Medicinal chemistry is a discipline which combines fundamental knowledge of the areas of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology.  It deals with the discovery, design, and development of therapeutic chemical agents for use in clinical and veterinary medicine.  It examines the relationships between structure and biological activity, elucidation of drug metabolism pathways, and the biochemical explanation of the transport and actions of prophylactic, therapeutic, and curative drugs.  Students entering graduate studies in medicinal chemistry may have an undergraduate degree in pharmacy, chemistry, or biology. 

Graduate students in medicinal chemistry will generally enroll in advanced level core courses in organic chemistry, biochemistry, spectroscopy, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry.  In addition to the core courses, students will enroll in other courses chosen to strengthen their background in areas related to their specific research interests.  An understanding of physical chemistry principles is required of all graduate students in medicinal chemistry.  It is possible to complete this requirement prior to entry into the graduate program. Students seeking the Ph.D. degree are also required to satisfy a language or research tool requirement. 

Current areas of faculty interest which may serve as the basis of a student's research training include cancer research, drug metabolism, enzyme mechanisms and inhibition, synthetic medicinal chemistry, drug design, computational chemistry, and biological applications of NMR, ESR, and mass spectrometry. 

The School of Pharmacy is equipped with instrumentation for UV/visible, IR, NMR (300 MHz) and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as high pressure liquid chromatography and gas chromatography.  ESR, GC-MS and electrospray LC/MS capabilities are available on campus.  A cell culture facility is available. 

Prospective Graduate Students