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Tools for Discovery and Preclinical Research
Coordinator
Catarina Brito
Ana Lúcia Barbas
Objectives
The main objective of this curricular unit is to provide the student knowledge on the wide variety of tools and technologies available for Discovery and Preclinical stages of drug discovery, from biopharmaceutical design to validation and preclinical evaluation phases.
Syllabus
- Novel technologies in Biopharmaceutical Discovery & Design: in silico and ultrahigh-throughput platforms; in vitro
display technology, such as phage, ribosome and mRNA display; RNA interference technology, etc.
- Stages of preclinical development: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, ADME (absorption, distribution,
metabolism, and excretion) and toxicological evaluation.
- In vivo models in Preclinical Development: genetic engineered animal models, humanized animal models.
- In vitro models, from cell-free protein assays to cell-based assays, complex cell models and multi-organ systems.
Evaluation
Evaluation will be based on the discussions during the
tutorials and a subsequent short individual written dissertation on the topics discussed.
Main Bibliography
- “New Technologies for Toxicity Testing”, Edited by M. Balls, R. D. Combes and N. Bhogal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology Series, Volume 745, Springer Science , 2012
- “Pharmaceutical biotechnology: drug discovery and clinical applications” Edited by O. Hayser, H. Varzecha, Wiley-VCH, 2012
- “Drug Testing In Vitro: Breakthroughs and Trends in Cell Culture Technology”, Edited by U. Marx and V. Sandig, Wiley-VCH, 2006
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