Drug Discovery and Safety
Contents of the study programme
The Master's in Drug Discovery and Safety is a two-year programme. Apart from lectures and tutorials, it includes courses given by lecturers from a range of disciplines. You will also tackle case studies and carry out assignments in a digital learning environment. Naturally, your own laboratory research is another important part of the programme.
As a Master’s student in Drug Discovery and Safety you will:
- Participate in internationally renowned research groups; Prof. Nico Vermeulen’s en prof. Rob Leurs’ research groups publish in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, Nature Chemical Biology and other leading journals;
- Aquire insights into various aspects of the drug discovery process;
- Tackle case studies and carry out assignments in a digital learning environment;
- Experience a good balance between group, pair and individual study;
- Become an expert in one of the disciplines, i.e., biomolecular drug analysis, synthetic organic chemistry, molecular modeling, molecular pharmacology and biology, molecular toxicology and computational medicinal chemistry and toxicology.
Your programme consists of:
- introductory and advanced courses on drug development
- a research project in the field of your specialization (including a Master’s thesis)
- examinations
- a literature thesis and a colloquium
Profiles and specializations
There are three principal routes through the Master's programme, called profiles. Each specialisation track within a profile can be tailor-made to a student's personal requirements. At the initial planning stage, and with advice from the master coordinator, the optimal personal programme can be defined. Each profile and specialization includes a balance between compulsory courses, optional courses and research training.
You can choose between the following profiles:
- Social. Focuses on policy, management and entrepreneurship in the field of drug discovery and development. (partly in Dutch)
- Communications. Focuses on science communications theory and research, as well as in practice. (partly in Dutch)
- Education. Provides teacher training for Dutch pre-university or vocational education. (partly in Dutch)
Education programme, research profile
Specializations
During the first six months of the programme, all five specializations in Drug Discovery and Safety are introduced under the title Principles of Pharmacochemistry. After that, the programme goes into specific areas in greater depth by means of three introductory courses. You will complete this ‘standard’ component with short courses in each of the specializations. By the end of the first six months, you will be familiar with all the ins and outs of drug development.
There are five specializations to choose from:
- Biomolecular Drug Analysis
- Computational Medicinal Chemistry & Toxicology
- Drug Design & Synthesis
- Molecular Pharmacology (Drug Discovery & Target Finding)
- Molecular Toxicology (Drug Disposition & Safety Assessment)
Course descriptions
| Period | Compulsory courses |
| Sept - Oct | Principles of pharmaceutical sciences / pharmacochemistry (obligatory for students without a Bsc Pharmaceutical Sciences (6 ECTS) |
| Nov - Dec |
|
| Drug Design & Synthesis | Drug Discovery & Target Finding | Computational Medicinal Chemistry & Toxicology | Drug Disposition & Safety Assessment | Biomolecular Drug Analysis | |
| Sept - Oct | Physical-organic chemistry (6 ECTS) | Chemistry of life (6 ECTS) | Mass spectroscopy (6 ECTS)
| ||
| Jan | |||||
| Feb - March | Synthetic approaches in medicinal chemistry (6 ECTS) or | Comp. med. chem. and tox. I (3 ECTS) and Comp. med. chem. and tox. II (6 ECTS) | Drug toxicity (3 ECTS) | Bio-analytical strategies (6 ECTS) | |
| Apr - May | Synthetic approaches in medicinal chemistry (6 ECTS) or | Receptor structure and function (6 ECTS) or | Comp. med. chem. and tox. II (6 ECTS) or | Advanced courses on drug disposition and safety assessment (6 ECTS) | Protein analysis (6 ECTS) |
| June | Synthetic approaches in medicinal chemistry (6 ECTS) | Receptor structure and function (6 ECTS) | Comp. med. chem. and tox. II (6 ECTS) | Advanced courses on drug disposition and safety assessment (6 ECTS) |
Further information about the Master’s programme in Drug Discovery and Safety and course module descriptions can be found at:
Study guide
