Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry
Course content
General information
Radiopharmaceutical science is a relatively new field with an annual increase of approximately 10%. Worldwide, but especially in Denmark, there is a shortage of educated staff. This course covers the basic concepts of radiopharmaceutical sciences: From radiochemistry to biological evaluation, from clinical diagnostic to therapeutic applications. The course also focuses on the impact of radioactive probes in drug design and development processes. The course is based on lectures, a project work and lab exercises, which revolve around central subjects in the field of radiopharmacy/chemistry/ biology. The course is taught by teachers from KU, Rigshospitalet, DTU and Novo Nordisk.The laboratory exercises will focus on practical handling issues of radioactive materials. Thereby, the students will take part in a whole PET tracer synthesis and application circle. In the project work, students will deepen their understanding of radiopharmaceutical sciences and autonomoulsy prepare a short presentation about a radiopharmaceutical related topic.
The following topics will be covered in the lectures: Basic concepts in radiopharmacy and nuclear chemistry; decay modes; the tracer principle; differences of radioactive labeling to conventional organic chemistry synthesis stratgies; labeling methods of carbon-11, fluorine-18, gallium-68, copper-64, tritium, and iodine-124; diagnostic and therapeutic approaches of radioisotopes; positron-emission-tomography (PET); PET kintetic modeling approaches; PET in the clinic; PET in drug design and development processes; GMP in radiochemistry; application of nuclides in in vitro assays; radionuclide applications in cancer and brain diseases; generators; in vivo generators; bioorthogonal chemistry; personalized medicine, PET data analyses.
The topics of the laboratory exercises will be: PET tracer synthesis, application and evaluation; PET modeling; fluorine-18 and gallium-68; autoradiography and in vitro assays; labeling kinetics; radioTLC and radioHPLC; specific activity; generators; nuclide characteristics; GMP aspects of radiotracer synthesis.
Suggested topics for the project work: PET tracers for the serotonergic or dopaminergic system; applied PET tracers for Alzheimer’s or Schizophrenia imaging; companion diagnostics; multi-modal imaging; tumor antibody imaging; radiotherapy; etc.
MSc Programme in Medicinal Chemistry - elective
MSc Programme in Pharmacy (Danish programme cand.pharm) - elective
MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Danish programme cand.scient.pharm) - restricted elective
MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (English programme) - restricted elective
The students will be introduced to radiopharmaceutical concepts and will be able to apply them to current state of the art problems in drug research, drug development and medicine. The students will be able to plan and carry out radioactive synthesis procedures in a drug development (DD) environment. They will be able to understand the differences of DD and clinical productions. Furthermore, students will learn to perform in vitro and in vivo evaluation experiments and be able to interpret the results with the help of kinetic modeling.
At the end of the course, students are able to:
Knowledge
- explain basic radiopharmaceutical and nuclear chemistry concepts
- explain and understand various labeling procedures
- understand regulatory aspects in regards to radioactive labeling procedures
- understand the use of radionuclides for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches
- understand how radionuclides can be used to study the biodistribution of a drug, its metabolism and target occupancy in a living organism
Skills
- work with radioactive materials
Competences
- translate radiopharmaceutical chemistry methods to new drug discovery and development processes
- advise pharmacetical industry at early stage drug development and select the right drug candidate
- perform a critical evaluation of original scientific literature within the field
- translate aquired knowledge from basic theories to applied clinical use
Laboratory exercises in a max group size of 6
Exercises, Classroom discussions
Project work in groups of 3
Nuclear- and Radiochemistry, Frank Roesch, Volume 1: Introduction, De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-022191-6
Nuclear- and Radiochemistry, Frank Roesch, Volume 2: Modern Applications, De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-022185-5
Teaching is based on the assumption that the students have acquired knowledge, skills and competences corresponding to those obtained by completion of the first five semesters of the BSc Programme in Pharmacy.
None.
Open for credit transfer students and other external students. Apply here:
Credit transfer students:
Credit transfer student at SUND – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)
Other external students:
http://healthsciences.ku.dk/education/student-mobility/guest-students/
Credit transfer and other external students are welcomed on the course if there are seats available and they have the academic qualifications.
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Continuous assessment
- Type of assessment details
- A course certificate is obtained by active participation in the course, which is evaluated through the successful hand in of laboratory reports, the completion of a project work and an oral presentation. In addition the student will be evaluated through a 20 minutes oral assessment at the end of the course, where the student will draw two randomly chosen subjects from the curriculum.
- Marking scale
- passed/not passed
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Criteria for exam assessment
To obtain a course certificate the student must be able to:
Knowledge
- explain basic radiopharmaceutical and nuclear chemistry concepts
- explain and understand various labeling procedures
- understand regulatory aspects in regards to radioactive labeling procedures
- understand the use of radionuclides for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches
- understand how radionuclides can be used to study the biodistribution of a drug, its metabolism and target occupancy in a living organism
- knowledge about therapy planning and risk according risk assessment.
Skills
- work with radioactive materials
Competences
- translate radiopharmaceutical chemistry methods to new drug discovery and development processes
- advise pharmacetical industry at early stage drug development and select the right drug candidate
- perform a critical evaluation of original scientific literature within the field
- translate aquired knowledge from basic theories to applied clinical use
-
ability to plan radioactive analytical and preparative procedures and evaluate them in respect to GMP demands
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 30
- Preparation
- 49
- Exercises
- 8
- Laboratory
- 34
- Project work
- 64
- Exam Preparation
- 20
- Exam
- 1
- English
- 206
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- SFAK20043U
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 block
- Placement
- Block 4
- Schedulegroup
-
B
- Capacity
- 30 students - 10 seats reserved for master students
- Studyboard
- Study Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Contracting department
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Course Coordinator
- Matthias Manfred Herth (14-706477776b6c6476316b6875776b4376787167316e7831676e)
Teacher
Matthias Herth, Gitte Moos Knudsen, Andreas Kjær, Jacob Madsen, Maria Erlandsson, Holger Jensen, Nic Gillings, Jesper Kristensen and others
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Kursusinformation for indskrevne studerende