Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the science of drugs: how they are discovered, how they interact with the body at the molecular and cellular level, and how that knowledge is translated into medicines and therapies that improve and extend human lives. As the University of Aberdeen's own description puts it, pharmacology is about the discovery and characterisation of drugs used either as medicines or as experimental tools for advancing our understanding of the body in health and disease. The discipline sits at the heart of the pharmaceutical industry and of biomedical research, drawing on biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology and clinical medicine to understand how chemical compounds produce their effects.

At the University of Aberdeen, this four-year degree includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study pharmacology at a partner institution in another country and to broaden your scientific formation internationally. You will study the molecular basis of drug action, pharmacokinetics (how drugs move through the body), pharmacodynamics (how drugs produce their effects), the major drug classes and their therapeutic applications, and the neuroscience and cardiovascular, endocrine and immune pharmacology that underpin clinical medicine. Laboratory work is central to the degree, developing your practical skills in cell culture, molecular techniques and physiological measurement, and you will undertake substantial project work that develops your scientific independence.

Aberdeen's research-active pharmacology department means you will be taught by scientists who are working on problems at the frontier of the discipline, from novel drug targets to the mechanisms of drug resistance.

Graduates go on to careers in the pharmaceutical industry in drug discovery and development, clinical research, regulatory affairs and medical affairs. Others work in biomedical research, clinical biochemistry, toxicology and the health professions (with further training). Further study at masters or doctoral level in pharmacology, drug discovery, neuroscience or clinical pharmacology is also a well-established route.