Course Coordinator:Fraser Russell (frussell@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Biomedicine
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course will introduce you to the specialist field of pharmacology, with a strong emphasis on the underlying biochemical principles of drug action. You will explore the application of drugs/drug therapy used to treat diabetes, bacterial and viral infection, cancer, anxiety and depression.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – Online narrated powerpoints with H5P embedded quizzes | 1.5hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus | 2hrs | Week 1 | 7 times |
Laboratory 1 – On campus | 2hrs | Week 2 | 6 times |
Drug-receptor interactions
Pharmacokinetics
Cancer chemotherapy
Antibiotics
Antiviral drugs
Antiprotozoal drugs
Hypoglycaemic drugs
Immunomodulatory drugs
Personalised medicine
Anxiolytic agents and antipsychotic drugs
Antidepressant drugs
300 Level (Graduate)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
1 | Demonstrate and apply knowledge of the basic principles & concepts of biochemical pharmacology to familiar and unfamiliar metabolic pathways | Knowledgeable |
2 | Solve problems by using evidence-based reasoning, and where appropriate, mathematical calculations. | Creative and critical thinker |
3 | Communicate scientifically in the form of a problem set and poster, with reference to the literature. | Empowered |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
MBT251 or LFS251
Not applicable
MBT351
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Students will complete a Problem Set and submit this to Canvas Turnitin by 4.00 pm Thursday Week 4. The task will consolidate learning activities on pharmacokinetics included within the Weeks 2-4 learning materials and the Week 2 laboratory class. The assignment is worth 15% of the overall grade. Formative feedback will be provided to students in the laboratory and summative feedback will be provided to students within 2 weeks of the submission date.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1a | Artefact - Technical and Scientific | Individual | 15% | 250 words |
Week 4 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 1b | Artefact - Technical and Scientific | Individual | 15% | 250 Words |
Week 8 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 2 | Artefact - Technical and Scientific | Individual | 30% | A0 size poster as a pdf file |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 40% | 2 hours (<1500 words) |
Exam Period | Exam Venue |
All - Assessment Task 1a:Problem Set | |
Goal: | The goal of this task is to allow you to demonstrate your problem solving skills in relation to the study of pharmacokinetics. This question set is related to questions that will be on the end-of-semester exam. |
Product: | Artefact - Technical and Scientific |
Format: | Answers, with working, to 10 problems on a worksheet |
Criteria: |
|
All - Assessment Task 1b:Problem Set | |
Goal: | The goal of this task is to allow you to demonstrate your problem solving skills in relation to the study of pharmacokinetics, cancer chemotherapy and antibiotics. This question set is related to questions that will be on the end-of-semester exam. |
Product: | Artefact - Technical and Scientific |
Format: | Answers, with working, to 10 problems on a worksheet |
Criteria: |
|
All - Assessment Task 2:Poster | |
Goal: | In this task you will research a topic from a list provided by the course coordinator. You will prepare a scientific poster to communicate your research. |
Product: | Artefact - Technical and Scientific |
Format: | A0 Size poster. Students are to select a topic for their poster from a list that is provided by the course coordinator, and to prepare an A0-size poster. A library tutorial will be provided in Week 2 to assist students with strategies for searching the literature. |
Criteria: |
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All - Assessment Task 3:Final exam | |
Goal: | The goal is to use understandings of pharmacology gained in the learning materials to answer questions and solve problems. |
Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled |
Format: | Multiple choice questions, short answer questions, problem solving, calculations based on material from learning materials, tutorials and laboratory activities up to and including Week 13. |
Criteria: |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Period and Topic | Activities |
Module 1: Drug-receptor interactions |
Learning materials related to pharmacodynamics |
Modules 2-4: Pharmacokinetics |
Learning materials on drug dosing protocols |
Modules 5-8: Chemotherapeutic agents |
Learning materials relating to cancer, antibacterial drugs, antiviral drugs and antiprotozoal drugs. |
Module 9: Hypoglycaemic agents |
Learning materials on diabetes and treatments |
Module 10: Immunomodulatory agents |
Learning materials on drugs to prevent organ rejection following transplant surgery. |
Module 11: Personalised medicine |
Learning materials related to precision medicine. |
Modules 12-13: CNS pharmacology |
Learning materials on drugs used to treat anxiety and depression |
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | James M. Ritter, Rod J. Flower, Graeme Henderson, Yoon Kong Loke, David MacEwan, Emma Robinson, James Fullerton | 2024 | Rang & Dale's Pharmacology | 10th Ed | Elsevier |
Required | Reginald H. Garrett, Charles M. Grisham | 2024 | Biochemistry | 7th Ed | Cengage |
Laboratory coat, safety glasses, closed in footwear, calculator.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
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