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Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences 2021 - 2022 Catalog

Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Pharmaceutical Sciences - GB-MS-GPSC

Thomas Abbruscato, Ph.D., GSBS Associate Dean and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., GSBS Associate Dean and Chair, Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology

Abraham Al-Ahmad, Ph.D., Interim Graduate Program Advisor

Laurence Wood, Ph.D., Assistant Graduate Program Advisor

Graduate Faculty
Full Members: Abbruscato, Al-Ahmad, Bickel, Das, German, Karamyan, Karbowniczek, La-Beck, Lowe, Markiewski, Mikelis, Saha, Smith, Srivastava, Srivenugopal, Stoll, Thekkumkara, Wang, M., Weis, Wood
Associate Members: Dai, Kochanek, Mehvar, Putnam, Vaidya, Wright
Adjunct: Cucullo, Trippier

About the Program

Pharmaceutical Sciences (offered on the Amarillo and Abilene campuses) encompass all those areas of pharmacy research that pertain to drug design, delivery, formulations, therapeutics and immunotherapeutics, and biotechnology. The faculty members of the department exhibit research interests and expertise in drug design and delivery, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, drug receptor modeling, molecular biology, biochemistry, pathophysiology, immunology and cancer biology and therapy, and medicinal chemistry. The graduate program in pharmaceutical sciences is designed to educate students for careers in pharmaceutical industry, academia, and federal agencies including the FDA and NIH. Admissions requirements include a degree in pharmacy, chemistry, biology, or related areas. Teaching and research assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis. The departmental courses are listed below. For more information contact Teresa Carlisle, graduate program coordinator, 806.414.9329 or email teresa.carlisle@ttuhsc.edu.

Program Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Sciences

  • GPSC 5101 Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1:1:0,F)

    (1:1:0). Special topics in pharmaceutical sciences that are not normally included in other classes. May be repeated for credit with change in content.

  • GPSC 5112 Principles and Techniques in Structure Determination of Bioactive Molecules (1:1:0,F)

    An Advanced analytical chemistry course. The course is designed to familiarize doctoral candidates with general principles of modern spectroscopy techniques including MS, UV, IR, and general chromatography, introduce the minimum data required to identify the structure of a macromolecule and interpret data produced from MS, HPLC, IR spectra. Course Prerequisite: Admission to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program. Students must have passed GPSC 5410 General Biochemistry and GPSC 5504 Principles of Drug Action.

  • GPSC 5113 Molecular Structure Determination by NMR Spectroscopy (1:1:0,F)

    An advanced analytical chemistry course. The course is designed to familiarize doctoral candidates with general principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy techniques including 1N, 13C, 2D and 3D experiments, introduce the data required to assign the structure of a molecule including any stereochemistry/isomers, and interpret spectra produced from 1H and 13C and heteronuceli NMR. Course Prerequisite: Admission to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program. Students must have passed GPSC 5410 General Biochemistry and GPSC 5504 Principles of Drug Action.

  • GPSC 5201 Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2:2:0,F)

    (2:2:0). Special topics in pharmaceutical sciences that are not normally included in other classes. May be repeated for credit with change in content.

  • GPSC 5215 Advanced Course in Neurosciences (2:2:0,F)

    An advanced course designed to provide an overview of different aspects of neurosciences. This course is especially designed for graduate students interested to develop their neuroscience expertise and also introduced to different aspects of neurobiology, including but not limited to neuroanatomy, neurodevelopment, neurophysiology, neuroimaging and neurological diseases. Course Prerequisite: This course is designed for students with a basic knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. Successful completion of Biochemistry (GPSC5410) and Principles of Drug action (GPSC5504) is mandatory.

  • GPSC 5220 Drugs of Abuse (2:2:0,F)

    This course is designed to teach the students the pharmacology of different classes of abused drugs and the physiologic and societal aspects of addiction. Course Prerequisite: Biochemistry and Principles of Drug Action. In addition, while it is not required it is highly recommended that Pharmacology is completed or nearly complete by the time the course starts.

  • GPSC 5230 Experimental Design and Biostatistics (2:2:0,F)

    Principle of experimental research design, theoretical and practical issues of measurements and data collection; biostatistics in research design and data analyses for graduate students pursuing pharmaceutical and biomedical researches. Course Prerequisite: Admission to TTUHSC Graduate Program of Pharmaceutical Sciences

  • GPSC 5301 Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Special topics in pharmaceutical sciences that are not normally included in other classes. May be repeated for credit with change in content.

  • GPSC 5303 Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Special topics in pharmaceutical sciences that are not normally included in other classes. May be repeated for credit with change in content.

  • GPSC 5304 Principles of Drug Action (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Principles that govern drug action within the body (pharmacodynamics) as well as drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (pharmacokinetics).

  • GPSC 5307 Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Methods (3:0:3,F)

    (3:3:3). A lecture and laboratory course designed to provide an overview of current research methods in pharmaceutical sciences under direct guidance of a faculty member.

  • GPSC 5310 Drug Design and Discovery (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Prerequisite: GPSC 5504. Overview of new methods for quantitative SAR, computer-aided drug design, mass screening, and combinatorial chemistry.

  • GPSC 5311 Drug Development and Discovery (3:3:0,F)

    The steps and processes involved in drug development and discovery. Course Prerequisite: N/A

  • GPSC 5320 Drug Metabolism (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Analysis of primary metabolic enzymatic systems involved in the clearance of drugs from the body and the mechanisms that regulate their activity.

  • GPSC 5325 Medicinal Chemistry (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). A comprehensive study of the chemistry of drug molecules and their interactions to aid in the understanding of concepts such as drug discovery and design.

  • GPSC 5326 Cancer Biology and Therapeutics (3:3:0,F)

    This course is designed for graduate students studying molecular and cellular basis of cancer. The course offers principles of cancer biology from origin of cancers to therapeutic intervention principles. Admission to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program and basic knowledge of biochemistry and cell biology are required. Permission from the advisor and the team leader are also required.

  • GPSC 5330 Advanced Pharmacokinetics (3:3:0,F)

    Advanced topics related to pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of drugs and their metabolites with particular emphasis on modeling strategies appropriate for PK/PD research. Course Prerequisite: Basic Pharmacokinetics (GPSC 5329) and Course Director's Consent.

  • GPSC 5350 Advanced Pharmaceutics (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Drug Delivery Systems 3 or equivalent. Quantitative treatment of reactions of pharmaceutical interest. Drug decomposition, approaches to stabilization and preservation, accelerated stability analysis, complexation, and micromeritics.

  • GPSC 5356 Advanced Principles of Disease (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). Pathophysiological mechanisms at the molecular and cellular level. Lecture and discussion will cover the etiology, pathogenesis, functional changes, and clinical significance of general diseases.

  • GPSC 5362 Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs (3:3:0,F)

    Basic regulatory and Quality Assurance concepts. Course Prerequisite: N/A

  • GPSC 5370 Biotechnology (3:3:0,F)

    (3:3:0). An introduction to the area of molecular biology, genomics, and protein chemistry.

  • GPSC 5375 Immunology (3:3:0,F)

    The structural components of the human immune system; the cellular and molecular basis of immunological function; diagnostic tests using immunological reagents; mechanisms of resistance against microbial and neoplastic diseases; transplantation immunology; pathology of immune-mediated diseases; prevention of disease by vaccines; pharmacotherapeutic intervention in immunological processes; contemporary topics In immunology.

  • GPSC 5410 General Biochemistry (4:4:0,F)

    Chemical and molecular aspects of biological processes, including the chemistry of biomolecules, enzymology, bioenergy, biochemical control mechanisms, and molecular biology. Discussion of metabolic diseases and fundamentals of human nutrition.

  • GPSC 5411 Graduate Pharmaceutics (4:4:0,F)

    Covers the physical chemical principles for the development of safe and effective pharmaceutical dosage forms, fabrication of conventional liquid, solid and aerosolized dosage forms, fundamental of various drug delivery systems, and the process of drug development, discovery and commercialization. Course prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Program of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

  • GPSC 5429 Pharmacokinetics (4:4:0,F)

    Introduces the basic principles of pharmacokinetics, including compartmental and physiological analysis of the time courses of drug absorption, distribution, and elimination, with an emphasis on the pharmacokinetic-based dosage-regimen design. Course prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Program of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

  • GPSC 5435 Physiology-Based Pharmacology (4:4:0,F)

    This is an integrated course of physiology and pharmacology, with an introduction to clinical pharmacology. The emphasis will be on understanding drug actions at the molecular, cellular, organ and whole organism level for select classes of drugs.

  • GPSC 5440 Biopharmaceutics (4:4:0,F)

    Advanced treatment of the influence of dosage forms, route of administration, and dosage regimen on drug availability and newer technologies for targeting drug delivery to specific organs and cell types. Prerequisite: DDS 3rd and kinetics or equivalent.

  • GPSC 5455 Graduate Pharmaceutics (4:4:0,F)

    Physicochemical principles for the design and development of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Advanced instruction in solution, suspension, and semisolid dosage forms.

  • GPSC 5504 Principles of Drug Action (5:5:0,F)

    This introductory course is designed to facilitate understanding of fundamental concepts relating to drug action. It covers basic principles of pharmacology, toxicology, and medicinal chemistry. Course prerequisites include the admission to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program, and students must have passed GPSC 5510 General Biochemistry. (F/IVC)

  • GPSC 6000 Master's Thesis (1-6:0:1-6,F)

    Master's Thesis

  • GPSC 6002 Master's Thesis (1-6:0:1-6,F)

    Master's Thesis

  • GPSC 6003 Master's Thesis (1-6:0:1-6,F)

    Master's Thesis

  • GPSC 7000 Pharmaceutical Sciences Research (1-12:0:1,F)

    Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

  • GPSC 7002 Pharmaceutical Sciences Research (1-12:0:1-12,F)

    Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

  • GPSC 7003 Pharm Sciences Research (1-12:0:1-12,F)

    Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

  • GPSC 7101 Pharmaceutical Sciences Seminar (1:0:0,F)

    (1:1:0). Weekly seminar series designed to provide training in research data presentation and analysis.

  • GPSC 7103 Pharmaceutical Sciences Seminar (1:0:1,F)

    (1:1:0). Weekly seminar series designed to provide training in research data presentation and analysis.

  • GPSC 8000 Doctoral Dissertation (1-12:0:1-12,F)

  • GPSC 8002 Doctoral Dissertation (1-12:0:1-12,F)

    Doctoral Dissertation

  • GPSC 8003 Doctoral Dissertation (1-12:0:1-12,F)

    Doctoral Dissertation