The Doctoral Programme in Drug Research  (DPDR) Curriculum

Programme profile

The aim of DPDR is to educate experts having wide view of the whole life cycle of medicines and toxicology.

The main doctoral education is research, which is performed in the research groups under guidance of supervisor(s). During research work, also soft skills are learned. These skills can also be studied in the doctoral school’s training events.

DPDR is a multidisciplinary doctoral programme and its strong fields include drug design and synthesis, medicinal chemistry, bioactivity screening, pharmaceutical microbiology, drug formulation, industrial manufacturing, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, analytics, drug interactions, pharmacogenetics, pharmacology and clinical pharmacology, clinical drug research, pharmacoepidemiology, clinical pharmacy, pharmacoeconomics, toxicology and clinical toxicology and veterinary drug research.

Research topics and disciplines in DPDR.

Doctoral education in DPDR includes national and international courses, congresses and work visits out-side own working place. DPDR has wide network of experts representing several fields in drug research and toxicology. DPDR is one core unit in the national FinPharmaNet network, which covers seven uni-versities, representatives from national authorities and drug industry. FinPharmaNet organises various educational national events. In addition, cooperation with scientific societies and doctoral candidates’ own activities (Student council) and peer support helps in networking. Research expertise, other skills and career planning are followed in annual thesis committee meetings where outside scientific experts support the progress of doctoral candidates.

Doctoral education consists of

1) Research (>75 %), including:
– typically 3-5 publications in international, peer reviewed journals (or a monograph)
– (inter)national mobility (see: Grants), networking (e.g. scientific societies)
– Doctoral thesis (a summary of the research including publications), which has to be defended in public.

Doctoral school in health sciences thesis series, instructions for publication: ‘Dissertationes Scholae Doctoralis Ad Sanitatem Investigandam Universitatis Helsinkiensis’.

2) Theoretical education in transferable skills and scientific topics

– Selected  transferable skills courses: philosophy of science, statistics, pedagogy, business, IPR, writing and presentation courses (provided primarily by Doctoral School in Health Sciences, DSHealth). Minimum of 10 ECTS of transferable skills education is required for those candidates who start after 1.8.2017.

– Scientific courses and events (organized by DPDR and collaborators) in topics relevant to the Doctoral candidate’s own research but also other topics represented in DPDR in drug research and toxicology. Minimum of 30 ECTS of scientific education, including research ethics (min 1 ECTS), is required for those candidates who start after 1.8.2017.

3) Meetings with thesis committee/follow-up group annually. DPDR does not require compilation of thesis committee (=follow-up group) and annual meetings of those candidates who have registered to pursue doctoral degree before 1.1.2014. For others it is obligatory.

Briefly, updates of research plan, study plan (and TUHAT database) and career prospects are presented to thesis committee/follow-up group to evaluate the progress of doctoral education. DPDR Coordinator is informed with a form. See DPDR guideline (.pdf, updated 25.8.2017) for details.

Note update to DPDR guideline: at least one of the thesis committee members shall not be in the same faculty as the corresponding research group.

4) Potentially Doctoral candidates have other duties, such as teaching and administration.

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Doctoral education timeline:

Year:	1	2	3	4
	– Research – courses – mobility – thesis committee – annual report (TUHAT)	– Research – courses – mobility – thesis committee – annual report (TUHAT)	– Research – courses – mobility – thesis committee – annual report (TUHAT)	– Research – courses – mobility – thesis committee – annual report (TUHAT) – thesis writing – dissertation – PhD degree

Description of DPDR  and curriculum as pdf, 1_Opetussuunnitelma_DPDR.

See also corresponding Faculty information:

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Suitable courses for doctoral degree in drug research and toxicological research

1) University of Helsinki

A collection of Scientific courses in DPDR is listed below (new update will be published in 2017).

Transferable skills are provided by Doctoral School in Health Sciences (DSHealth). Also, it’s Doctoral programmes organise scientific and transferable skills training.

Courses in English by the Faculty of Pharmacy are listed in the Faculty page. Also additional Faculty of Medicine courses can be found via faculty web site.

Description and curriculum of DPDR (as .pdf)

2) National courses

National drug research training network FinPharmaNet (earlier FinPharma Doctoral Program, FPDP) organises Annual meeting which is highly recommended for all doctoral candidates and supervisors. FinPharmaNet announces scientific training courses in drug research and toxicology organised by Finnish Universities (especially drug research doctoral programmes in the Universities of Eastern Finland and Turku) and by other organisers.

See also national course list in FinBioNet page (→ FinBioNet course calendar).

3) International courses

NorDoc – Nordic Doctoral Training in Health Sciences network provides doctoral training courses offered by the NorDoc partner organisations:

• Graduate School of Health, Aarhus University (Denmark)

• Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen (Norway)

• The Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

• Sahlgrenska Akademin, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)

• Doctoral School in Health Sciences, University of Helsinki (Finland)

• School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland (Iceland)

• Karolinska Institutet (Sweden)

• Health and Biosciences Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu (Finland)

• Graduate School of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark (NOT AVAILABLE YET)

• Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Education Unit (PGE), University of Turku

For the Doctoral candidates in the Faculty of Pharmacy, ULLA network courses with Faculty support for travel are available.

See also News in DPDR home page.

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Scientific courses in DPDR

Most, but not all, courses are listed in WebOodi.

Topics:
General education
Lead drug identification, lead optimisation
Chemical screening
Biochemical screening
Drug delivery
Biotechnology
Drug formulation
Industrial production
Efficacy, safety, interactions
Drug toxicology
Clinical drug research
Clinical drug toxicology
Pharmacoeconomics
Drug and medication safety
Pharmacoepidemiology
(Population and environmental toxicology)
Veterinary medicine

Updated 1.2.2016. Course codes and contents may be changed in Autumn 2017.

General education 

OODI code	Course name	Practise	ECTS	Duration	Organiser	Dates	times/ 4 years
590381	Preliminary exam (in pharmaceutical sciences)		6-8		Faculty of Pharmacy	2016 x 4	8
	Defense of the research plan (before 2014 registered Doctoral candidates)		3		Doctoral candidate	on demand
590382	Presentation of the dissertation research project I (in pharmaceutical sciences)		2			2016
590383	Presentation of the dissertation research project II (in pharmaceutical sciences)		2			2016
	FPDP/FinPharmaNet Annual Meeting , Turku (Helsinki/Kuopio/Tampere/Oulu)				DRDP/UTU	29.-30.8.2016	Annual
	Viikki Journal clubs and seminar series		http://www.biocenter.helsinki.fi/events.html				Annual
	Biomedicum events		http://www.biomedicum.fi/index.php?page=116&lang=2				Annual

Lead drug identification, lead optimisation

OODI code	Course name	Practise	ECTS	Duration	Organiser	Dates
	Practical course on G protein-coupled receptors (Oulu)	lectures, practicals		5 days	Henri Xhaard	–
	Graduate student workshop: Computational methods in protein science		1	2 days	Henri Xhaard	–
	G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs201X), Helsinki			4 days	Henri Xhaard	–
	FinMedChem 2017, Helsinki	Lectures + exercises	2	2 days	Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma, Erik Wallen	–	Every other year
590280	Modeling protein-ligand complexes (MPLC)	Lectures + exercises	3		Henri Xhaard	–	Every other year
590334	Chemoinformatics				Henri Xhaard	–	Every other year
590173	Organic chemistry in molecular biosciences and pharmacy III	Lectures	3		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590321	Structure elucidation of organic compounds	Lectures	2		Hannu Elo	2016
590219	Organic chemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions		3		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	–
55727	Basic Course in Radiochemistry	Lectures	4		Risto Harjula	Annual
55722	Radiation Protection	Lectures + excercises	2		Risto Koivula	Annual
55742	Radiopharmaceutical chemistry	Lectures + excercises	3		Anu Airaksinen	–	Every other year
55782	Tracer techniques	Lectures + excercises	3		Anu Airaksinen	2016	Every other year
590337	Applied mathematical tools for pharmaceutical research		2		Alex Bunker	2016	Annual
590287	Fundamentals of Molecular Modeling and Molecular Dynamic Simulations in Pharmaceutical Research		5		Alex Bunker	2016	Annual
590384	Anslyn, E. V. & Dougherty, D. A., Modern Physical Organic Chemistry, University Science Books, 2005, 1100 pp.	Book exam	11		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Bugg, T. D. H.,  Introduction to Enzyme and Coenzyme Chemistry, 3rd. Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 290 pp.	Book exam	3		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Carey, F. A. & Sundberg, R. J., Advanced Organic Chemistry, Part A: Structure and Mechanisms, 5. Edition, Springer, New York, 2007, 1199 pp.	Book exam	12		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Carey, F. A. & Sundberg, R. J., Advanced Organic Chemistry, Part B: Reactions and Synthesis, 5. Edition, Springer, New York, 2007, 1321 pp.	Book exam	13		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Corey, E. J. & Czakó, B. & Kürti, L, Molecules and Medicine, Wiley, Hoboken, 2007, 254 pp.	Book exam	3		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Dewick, P. M.: Medicinal Natural Products – A Biosynthetic Approach, Wiley, 2009, 3. Edition, 539 pp.	Book exam	5		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Lemke, T. L., Williams, D. A., Roche, V. F. & Zito, S. W., Foye’s Principles of Medicinal Chemistry, 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2013, 1520 pp	Book exam	5-15, by agreement		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	McMurry, J. & Begley, T., The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways, Roberts & Company Publishers, Greenwood Village, 2005, 490 pp.	Book exam	5		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Nogrady, T. & Weaver, D. F., Medicinal Chemistry, A Molecular and Biochemical Approach, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, 649 pp.	Book exam	6		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Patrick, G. L., An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry, Oxford University Press, 5. Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013, 789 pp.	Book exam	8		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Silverman, R. B. & Holladay, M. W., The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action, 3. painos, Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, 2014, 517 pp.	Book exam	5		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Silverman, R. B., The Organic Chemistry of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions, Academic Press, San Diego, 2000, 717 pp.	Book exam	7		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
590384	Wermuth, C. G., The Practice of Medicinal Chemistry, Academic Press, 3. Edition, San Diego, 2008, 942 pp.	Book exam	8		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016
	Zweifel, G. S. & Nantz, M. H., Modern Organic Synthesis, An Introduction, Freeman, New York, 2007, 477 pp.	Book exam	5		Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma	2016

Chemical screening

590134	Bioanalytics	Lectures	5		Risto Kostiainen	2016
590085	Drug metabolism	Lectures	3		Risto Kostiainen	2016
590179	Mass spectrometry	Lectures	3		Tapio Kotiaho	2016	Every other year
55272	Modern carbohydrate analysis	Lectures	2		Helena Soini
590243	Optimization of Chromatographic Methods	Lectures	3		Heikki Vuorela	2016

See Department of Chemistry (Faculty of Science) courses in OODI

Biochemical screening

590283	Essentials of Molecular Biology in Pharmacy	Lectures	3		Moshe Finel	2017	Every other year
590323	Natural Substances as Medicines	Luentokurssi	5		Yvonne Holm	2016
590284	Cells – Biomaterials interactions, Pharmaceutical and medical applications in biopharmacy	Lectures	3	1 month	Yan-ru Lou	2016	Annual
590320	Isolation and Analysis of Natural Compounds	Luentokurssi	5		Heikki Vuorela
590385	Microbial lifestyles and drug discovery of antimicrobials	Lectures, seminars and lab/groupworks	5		Adyary Fallarero	2017

Biotechnology

	P4 Medicine	course/symposium		Repasky/FIMM	2017	Every three years
	Bioinformatics in Pharmacogenomics	lectures and hands-on training		Tero Aittokallio/FIMM	–
	Computational Systems Medicine with focus on Network Pharmacology			Tero Aittokallio/FIMM	–

Drug delivery

590237	Advanced Biopharmaceutics, Lectures	Lectures	3		Marjo Yliperttula	2016	Annual
590296	Introduction to nanosciences – Johdatus nanotieteeseen	Lectures	4		Tapani Viitala	Spring 2016	Annual
590329	Advanced course in pharmacokinetics I	Lectures	3,5		Arto Urtti	2016
590297	Nanoforum	symposium	2		Vincenzo Cerullo	2017
	Membrec	symposium	0.5+0.5		Pia Siljander/Fac. Biol. Env. Sci	8.9.2016

Drug formulation

	Microfluidics and nanotechnology for pharmaceutical applications (MiNaPharmA)	Lectures(+lab)	3-5		Helder Santos, Tiina Sikanen	2017, 2019
59072	Controlled Drug Delivery	Lectures	3		Jouni Hirvonen	2016
590176	Solid state analysis of pharmaceutics	Lectures	3		Clare Strachan
59067	Product Development and Experimental Design	Lectures	3		Jouko Yliruusi
590234	Physical Pharmacy	Lectures	5		Marjo Yliperttula, Jouko Yliruusi
59068	Excipients in Pharmaceutical Technology	Lectures	3		Leena Peltonen

Industrial production

590211	Expert Leadership	Lectures	4		Anne Juppo	–
590278	Biopharmaceutics in Pharmaceutical Product Development – Biofarmasia farmaseuttisessa tuotekehityksessä	Book exam	3	4 days	Mia Siven	Annual
590212	Business economy of pharmaceutical industry	Book exam	3		Anne Juppo	Annual
590332	Special characteristics of use and development of veterinary medicines	Book exam	4		Mia Siven	Annual
590153	Formulation I	Book exam	5		Anne Juppo	Annual
590154	Formulation II	Book exam	4		Anne Juppo	Annual
590155	Formulation III		6		Anne Juppo	2016
590160	Quality management and quality standards	Book exam	6		Anne Juppo	Annual
590367	Pharmaceutical marketing	Book exam	3		Anne Juppo	Annual
590210	Good manufacturing and distribution practice		7		Anne Juppo	2017?
590162	Pharmaceutical industry and wholesale operations		4		Mia Siven	2016

Efficacy, safety, interactions

	Stereotaxis in neuropharmacological research	lectures, exam, practical	0,5-3	1-2 days	Petteri Piepponen	–
	Advances in Heart Regeneration and Repair			2 days	Heikki Ruskoaho	–
59084	Neuropharmacology	Lectures	3		Raimo Tuominen	2016
	Bioinformatics in Pharmacogenomics	lectures and hands-on training			FIMM	2016
	Computational Systems Medicine with focus on Network Pharmacology				FIMM	2017
	Gene manipulation – Advanced tools for drug research		1	2 days	Outi Salminen	?
	BEHAVIOURAL PHENOTYPING OF RODENT DISEASE MODELS – POTENTIAL AND PITFALLS	Lectures, demonstrations	2-3	6 days	Voikar/UH, Tanila, Jolkkonen/UEF, Vasar/U Tartu	28.8.–2.9.2016
	Neuropharmacology of drug addictions				Saara Nuutinen	–

Drug toxicology

 

Clinical drug research

	Pharmcokinetics, hands on (Introduction to Phoenix Winnonlin)				Aleksi Tornio	?	Every 2-3 years
	Kliininen lääketutkimus	Lectures			Janne Backman	–	Every 2-3 years
	Lääkkeiden haittavaikutukset – mitalin toinen puoli / Drug interactions	Luennot			Janne Backman		Every 2-3 years
	Pharmacogenetics	Lectures			Mikko Niemi	?

 Clinical drug toxicology

 

Pharmacoeconomics

590300	Critical appraisal of evidence	Lectures, exercises, assignments	5	1 day	Marja Blom	Annual
590311	Vaikuttavuuden mittaaminen farmakoekonomisessa tutkimuksessa – Measuring effectiveness in health care research	Lectures, exercises, assignments	4	2 days	Marja Blom	2017
590372	Research methods in pharmacoeconomics	Lectures, exercises, assignments	5		Marja Blom	Annual
590376	Literature in pharmacoeconomics	Literature will be agreed case by case basis	1-6		Marja Blom	Annual

Drug and medication safety

590301	Clinical pharmacy and medication management in hospital	Lectures	6		Marja Airaksinen
590183	Drug Information and Drug Information Services	Lectures	4	0	Marja Airaksinen, Niina Mononen, Marika Pohjanoksa-Mäntylä	2016	Every other year
590250	Medication review and clinical pharmacy	Lectures	4		Marja Airaksinen, Niina Mononen, Marika Pohjanoksa-Mäntylä	2016
590386	High risk medicines and medicine induced disorders	Lectures	4		Raisa Laaksonen
	Medication safety research – Overview on Methods and Current Topics	lectures + diary	1	1 day	Marja Airaksinen
	Statistics for Health Services Research: Multivariable Methods	assignments	3	2 days	Marja Airaksinen
	Outcomes Assessment, Rational Drug Therapy and Pharmacy (Lääkehoidon tuloksellisuuden arviointi ja rationaalinen lääkehoito)		2 or 4	2 days	Marja Airaksinen

Pharmacoepidemiology

 

(Population and environmental toxicology)

Not available at the moment

Veterinary medicine

Doctoral programme in clinical veterinary medicine courses

DPCVM web site

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Welcome to candidate (.pdf) to new members of DPDR (updated 10.8.2016).

The University of Helsinki PhD Students is an association for all doctoral candidates at the University of Helsinki. The goal is to advocate the interests of doctoral students and to function as a liaison between doctoral students and the University of Helsinki.

Note: Some of the doctoral education (transferable skills or scientific) courses are very popular and there is a long queue for the courses. In case registered participant does not cancel his/her but does not show on a course someone misses the opportunity to participate.