快猫短视频

PAIN sets most of us groping for the analgesics bottle at some time or other,
but for pharmacologists it generates a much more professional interest. Their
job is to increase our understanding of mechanisms which lead to disease, to
work out how these mechanisms can be countered and to test the effectiveness of
any compounds which show potential as drugs. Pharmacologists are involved from
the outset of biological screening of a potential drug to its final clinical
trials.

Louise Stanfa, who qualified both for a degree and a doctorate in
pharmacology, is a research pharmacologist working in the Thomas Lewis Pain
Research Centre at University College London. She studies how pain is
transmitted from damaged tissue to the spinal cord. 鈥淒amage to tissue, either by
injury or disease, can result in changes in the way that pain signals are
processed in the spinal cord,鈥� says Stanfa. 鈥淕aining an understanding of the
changes that occur and the mechanisms behind them helps pharmacologists to find
combinations of drugs which will alleviate pain that conventional analgesics do
not cure.鈥�

Stanfa鈥檚 research involves examining the behaviour of neurones within the
spinal cord. The team of which she is a member is not simply laboratory bound.
Its members have numerous links with clinicians employed in pain clinics, and
whose front-line experience with patients provides valuable feedback and data
for the team鈥檚 research.

Pharmacologists are employed in a wide range of outlets鈥�
pharmaceuticals companies, laboratories of the Medical Research Council, cancer
research institutes and contract research organisations such as the Huntingdon
Research Centre. Some work for manufacturers of chemicals and health-care
products in their toxicological laboratories.

Those working in pharmaceuticals companies on the development of a new drug
need to have a knowledge of the processes of disease and how treatment with a
drug might alter a disease. And they also need to know how the drug reaches the
site at which it can do some good, what will occur when it does and what will
happen to it as a result of many chemical reactions within the body. If the
initial chemical or the residue proves to be too toxic, it may have to be
discarded as a possible medicine.

鈥淣ow is a hugely exciting time for anyone interested in the development of
new drugs,鈥� claims Professor Roland Wolf, director of the Molecular Pharmacology
Unit funded by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund at the University of Dundee. 鈥淎
fantastic number of new cellular drug targets are being discovered as our
understanding of the cancer process has increased.鈥�

This kind of knowledge enables pharmacologists to go through a rational
process of drug design. It also enables them to use highly automated robotic
systems to screen vast libraries of chemicals against specific cellular targets,
for example proteins, which inhibit the division process in cancer cells. Once
an active agent is found, its toxicology and metabolism are investigated. 鈥淭he
effectiveness of a drug is determined by the ability of pharmacologists to
control the level of a compound in the body long enough for it to have a
therapeutic effect. Pharmacologists now have the tools to predict many of these
processes during in vitro experiments prior to clinical trials,鈥� says Wolf.

Pharmacology is a highly practical and laboratory-based subject. The work
ranges from in vitro experiments with tissues to studies on the clinical effects
that potential drugs have on animals and humans.

The process of drug development includes testing new ones on healthy
volunteers, then on patients with the illness which you are attempting to cure,
and finally full clinical trials. Pharmacologists play an important role in all
these stages.

Research takes a vitally important part in pharmacology. Most members of the
British Pharmacological Society have PhDs, according to Sarah Stagg, the
society鈥檚 executive officer. Anyone who sets out to be a pharmacologist but is
determined not to take a PhD is likely to face rather limited career horizons,
says Stagg. 鈥淭he majority of our 2400 members are in academia,鈥� she adds,
鈥渁lthough many are employed in the pharmaceuticals industry, or as clinicians. A
few work in medical writing and marketing and we have at least one who is a
stockbroker.鈥� According to Wolf, a PhD is a prerequisite for an academically
based career in pharmacology.

Several routes are available to anyone who wishes to take up this rewarding
career. Nowadays, the most common is to take a degree in pharmacology through
one of the courses offered by 28 of Britain鈥檚 universities. Many universities
insist that pharmacologists initially take the same course as other biological
scientists and begin to specialise in pharmacology only later. Several,
including, the universities of Bath, East London, Manchester and King鈥檚 College
London, offer sandwich courses which include a year spent gaining direct
experience of what a pharmacologist does in industry. At several universities,
pharmacology can be studied as a joint degree with related subjects, such as
toxicology, physiology and biochemistry, and at King鈥檚 College London with
management studies.

For those wishing to qualify in medicine and to leave open the possibility of
becoming a clinical pharmacologist, a medical degree with an intercalated
pharmacology degree, taken after the first two years of clinical studies is a
useful approach. One aspect of a clinical pharmacologist鈥檚 work is to examine
patients for adverse reactions to any drugs they take. Certainly, their job is
far more involved with patients and less laboratory based than that of their
non-clinical colleagues.

A third option is to study a related subject such as physiology, biochemistry
or pharmacy and then later to complete a postgraduate conversion course. Many
universities, including Strathclyde, King鈥檚 College London, Liverpool and
Bradford, run master鈥檚 degree courses in pharmacology which cater for those with
degrees in related disciplines. Some of these can be studied either full-time
for a year or part-time for two years.

The pharmaceuticals industry, according to the Department of Trade and
Industry鈥檚 league table, is the biggest spender on research and development in
Britain. Advances in our understanding of genetics and proteins, together with
our ability to screen huge numbers of chemicals with great speed, are increasing
employers鈥� demand for pharmacologists and improving the chance of experiencing
the satisfaction of finding a successful medicine.