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Major diseases of man such as diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and fibrosis, are increasingly significant contributors to morbidity and mortality in the western world. Developing treatments for these diseases is a major challenge to the pharmaceutical industry and there is great interest in the biochemistry underlying their pathogenesis.

 

This unit aims to describe the biochemistry of these common diseases and highlight how our current understanding of disease mechanisms informs the development of novel therapies.

 

Students should have an understanding of the biochemical basis of a number of major diseases of man and appreciate how and why specific disease mechanisms are being targeted in the development of new treatments.

 

A significant proportion of this course will be delivered in the form of directed reading supported by lectures and will focus on biochemical aspects of disease mechanisms and potential therapies relating to:

Diabetes and Obesity: metabolic syndrome, beta cells and insulin secretion, insulin resistance, type II diabetes, secondary complications of diabetes.

Vascular disease: Atherosclerosis, dyslipidaemia and aberrant angiogenesis.

Fibrotic disease: ECM biology in tissue homeostasis, remodelling, repair and fibrosis.

Aberrant TGF-beta signalling: Lung fibrosis and Marfan Syndrome.

Protein folding/misfolding diseases: amyloid diseases, prion disease and therapeutic strategies. Chronic inflammation, protein misfolding and treatments for COPD.  

Group feedback will be given for the assessment and an online discussion forum on Blackboard or Padlet will be available to facilitate communication amongst students and teaching staff.

The focus will be to provide a review of the previous year’s exam paper and guidance on exam preparation. An exam preparation workshop will run mid-way through the unit to cover the first half of the lecture content. A second exam preparation workshop will run at the end of a unit to cover the second half of the unit content. 

Review papers and some primary literature will be provided on Blackboard to compliment the lecture topics.

The year studying abroad is an integral part of the course and must be completed. Some costs, such as tuition fees, are substantially lower. Other costs can vary and are not included in the tuition fee. For example, living costs may be higher or lower than the UK, and there are travel-related costs to consider, such as paying for a passport, visa fees, health insurance, and (if needed) vaccinations.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's (PDF document, 91KB).

Students participating in placements outside the UK may be able to apply for funding from the depending on eligibility. Priority will be given to students from low income households.