THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
FACULTY OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND HEALTH SCIENCES

GENERAL PHILOSOPHY
You will find a big difference between second and third year pharmacology. Whereas the former skimmed over many different areas and mainly amounted to learning the jargon and acquiring a broad and basic understanding which would allow future development, Molecular Pharmacology 301 covers various topics in which some members of staff are currently researching. Therefore, topics which staff have special expertise in are selected, and these are dealt with in greater depth. The lecturers concerned find these areas interesting and we hope they will appeal to you in the same way. As a consequence of this approach, there is no one textbook that covers the different topics to the level required. You will have to make increasing use of the specialty texts (eg G-Protein coupled receptors) and the periodical literature, as opposed to learning a ‘Textbook of Pharmacology’ from cover to cover and expecting to do well.

While the acquisition of facts is a necessary prerequisite for the study of any science, it is not the sole aim in Molecular Pharmacology 301. You should also become proficient in the laboratory with experimental methodology. This is important because much of pharmacology is still in the exploratory stage and therefore mostly experimental, and also because it will serve you well when seeking jobs in the general biomedical scene. Any science worth its salt attempts to simplify the masses of facts into plausible, rational theories which can be tested, modified where necessary, and subsequently used to predict new phenomena. You will be introduced to some of these theories, together with the evidence for and against them, and expected to develop some critical faculties in evaluating the claims and counter-claims of scientific literature.

EMAIL ACCOUNTS
Pharmacology students MUST use their own Tartarus account to access the Internet as part of Computer Assisted Learning programmes. All computers in Room G.17 are assigned with restricted IP (Internet Protocol) numbers.

FLYING FISH
Various teaching and learning material pertinent to this unit (e.g. lecture notes, lab handouts) will be available online via "Flying Fish". In order to access this material, students must have their own Tartarus email account as described above. Information on how to access web-based course material will be provided in the Introductory lecture in the first week of semester. The Flying Fish website is http://pharmfish.pharm.uwa.edu.au:8300/

It is the responsibility of each student to login to Flying Fish at least twice a week for updates to notices, learning material etc. Students are able to use computer labs in Pharmacology outside Laboratory class times. The course co-ordinator will monitor the Flying Fish forum once a week where possible.

When working from home please note that
- you must be using a browser version 4 or higher (IE or Netscape)
- your browser needs to be configured to “accept all cookies”, see
http://pharmfish.pharm.uwa.edu.au:8300/web_support/net_cookies.html or
http://pharmfish.pharm.uwa.edu.au:8300/web_support/ie_cookies.html
Java and javascript should also be enabled and selections should be such that the document in cache should be compared to network every time.

We strongly advise students accessing course work to dialing via their Tartarus accounts. This gives you access as part of the university LAN which avoids many issues that can arise via private ISPs. This service is free to students.

LECTURES
Molecular Pharmacology 301 involves three lectures each week, these are presented in the Mary Lockett Lecture Theatre, FJ Clark Lecture Theatre Complex, QEII Medical Centre. A timetable for the lectures is included.

LABORATORY PRACTICAL CLASSES
Laboratory classes will be held on Monday and Tuesday afternoons from 1pm – 5.00pm in the Undergraduate Laboratories, Ground Floor, Department of Pharmacology. The practical work has been designed to complement and extend the lecture material and introduce some of the experimental methodology of modern pharmacology. Each Practical will require a report to be submitted within TWO WEEKS of completion of the practical class. CREDIT WILL NOT BE GIVEN FOR PRACTICALS THAT ARE NOT ATTENDED OR FOR LATE REPORTS!!

Each student requires a laboratory coat and appropriate footwear (no sandals or thongs) for each practical. No eating or drinking is permitted in laboratory classes. Note that some practicals use animals, either for provision of tissues for in vitro use, or as anaesthetised preparations. If you feel that the use of animals will be distasteful to you, then you should discuss the matter with the Unit Controller before commencing the unit.

SEMINAR
At the end of Semester One, each student is required to present a SEMINAR based upon a paper in the literature. Papers will be assigned early in Semester One. The purpose of these seminars is to expose the student to critical analysis of the literature. Each seminar is for 10 minutes with 5 minutes for questions. Every student is expected to read widely and assess a particular paper and then present the work to his/her colleagues. Attention should be given to the aims of the study presented, whether appropriate experiments were performed, and whether the conclusions are justified by the data. In order to be able to make any assessment of a published work, it is important that a good basic understanding of the area is demonstrated by the student. Students will be expected to attend all sessions of the seminar presentations.

ASSESSMENT
1. The end of semester examinations (60%) will be a three hour examination. The examination will require six questions of equal worth to be answered. There will be 12 questions in the paper. Each of the six lecture groups will be represented by two questions. One question from each of these six topics must be answered, ie one question concerning each lecture group must be answered.
2. Practical reports (30%)
3. Communication Skill (Seminar) (10%)

PARKING
There will be no fee paying, on site, car parking available for use by students during Semester One.