At the end of this course students will have obtained fundamental knowledge about molecular mechanisms of novel therapeutics including: mechanisms of signal transduction, targets, mechanisms of side effects and resistance
Students will be able to apply this knowledge with respect to:

• understanding of the working mechanisms of therapeutics
• the optimization of therapeutics with respect to its’ molecular working mechanism
• understanding of side effects, resistance and drug repurposing

This course will introduce students into novel medicines and therapies applied to treat diseases that pose a heavy burden on society, i.e. cancer, neuropathic pain and rheumatoid arthritis. Since the development of new therapeutics is increasingly based on profound fundamental knowledge, the molecular mechanisms of these medicines will be thoroughly discussed. Moreover, current techniques in drug design will be discussed as well as the problems caused by side-effects and the occurrence of resistance against certain types of medicine.

Students will be introduced into the molecular mechanisms by means of lectures. Preceding these lectures, optional tutorials will be organized in order to enable the students to refresh their basal knowledge on key signal transduction pathways. They will be stimulated to mine current literature in order to complete workgroup-assignments and to present a literature study and/or future research plans on personalized medicine, ‘drug repurposing’ or optimization of particular therapeutics. This course will be given in close collaboration with clinical professionals that have experience with the therapeutics discussed.