Program Overview

The Making of an Innovative Medicine

The course "The Making of an Innovative Medicine" is designed to expose participants to translational biomedical research, from bench to bedside and back, and drug discovery. This course is part of the Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Computational and Quantitative Biology, and Molecular Life Sciences doctoral schools.

Frequency

The course is offered every year.

Summary

Through a series of presentations, both from participants and the lecturer, in a flipped classroom format, the course covers the entire process of creating an innovative medicine. This includes therapeutic target identification, structure-based drug design, medicinal chemistry, and clinical development.

Content

The course is divided into thirteen sections, each addressing a different aspect of the process:

• Section 1: Scope of the course, general organization, case study
• Section 2: Historical perspective: the modern pharmacy
• Section 3: Introduction to translational research: crossing the bridge
• Section 4-5: Therapeutic target identification I & II
• Section 6: Structure-based drug design, medicinal chemistry, low/high throughput screening assays, multiple parallel parameters optimization, ML powered screens
• Section 7: Therapeutic modalities peptides and biologicals: today's - tomorrow's pharmacy NBEs
• Section 8: Personalized Healthcare PHC precision medicine
• Section 9: Pharmacogenetic polymorphisms, Pharmacogenomics
• Section 10: In vivo pharmacology, investigative toxicology
• Section 11: Clinical research, phase 0, phase I, II, III, IV // Intellectual property, integrity in research, my genome vs our genomes
• Section 12: Health Hackathon - Hacking medicine I
• Section 13: Health Hackathon - Hacking medicine II

Requirements

• Minimum 10 participants
• Maximum 25 participants
• Basic knowledge in Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Cellular Signaling, Pharmacology

Resources

• Bibliography:
  • "A prescription for change : the looming crisis in drug development" by Pr M. Kinch UNC Press(2017) ISBN 978--5
  • "Histoire de la médecine" by Jean Starobinsky Editions BHMS ISBN 978--8
  • "The emperor of all maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee Scribnee Ed. ISBN 978--9
  • "Drug-drug interactions" by Albert Li Academic Press Ed. ISBN -1

Programs

The course is part of the following doctoral schools:

• Biotechnology and Bioengineering
  • Number of places: 25
  • Exam form: Oral presentation (session free)
  • Subject examined: The making of an innovative medicine
  • Courses: 14 Hour(s)
  • Exercises: 14 Hour(s)
  • Type: optional
• Computational and Quantitative Biology
  • Number of places: 25
  • Exam form: Oral presentation (session free)
  • Subject examined: The making of an innovative medicine
  • Courses: 14 Hour(s)
  • Exercises: 14 Hour(s)
  • Type: optional
• Molecular Life Sciences
  • Number of places: 25
  • Exam form: Oral presentation (session free)
  • Subject examined: The making of an innovative medicine
  • Courses: 14 Hour(s)
  • Exercises: 14 Hour(s)
  • Type: optional

Note

The next session is scheduled to start on Thursday, September 11, 2025. The course is taught in English and is worth 2 credits. The teacher is Clerc Roger G.