PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

 

The educational objectives of the Curriculum "Pharmaceutical Sciences" concern:

- Medicinal Chemistry

- Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

- Food Quality and Safety

- Pharmacology

- Pharmaceutical Technology

- "Medicinal Chemistry" is focused to train young researchers to use the most recent acquisitions of medicinal chemistry and the most modern methodologies for the design, synthesis, study of the structure-activity relationships and mechanism of action of new molecules in both the academic and industrial level. The synthesized compounds behave as ligands of G protein-coupled receptors and inhibitors of nucleotide metabolism key enzymes, potentially useful in the treatment of various disorders, in which these targets are involved, and as new antibacterial drugs able to inhibit the bacterial biofilms. Moreover, this research topic involves three different experimental approaches: synthesis and characterization of new ligands, molecular modelling for the analysis of the receptors structure, simulation of ligand-receptor interaction, design and optimization of ligands, and finally in vitro and ex vivo studies for the biological evaluation of synthesized compounds at receptors expressed by specific cell lines or present in animal tissues. The PhD project will be focused on one or more of the three experimental approaches.

- "Pharmaceutical Biotechnology" aims to train young researchers to evaluate the biological research results in order to understand important physiological functions in health and disease. On this basis, together with the technique of molecular modelling, it will be possible to identify new drug targets and, at the same time, to develop new molecules.

- "Food Quality and Safety" aims to train young people to safeguard to the safety and food quality and to prevent the adulteration and toxicosis into the food supply chain. Moreover, it is focused in food safety and valorization of typical food products, with specific attention to legumes, important constituents of Mediterranean diet. The project is entered on the beneficial effects on consumer’s health of regular consumption of legumes, especially lentils; also aspects related to lentil typization will be studied, to set up methods aimed at identification of geographical origin of commercially available lentils.

 - "Pharmacology" aims to train researchers to apply modern experimental methods in vitro (gene expression, receptor autoradiography, receptor binding, immunocytochemistry) and in vivo (behavioral) to research in the field of pharmacology and toxicology. Particular attention is given to research on drugs for the treatment of addiction, eating disorders and obesity, anxiety and depression, and drugs of natural origin and health products. The objective of this PhD program is to study at neurobiological and pharmacological level the basis of the disease.  The final goal is the identification of innovative pharmaco-therapeutic approaches for the illnesses above mentioned.

 - "Pharmaceutical Technology" aims to train young researchers to apply the principles of current pharmaceutical technologies for the improvement of pharmaceutical formulations and for drug targeting. In particular, it is focused on synthesis, formulation and characterization of new nanoparticles for drug release and targeting into the central nervous system, moreover on synthesis and characterization of novel biomaterials for tissue engineering. Furthermore, it is focused in developing innovative methodologies for characterization, purification and exploitation of biomasses from beer production and design and development of new biocompatible, biodegradable and non-toxic polymer-based coatings for multiple application such as cosmetic nail gel to coating of surfaces and medical.

Rosaria Volpini

short CV