Drug development is often a long and complicated process. From the initial phase, with the research and discovery of  molecular targets, to tests with human beings, in later phases, drug tests constitute an innovation process where great care needs to be taken. It comprises one of the most laborious and costly processes of discovering new things.

This course is an introduction to the drug discovery process, explaining from the initial phases, such as in vitro tests, the difference between phenotypic and mechanistic tests, through animal tests, with the main difference between used animal models, to the tests clinics in human beings, with explanations about different drug discovery situations, such as specific contexts for cancers, for infectious diseases. The course has a session dedicated to the development of vaccines, with a certain emphasis on how COVID-19 vaccines work, for example.

The course is divided into the following sessions:

1- Introduction

2- In vitro tests: testing compounds in cells

3- In silico tests - computational analysis helping the process

4- In vivo tests - experiments on laboratory animals

5 - Clinical tests - Tests performed on human beings

6 - Introduction to vaccine development

7 - Extra section

This course is an introduction to the drug discovery process, explaining from the initial phases, such as in vitro tests, the difference between phenotypic and mechanistic tests, through animal tests, with the main difference between used animal models, to the tests clinics in human beings, with explanations about different drug discovery situations, such as specific contexts for cancers, for infectious diseases, and also the development of vaccines, with a certain emphasis on how COVID-19 vaccines work, for example.

So, if you are interested in knowing...

a. How a drug discovery process is carried out

b. Different types of experiments conducted in drug discovery

c. What are the advantages and features of animal models for drug discovery

d. How are clinical (human) trials conducted

e. How vaccines are developed

...then, I think this course is for you!