Why did I choose Pharmacology?

Contrary to what a lot of people think, pharmacology is not the same as pharmacy! Whilst pharmacy is the science and technique of preparing and dispensing drugs (for example in the community or a hospital), pharmacology is the study of drug action in terms of how medicines and other drugs work and how they are processed and eliminated by the human body. Understanding the disease mechanism allows new medicines to be discovered, by targeting the point in the process which appears to go wrong or doesn’t work properly. Overall, the key aspects to a good medicine would be for it to work effectively with minimal side effects, low toxicity and not be too expensive.

At first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study at university. I knew I wanted focus on science, particularly biology and chemistry as these were my favourite subjects at GCSE and A-Level. I got the opportunity to do an eight week Nuffield Science Research Placement over the summer of Year 12 at Kingston University. During that time, I investigated the beating frequency of chick embryo heart cells after the addition of various drugs. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and it allowed me to learn more about the field of pharmacology, which was the category the project fell under. Up until that point, I had never even heard of pharmacology. Looking back, I realise that this project sparked my interest in pharmacology and encouraged me to find out more about the subject.

What I enjoy most about the course is how interdisciplinary it is. I have the chance to learn about physiology, biochemistry and immunology in addition to the different streams of pharmacology; such as psychopharmacology, immunopharmacology and neuropharmacology. The range of subjects in first and second year is broad to give you a good background in bioscience. In third and fourth year, you can tailor the course to your own interests by choosing to study specific topics.

A typical day in the life of a Pharmacology student

It’s pretty hard to say what a typical day looks like since there are different teaching methods from lectures and seminars to tutorials and practicals but an example day could look something like this:

9.00am-11.00am: Two lectures from the Drug Design and Development module titled ‘Clinical Trials’ and ‘Introducing New Drugs in the Clinic’. In the ‘Clinical Trials’ lecture, we looked at the later phases of the drug discovery and development process when a new drug is tested in healthy volunteers and in patients. I learnt that it takes 10 years for a new medicine to go through the whole research and development process. Only 12% of drugs in clinical trials become approved medicines and the average cost to develop them is $2.6 billion.

The ‘Introducing New Drugs in the Clinic’ lecture focused on  drug case studies. As a group we had to decide whether we should approve the drug or not. A drug might not be approved because of the presence of serious side effects; a high cost; and the drug not being very effective in clinical trials.

11.00am-1.00pm: Go to labs, find a healthy volunteer to donate blood and process the blood to separate the red blood cells and the white blood cells.

1.00pm-2.00pm: Lunch!

2.00pm-5.00pm: Perform various experiments on the white blood cells. For example, investigating whether neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) will migrate across a filter barrier,  a scientific version of a sieve, in response to different solutions. The microscope image below shows the interaction between the red blood cells (smaller, circular cells) and neutrophils (larger cells with a nucleus stained purple) in the blood.

5.00pm-7.00pm: Head back to my flat, pick up some groceries on the way. I’ll then catch up with my flatmates and cook (and then eat) dinner!

More information

You can find out more about studying Pharmacology at UCL on the BSc Pharmacology subject page. The In2Science scheme and Nuffield Foundation both offer opportunities for young people to get involved in science.

A word on the writer

I’m Nikita, a fourth year undergraduate on the Pharmacology MSci course here at UCL. I’m from London and currently undertaking a Master’s project at the Centre for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. I’m a Student Ambassador and Senior Transition Mentor and these roles allow me to interact with more prospective and current students at UCL. Outside of my academic studies, I like to cook and bake, go travelling and have a keen eye for photography. I’m always open to exploring and trying out new things!