Graduate Courses

Coordinators: Drs. Peter McPherson and Kangbin Zhou

This course is to expose students to career options in the pharmaceutical industry and the regulatory approval process in Canada.

Grade Scale: CR/NCR
Credits: 0.25 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Vanessa Goncalves

This course will introduce basic pharmacogenetics concepts and provide opportunity for hands-on practice with the tools used within the field. Through applying genetic concepts, students will use research protocols to: (i) clean genetic data, (ii) use statistical inference to analyze unobserved genotypes, (iii) identify variants of relevance for drug response or unwanted effects of drugs, and (iv) learn about other up-to-date tools/approach for genetic studies, such as polygenic risk scores, gene/pathway analysis, imputation (to be defined or maybe vary across individual projects). Guest scientists will provide examples of the successful use of pharmacogenetics in the field of personalized medicine (or colleagues with strong experience in specific methods can also give them a lecture about the method). Using NIH databanks, students will work on a given project as they learn methodology, with the goal of generating findings that they may publish at the end of the course. 

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.25 FCE
 

Coordinators: Dr. Natasha Anita and Dr. Walter Swardfager

This diabetes pharmacology course explores the underlying causes of type 2 diabetes, focusing on the role of key hormones and receptors such as insulin, glucagon, and GLUT transporters, as well as risk factors like genetics, obesity, and lifestyle. Students will examine the history of diabetes, the development of pharmacological treatments—including insulin, oral hypoglycemics, and emerging therapies—and their mechanisms of action. The course also covers disease complications, including neuropathy, nephropathy, and cardiovascular risks, while addressing variations in insulin resistance and diabetes presentation across populations to emphasize personalized and inclusive treatment approaches.

Grade Scale: CR/NCR
Credits: 0.25 FCE

Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Woodland

This course is aimed at learners with no prior background in pharmacology. It will provide participants with an appreciation for the scope and value of pharmacology, as well as principles and basic concepts.

*Terminology and mechanisms will be described in sufficient detail to prepare students for PCL1004Y Clinical Pharmacology. 

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.25 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Woodland

This course provides an overview of the ethical considerations and regulatory frameworks governing drug development. Topics include ethical research principles in drug development, appropriate communication of drug-related information, the role of bioethics in shaping pharmaceutical policy, and Canadian and international regulatory requirements for drug development.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.25 FCE
 

Coordinators: Dr. Walter Swardfager and Dr. Cindy Woodland

This course emphasizes the roles of new methodologies, appropriate statistical approaches and analyses, critical thinking, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence in advancing drug development, clinical research, and patient care. Concepts from this course will be applied throughout the ACP program.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.25 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Jesse Gillis

The purpose of this course is to give undergraduate students an overview and grounding in the fundamentals of neuroscience. The main emphasis is on the cellular and molecular aspects of brain function. The lecturers, all experts in their respective topics, are drawn from the different university departments and associated research institutes. Each year the course is updated to reflect the rapid evolution of ideas in neuroscience.
 

Coordinator: Dr. Chirag Manoj Vaswani

The purpose of this course is to give graduate students an overview and grounding in the fundamentals of neuroscience.  The main emphasis is on the cellular and molecular aspects of neurological disorders.  The lecturers, all experts in their respective topics, are drawn from the different University departments and associated research institutes. Each year, the course is updated to reflect the rapid evolution of ideas in neuroscience.