Didactic coursework is designed to build IPSTP identity and to produce a cohesive cohort of students who pass through the program together and support each other. All students in IPSTP will be required to take the following courses. Unless otherwise a part of their degree program, IPSTP trainees take these courses starting the fall semester after acceptance into the Program.
(3 Credits, Every Fall Semester)
This course provides a foundation for graduate study of drug action and disposition in biological systems and covers advanced topics in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and receptor theory. PHM 801 is taught keeping quantitation and reproducibility of pharmacological data in mind. This includes problem sets and discussion of radioligand binding where the students are provided with information about the importance of technical vs biological replicates, how these data are handled, and how you can study your data to determine consistency with theory (e.g. what you do when the unexpected happens). Students are introduced to GraphPad Prism as a program that is specifically suited to visualizing and fitting radioligand binding and other pharmacological data and for assessing data normality.
Students also gain exposure both to current literature and presentation skills through Current Topics paper presentations throughout the course. Some aspects of PHM 801 are taught using a flipped classroom approach where the students read content regarding the topic ahead of time and then break into small groups to discuss its meaning in the context of the development of human therapeutics. Specific to pharmacology, the flipped classroom model improves students ability to answer questions that require critical thinking and problem solving
(3 Credits, Every Spring Semester)
This course provides a comprehensive overview of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of drug action in the major organ systems, covering the major drug classes, pharmacogenomics, gene therapy, toxicology in drug design, and systems biology. PHM 802 also has an experimental design component to address issues related to rational experimental design for hypothesis-based studies and hypothesis-generating screening studies. These lectures are interactive with the students discussing questions related to best practices in experimental design.
Topics include framing scientific questions, generating hypotheses, how to develop a methodical approach, use of positive and negative controls and how to design studies to establish sufficiency vs. necessity. Rigor is addressed throughout with in-class discussions revolving around best practices and pitfalls. The various aspects of study design are punctuated with relevant examples that demonstrate how inadequate experimental design can result in misleading data that ultimately leads to inaccurate conclusions. Reproducibility is also discussed, including best practices for utilizing sample replicates and the importance of repeating studies.
(3 Credits, Every Fall and Summer Semester)
This course provides practical training in statistical principles and analysis of data in the pharmacological sciences. This course is taught online using Desire2Learn (D2L) which is MSU’s online learning management system. Students are provided with online lectures, directed readings, problem sets, and quizzes. Asynchronous discussion sessions are provided. PHM 830 directly addresses important issues of rigor and reproducibility including experimental design and appropriate use of statistics based on those designs, interpretation of p-values, statistical “errors”, statistical power and sample size estimation.
Students will be encouraged to take this course during the summer they enter the IPSTP program, but the course is also available in the fall and students can take it later in their training if necessary.