MPM 0 - Overview
A basic understanding of chemistry, biochemistry, and medicinal chemistry is essential for a molecular understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of human diseases. This module covers the organic chemical reactions essential for a molecular understanding of disease pathogenesis and precision medicine, the fundamentals of biochemistry, and the basic concepts of drug development.
MPM 0 - Details
Module 0 (MPM0) is a 2-week boot camp-style course designed to prepare students for subsequent courses in the Master program. It is divided into three pillars - Organic Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, and Medicinal Chemistry. Within MPM0:
- You will understand the structure of organic molecules and have knowledge of conformation, configuration, and stereochemistry.
- You will gain an overview of chemical reactivity and acquire knowledge of organic chemical reactions.
- You will have an understanding of the key quantitative principles of cell biology and become familiar with parameters used to quantify molecular interactions, such as IC50 and KD.
- You will understand the molecular basis of drug-receptor interactions and be able to visualize them.
- You will understand key concepts in drug discovery, such as hit identification, hit-to-lead conversion, lead optimization, bioisosterism, bioavailability, and toxicity.
Module coordinators
Gerhard Ecker
Gerhard Ecker is Professor of Pharmacoinformatics and Head of the Pharmacoinformatics Research Group at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Vienna. He coordinates the research focus “Computational Life Sciences” of the Faculty of Life Sciences. His research focuses on computational drug design, with special emphasis on drug-transporter interaction and in silico safety assessment.
Jory Lietard
Jory Lietard is an Assistant Professor of Nucleic Acid Chemistry at the University of Vienna. He completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry and Molecular Sciences on the synthesis of modified oligonucleotide for therapeutic purposes. His research focuses on the high-throughput chemical synthesis of DNA, RNA and chemically modified nucleic acids using a technique called microarray photolithography. High-throughput synthesis is particularly useful in the context of Nanopore sequencing of nucleic acid libraries, in DNA data storage, for aptamer discovery, and to better understand how proteins recognize and bind DNA and RNA.