Proteins orchestrate virtually all processes in living organisms, from cell and organismal structure, to function, and regulation of complex physiological processes in the body's tissues and organs. In disease, most medications target faulty proteins or their signaling networks. The goal of this course is to provide Pharmacology students with basic understanding and tools to carry out their own research inquiries on how to study protein function, protein complexes, and how to therapeutically target disease associated proteins.

The course format is problem-based learning. Basic concepts provided in class will be further elaborated on as discussions and presentations. The topics covered: protein structure, function, protein complexes, enzymes, methods to study proteins, posttranslational modifications and protein complexes, proteomics and mass spectrometry methods, interactome investigation and visualization, drug screening.

The course will provide protein-centric prospective to molecular and cellular pharmacology and the core understanding how to analyse proteins for pharmacology and toxicology research. Students will select two topics relevant to their research and present the basis of methodology and its application.