Gaining familiarity on where and how drugs act on tissues is an important experimental and clinical skill used in your future professional and personal lives. This task requires you to complete an online simulated set of activities and submit your responses / answers which are derived from this task. The simulation is a virtual pharmacology experiment, which will enable you to perform drug additions and view the responses without having to step foot into a laboratory. As noted in lectures, drug dosing experiments enable pharmacologists to investigate the physiology and pharmacology of in vitro tissue preparations. The theory behind the simulated experiments is discussed further in the experimental instruction manual which is available on the unit Moodle site under the “essential information” tab, as are the step-by-step instructions for using this online module.

In order to complete this activity, you are required to follow the instructions outlined in the instruction manual and collect experimental data generated from the simulated tissues. Once you have collected your data, you are required to prepare responses, observations, calculations and answer a series of questions which relate to the online module you just completed. The completion of this activity will enable you to further understand concepts relating to agonists, antagonists, EC50s, cumulative concentration responses and will enable you to get an introductory understanding of how pharmacological experiments are conducted. This task may also assist in completion of assessment item 2.

This task requires the submission of observations, data, graphs and responses generated as a result of completing the simulated experiments. The data tables and graphs you submit will be assessed for your ability to interpret and present the generated data in a professional manner. The written responses you submit each contain weighted marks as outlined in the instruction manual and will be marked either correct or incorrect based upon your understanding of key concepts and the interpretation of the results you develop.

This task requires you to establish the potential mechanism of action and outline a series of experiments you could use to verify the pharmacological actions of an imaginary drug. Communication, problem solving and applying knowledge to a variety of scenarios will be part of your everyday future in health care. This fictitious drug task will require you to apply your understanding of pharmacological principles to postulate a mythical drug's cellular target(s), mechanism of action and physiological effects. In a real world context, pharmacologists are required to test new chemical compounds and work to identify the physiological effects they have within the body (for example, does a new compound increase heart rate?). Once the physiological effects for new compounds have been identified, pharmacologists must then work to identify the mechanism through which the observed effects are mediated (for example, what receptors are activated or blocked, what proteins undergo phosphorylation, what genes are turned off and on).

In this assessment item you are given the observations/effects for four imaginary drugs. You are to choose one of the four options to report on. Once you have made your choice you are to describe how the drug works and a series of experiments you could use to test the mechanism/s through which the imaginary drug is mediating its effects.

Imaginary drugs you can choose from -

• Angino-de-quiver - miraculous drug which alleviates angina and prevents fatal cardiac dysrhythmias (it isn't a regular beta-blocker or calcium channel antagonist)
• Seizurestop - fantastical drug which has shown promise in limiting partial onset and refractory epileptic seizures
• Fungresist - revolutionary anti-fungal that inhibits all types of fungal growth
• Wildzombie - originally designed for antiemetic and pain relieving properties, however the side effects of seizures, euphoria, analgesia, facial grimaces and aggressive zombie-like behaviour has seen recreational use become apparent

As a guide, you may like to consider how experimental techniques we have covered in simulation could be used, clinical trials, along with any other methods you have identified during your literature search to determine the mechanism of action for your imaginary drug. It would be advantageous to position your proposed experiments with a discussion on existing compounds that may have similar properties. The use of peer-review journal articles as information sources is expected (a minimum of 10 primary references are required for this assessment item), whilst the use of internet / pharmaceutical company websites is discouraged. Word limit for this assessment item is 2500 words. By completing this task it is hoped you will gain a greater understanding of receptor targets and how drugs work, demonstrate basic knowledge of preclinical tissue bath testing and clinical trials, and demonstrate creative written expression and advanced literature review and integration.

A detailed marking rubric criteria sheet can be found on the unit Moodle page, however assessment will be based on the knowledge of theory, rationalization and justification of your arguments/ideas/proposed experiments, quality and quantity of information sources used, presentation of references, presentation and formatting the content (including images, figures, or tables), spelling and grammar.

Marking criteria:

Fundamental content - 15 marks establishing a mechanism of action

Positioning of your arguments - 15 marks logical and critical evaluation of the literature and techniques

Writing style/overall presentation - 10 marks excellent grammar and proofing

Referencing - 10 marks correct citation and referencing used

Total = 50 marks