherapy of major non-communicable diseases focusing on emerging global trends, mechanisms and stratification
• advanced and emerging therapeutics
• emerging concepts in digital health, technologies and therapeutics
• equity, access and the future of medicines