University of Turku

Master's Degree Programme in Exact Sciences: Chemistry of Drug Development

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How to find, identify, design, and target new drugs?

The Master's Degree Programme in Exact Sciences: Chemistry of Drug Development specialisation track equips you with theoretical and practical skills in drug screening, identification, design, and targeting.

The studies provide you with strong knowledge on one or more of the following topics that cover the chemistry of drug development from slightly different perspectives: bioanalytical chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, and radiopharmaceutical chemistry. In addition, you will master the state-of-the-art methods needed for the full identification of drug molecules and for their quantitation from different types of tissues and metabolite mixtures. Our approach gives you strong hands-on knowledge of medicinal chemistry since practical laboratory work forms the soul of our programme.

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Academic Excellence & Experience

Our approach to the Chemistry of Drug Development track is a unique combination of research areas that are closely related but require different types of expertise. All options are represented by well-established, top-of-the-line research groups: Bioorganic group, Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry group, Bioanalytical Chemistry together with Detection Technology group and Natural Chemistry research group.

The main target in studies of bioorganic chemistry is to master the key concepts of organic reactions, stereochemistry, and physical organic chemistry. This way you can design and execute organic syntheses and understand chemical biology. The Bioorganic group specialises in the synthesis of biopolymers (oligonucleotides, oligosaccharides, and peptides), their interaction mechanisms at the molecular level, and the application of this knowledge into solving medicinal problems.

In Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, you can specialise in radiosynthesis chemistry and applications of short-lived, isotopically labeled positron-emitting radiotracers. These tracers are used in positron emission tomography (PET) that enables imaging of biochemical processes in vivo in both healthy and pathological state. The synthesis of radiotracers involves both small molecules with low molecular weight as well as macromolecules, typically peptides, proteins, and their fragments. The teaching of radiopharmaceutical chemistry takes place in close collaboration with the Turku PET Centre, a National Institute jointly owned by the University of Turku, the Åbo Akademi University, and the Hospital District of Southwestern Finland.

Students of Bioanalytical Chemistry will learn the most prominent bioanalytical detection and separation techniques and become capable of applying the techniques to medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. You will know how to design bioanalytical assays and separation methods for the identification, quantification, and property mapping of potential drugs and target molecules – also in practice. Courses are provided by the Natural Chemistry and the Detection Technology Research Groups. The content of the courses is considered to meet the needs of neighbouring industries for bioanalytical chemistry.

The facilities of Chemistry of Drug Development are state-of-the-art. We have direct access to the Turku PET Centre's preclinical and clinical groups. The PET Centre has four cyclotrons for radionuclide production and 25 hot cells for radiotracer synthesis. At the Department of Chemistry, we have recently updated NMR facilities with modern 500 and 600 MHz magnets with cryo-probes that facilitate operation at low drug concentrations. We have direct access to UPLC-MS/MS instruments with both triple quadrupole and high-resolution mass spectrometry detectors. An efficient ECD spectrometer complements the equipment needed for the accurate identification of the produced and purified drug candidates. To know how to master this equipment and techniques is a true advantage to the chemist who graduates from our programme.

Specialisation Tracks

The Master’s Degree Programme of Exact Sciences has six tracks. You can find more detailed information on tracks from the specific site of each track by clicking on the links below.

Other tracks in the Master’s Degree Programme of Exact Sciences:

• Astronomy and Space Physics,
• Materials Chemistry,
• Materials Physics,
• Mathematics and Statistics,
• and Theoretical Physics.