Major Overview

Description

How do medicines work to manage and treat human diseases? How can drugs target particular organs, cells, proteins and genes? This major provides the comprehensive grounding in scientific concepts that are required in order to understand how the body affects the actions, efficacy and safety of drugs, how drugs affect the human body, and how drugs are used to treat human disease. Units in this major cover the following topics: pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion), drug–target interactions, dose/concentration–response relationships, intracellular signalling, toxicology, pharmacogenomics, systems pharmacology, clinical trials, structure-activity relationship, drug design, discovery and development. Theoretical content is reinforced by practical laboratory sessions and computer-based workshops.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

  1. discuss the role of pharmacology and toxicology in improving health outcomes and addressing current and future health challenges
  2. discuss the processes that regulate the fate of drugs and chemicals in the body
  3. discuss drug action at molecular, cellular, tissue and whole-body levels, discriminating between various mechanisms of action of drugs
  4. relate therapeutic effects and unwanted adverse effects to drug action, recognising the significance of genetic polymorphism in drug response
  5. discuss the development and contribution of advanced technologies to drug design and discovery
  6. investigate a problem related to pharmacology or toxicology through hypothesis formulation, experimental design, data collection, analysis and interpretation
  7. perform laboratory experiments relevant to assessing the action of drugs and their impact on pathophysiological processes
  8. select, critically appraise, and communicate scientific information on a topic related to pharmacology and/or toxicology
  9. work constructively in a team; and (10) discuss ethical approaches in learning and research.
Broadening guidelines
All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree-specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so and to pursue as many areas of interest as you can during your course of study. At the same time, we know that many of you value the University's guidance and assistance in planning your enrolment throughout your course, so we offer the following suggestions for your consideration as possible avenues to broaden your degree. Do always remember, however, that there is no wrong way to broaden your studies as long as you complete at least four units not associated with your degree-specific major.
Suggested Minors to broaden you study area, are:
(1) MNR-ORGPH Human Systems Physiology
(2) MNR-WHLTH Women's Health
(3) MNR-ETHIC Applied Ethics
Prerequisites

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Chemistry or equivalent, are required to successfully complete CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry in their first 48 points of study in this course.

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, will need to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course.

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Human Biology, ATAR Biology, or an equivalent qualification will need to successfully complete ANHB1101 Human Biology I or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology in their first 48 points of study in this course. Alternatively, students who have transferred from a degree where they were eligible to take IMED1001 Form and Function may complete this unit instead. IMED1001 is only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Biomedicine degree or the Biomedical Engineering major [MJD-EBMEG].

Courses

Pharmacology and Toxicology can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

Example Study Plans

See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2

Level 1

Degree-specific major units

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Human Biology, ATAR Biology, or an equivalent qualification will need to successfully complete ANHB1101 Human Biology I or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology in their first 48 points of study in this course. Alternatively, students who have transferred from a degree where they were eligible to take IMED1001 Form and Function may complete this unit instead. IMED1001 is only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Biomedicine or the Biomedical Engineering major [MJD-EBMEG]. Students without ATAR Chemistry will need to take CHEM1003 in first semester to meet prerequisites for SCIE1106.

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S2 SCIE1106 Molecular Biology of the Cell
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
ATAR Subject(s) Human Biology or equivalent
or ATAR Subject(s) Biology or equivalent
or ANHB1101 Human Biology I: Becoming Human
or ANHX1101 Human Biology 1 (Becoming Human)
or ANHX1102 Human Biology 2 (Being Human)
or ANHB1102 Human Biology II: Being Human
or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology
or IMED1001 Form and Function
and Successful completion of
ATAR Subject(s) Chemistry or equivalent
or CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry
or CHEX1003 Introductory Chemistry
Incompatibility
Unit(s) SCIE2225 Molecular Biology
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S2 BIOC1001 Introductory Cellular Biochemistry
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
ATAR Subject(s) Chemistry ATAR
or CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry
or CHEX1003 Introductory Chemistry
Incompatibility
Successful completion of
CHEM1004 Biological Chemistry
S1, S2 CHEM1002 Chemistry—Structure and Reactivity
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry (ID 1063)
or CHEX1003 Introductory Chemistry
or ATAR Subject(s) Chemistry
or ATAR Subject(s) WACE Chemistry 3A/3B or equivalent
Bridging units

Take units if applicable:

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, will need to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course. Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Chemistry or equivalent, are required to successfully complete CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry in their first 48 points of study in this course. Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Human Biology, ATAR Biology, or an equivalent qualification will need to successfully complete ANHB1101 Human Biology I or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology in their first 48 points of study in this course. Alternatively, students who have transferred from a degree where they were eligible to take IMED1001 Form and Function may complete this unit instead. IMED1001 is only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Biomedicine or the Biomedical Engineering major [MJD-EBMEG].

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, will need to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course. Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Chemistry or equivalent, are required to successfully complete CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry in their first 48 points of study in this course. Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Human Biology, ATAR Biology, or an equivalent qualification will need to successfully complete ANHB1101 Human Biology I or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology in their first 48 points of study in this course. Alternatively, students who have transferred from a degree where they were eligible to take IMED1001 Form and Function may complete this unit instead. IMED1001 is only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Biomedicine or the Biomedical Engineering major [MJD-EBMEG].

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 ANHB1101 Human Biology I: Becoming Human None
S1 BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology None
S1, S2 CHEM1003 Introductory Chemistry
Incompatibility
ATAR Subject(s) Chemistry or equivalent
S1, S2 MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals
Prerequisites
Mathematics Applications ATAR [with a scaled score of less than 50] or with permission
Incompatibility
Mathematics Applications ATAR [with a scaled score of 50 or greater] or Equivalent or higher

Level 2

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (12 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 PHAR2210 Foundations of Pharmacology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
CHEM1002 Chemistry—Structure and Reactivity
and SCIE1106 Molecular Biology of the Cell
or
CHEX1002 Chemistry Structure and Reactivity
and SCIX1106 Molecular Biology of the Cell
or
CHEM1004 Biological Chemistry
and SCIE1106 Molecular Biology of the Cell
or
BIOC1001 Introductory Cellular Biochemistry
and SCIE1106 Molecular Biology of the Cell
or
IMED1001 Form and Function
and IMED1002 The Facts of Life
S2 PHAR2220 Systems Pharmacology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
PHAR2210 Foundations of Pharmacology

Level 3

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (24 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 PHAR3310 Applied Molecular Pharmacology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
PHAR2220 Human Pharmacology
Incompatibility
PHAR3303 Drugs and Disease A
and PATH3304 Drugs and Disease B
S1 PHAR3311 Applied Molecular Pharmacology Methods
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
PHAR2220 Human Pharmacology
Co-requisites
PHAR3310 Molecular Pharmacology
Incompatibility
PHAR3303 Drugs and Disease A,
and PATH3304 Drugs and Disease B
S2 PHAR3320 Translational Pharmacology and Toxicology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
PHAR2220 Human Pharmacology
Incompatibility
PHAR3303 Drugs and Disease A,
S2 PHAR3321 Translational Pharmacology and Toxicology Methods
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
PHAR2220 Human Pharmacology
Co-requisites
PHAR3320 Systems Pharmacology
Incompatibility
PHAR3303 Drugs and Disease A
and PATH3304 Drugs and Disease B