LSM 4221: 💊Drug Discovery & Clinical Trials 🐀🐁🐇
Lecturers: Dr. Le Thi Nguyet Minh, A/P Tan Chay Hoon, A/P Edward Chow, Prof. Dean Ho
Workload: One of the better few LSM 4K already :-)
Assessments: CA1 (30% 40MCQs = 1 hour) | FE (45% 3 Essays = 1.5hr) | Tutorial (25% Class Participations + Group Presentations = 35 minutes) --> Open book assessments + Zoom for group presentations
CA1 grades: I scored 72.5% (25th-75th = 72.5% - 80%). So, I was kinda screwed T.T
Expected Grade: B
Overall Grade: B+
SO, this module was very interesting and applicable in that they bring you from stage one of identifying a potential drug and then giving you all the steps into bringing it out in the market ( in this sense, the lectures were easy to follow and very structured since it follows a timeline).
If you want the annotated lectures notes, research papers (ideas for group presentations), final exam essay questions compilation: Head over to my Carousell
These are the topics we covered (Total: 15 lectures):
Introduction ⇾ Target selection & Lead identification ⇾ Lead Optimisation ⇾ Preclinical Testing ⇾ Case Studies in Drug Development ⇾ Biomarkers in clinical studies ⇾ Artificial intelligence in drug development ⇾ Application using drug discovery of oncology therapeutics ⇾ Clinical trials (Good clinical practice) ⇾ Clinical trials (Phase 1-3) ⇾ Informed consent ⇾ Ethical case study in clinical trials ⇾ Building biotech companies for new therapeutics ⇾ Post-market surveillance activities and overview ⇾ Drug regulation in Singapore ⇾ Revision Lecture
S0, these topics were tested for the CA1 (yep!! all lectures were tested!) It was kind of interesting cause usually the modules will split like half the content for midterms then all the content tested for finals. This module was just all content for both assessments (CA1 and Finals!). Then again, it means the finals part will be more chill since you know the content already. I don't really remember or took note of the questions cause I had a clumsy accident a minute before the exam and also there was barely time to record, it was just a mad rush. But shall try to retrieve some from my memory and hopefully you get a glimpse of what they test or how in-depth they test.
The stuff they tested for CA1:
- Examples of non-GLP/GMP and GLP/GMP then you have to identify the correct statements so, know the differences.
- They give you examples then you identify the potential biomarkers
- Test on your understanding of FISH (In Situ Hybridisation) only works for chromosomes but not DNA.
- Questions on AI (guest lecture)
- Informed Consent: There was a question about who is not a suitable principal investigator: Nurse, General doctor, Specialist, Person from the review ethic board (the answer).
- There were also some similarities or differences between targeted therapy, precision therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. (mainly the specificity, the cost, side effects, etc.)
- Also the Profs said that the application of oncology was more of to increase our understanding but the specific examples are not tested so this topic can just skim through.
- New trends in the biotech industry: Prof also asked about the incentive for studying orphan drugs and also the benefits/challenges for gene therapy.
Also, the profs are really very nice, so, my friend actually asked for a consultation with Dr. Minh after we got back our tragic midterms grades and she was very patient and helped us with the questions. We can also email the other profs to ask them parts of their lectures as they are very specific to what they teach.
Student Presentations: It was not bad, busy period and mad rush. We had to find 2 research papers which I suggest if you don't know where to look go to New England Journal of Medicine to search for a paper. There is one more website I forgot. Also, for more details of the clinical trial phases and their primary/secondary outcomes, you can visit Clinical trial info. Also, since class participation was required where we need to ask a question for each presentation to get more participation marks, so do prepare Questions and Answers when you are presenting and give each of your teammates the chance to answer also. Also, if you are new to creating slides or wanna improve on a certain template, use this: PPT Templates to provide you with the base for your google slides/PPT, it really helped in giving a more aesthetic framework and it also matches the theme. My group did it on google docs and had one friend share the screen and do the clicking for us so, thanks friend, lesser stress on our side but it requires more collaboration. So, depends on your team dynamics. Oh yah, I missed out the most important thing, we are given the chance to pick our group number (timeslot to present) and also our group mates (5 max cause COVID, tho we never ever meet).
So, FINALS!!! I actually didn't have much time to prep for the finals cause had to balance a lot of other finals, exams, and piling webcasts with CCAs (opps!) But I took a day to watch one presentation (which I felt was interesting or at least covered alot of interesting concepts and made my own notes - I rmbered was on the Glioblastoma REGOMA Trial Phase 2 which I used for my finals though, finals just felt iffy!) and also went to compile notes from 2 other presentations which talked about the COVID drugs (very interesting, and most applicable in real life and exams!). Then, that's about it! Afterward, I just consolidated the lecture notes into more possible questions and answers so that I have my framework and it will be easier and less stressful during the exams.
Finals we had 3 essays (but if u ever take LSM 3211: Fundamental Pharmacology, you will know its a scam). This time it wasn't that bad. There was a total of 10 mini questions to make up for the 3 essay questions. I can't exactly remember and I blame it on the stress but here goes:
+Target identification (using fragment-based screening) - possible assay (case: protein nus which is a tyrosine kinase for plly protein) answer: phosphorylated plly protein - western blot
+ 2 experimental design/approaches for target validation -- gain and Lost function Mutations in vitro and Vivo
+ Calculated MRSD given Km of rat (6)and km human(37) and dose of rat as 15mg/kg
+ One safety pharmacology core battery in Vivo and its importance
+ Ethical case scenario of 8 subjects (2 placeboes and 6 given 10 doses) -- Kenna hospitalization but trail proceeded (15 marks to discuss ethical principles)
+ Given the news of the hospitalization of one of ur volunteer then write an email no more than 150 words to staff and participants if u were the principal investigator.
+ Given that u are a PhD student, write a type of cancer and why u wanna study it. Indicate the use of new immunotherapy and how u wanna proceed. Molecular design of your therapy
+ Steps to validate Your target in preclinical studies
+ Possible side effects and how u go about reducing it.
OVERALL: This module was legit okay or the most manageable of my entire hell semester. The workload was also one of my least despite the group presentation, I actually took the whole CNY to cram all the webcasts, then 2 days to compile notes, reading the day before CA1. Then 2 days to webcast the presentations, about 3 days to read, consolidate, and really packed my notes for the finals. So, yeah less than a week preparing for this module's examinations. Presentations took a max of 3 sessions with my friends (3-4 hours) to run through our script, clicking, question/answer, etc. Honestly, this is one of the most applicable modules for me of which I am satisfied with learning the content, though I suck at exams yeah if you have no choice but to clear a 4K, this is a module you can consider.
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