Medicinal chemistry is a multidisciplinary, chemistry-based discipline that involves aspects of biological, medical, and pharmaceutical sciences. It is concerned with the invention, discovery, design, identification, and preparation of biologically active compounds, the study of their metabolism, the interpretation of their mode of action at the molecular level, and the construction of structure-activity relationships.

Our principal strategies are to

1. Organize distance learning courses on medicinal chemistry that will help scientists in developing countries gain knowledge about the latest methods to advance their research. These efforts are currently underway.
2. Provide travel grants to developing-country scientists to let them participate in special workshops and training courses around the world. The first recipient of such a grant was Dr Berhanu Abegaz (see below).

Travel Grants for Medicinal Chemists in Developing Countries. The Medicinal Chemistry Working Group has instituted a travel grant program to bring developing-country scientists to certain international meetings and workshops. The first recipient of this Working Group's travel grants was Prof Berhanu Abegaz in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Botswana. He used the award to attend the VIII Winter Conference on Medicinal & Bioorganic Chemistry in Steamboat Spring, Colorado (USA) in January 2007. Click here to read his abstract.

IOCD Travel Award recipient Dr Berhanu Abegaz (on the right) explains his research on antimalarials at the 2007 Winter Conference on Medicinal & Bioorganic Chemistry.

Distance Learning Course in Medicinal Chemistry. This course, available online at no charge, consists of PowerPoint slides illustrating fundamental concepts in medicinal chemistry and how they may be applied to the solution of problems involved in designing potential therapeutic agents and solving problems that arise in their progression to clinically useful materials. It is divided into four segments: Introduction, Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacokinetics, and Operational Stratagems. Progress through the course is aided by quizzes at short intervals in each of these sections.

The course was designed by Dr. Lester Mitscher and is based on presentations he has made in the U.S. and abroad over a number of years. The course content will be updated annually based on feedback from users and the IOCD Executive Board. The Division of Continuing Education of the College of Pharmacy, University of Kansas, adapted the material to a distance learning model using funding from IOCD.

Recommended technical specifications
Windows (2000 or later) or Macintosh (OSX or later)
800 MHz or faster (1.4 GHz recommended)
256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended)
Email account
Sound capabilities preferred
Color monitor (1024 X 760 pixel resolution)
Cable modem or DSL strongly recommended (use of 56 BPS modem will be slow)
Internet provider other than AOL strongly recommended

Needed free software is described on the course login page, and links for downloading are given there.

CLICK HERE to access the course.
The User Name is MDCM and the Password is cmedchem06.