In recent years many developments, such as the use of levo dopa in Parkinsonism, the manipulation of excitation in epilepsy and the discovery of endogenous opioids, have brought basic neuropharmacology and the successful treatment of disorders of the C.N.S. much closer together. It is likely that future prospects for drug therapy in neurology and psychiatry will depend very much on a better understanding of neurotransmitter function and manipulation. This neuropharmacology course tries to provide a basis for such an understanding. The evidence for different transmitters (from morphological, electrophysiological, pharmacological and biochemical studies) is evaluated so as to build up a picture of their pre- and post-synaptic actions and their interactions in specific pathways and brain areas. This knowledge is then applied to a consideration of various disease states and drug action. Special emphasis is given to neurotransmitter function and malfunction in epilepsy, Parkinsonism, memory, cell death and pain states and to the mode of action of drugs in these conditions. Students attend a comprehensive series of lectures given by experts in the field. The evaluation of published work and a proper appreciation of the problems facing research workers is helped by practical experience of the methods used. Note- this module has the same content as PHAR0010 with an extended assessment. 

This module provides the opportunity for you to undertake a narrative review of published literature on a specified ophthalmic topic of your own choice,...

This module provides the opportunity for you to undertake a narrative review of published literature on a specified ophthalmic topic of your own choice, supervised by a UCL academic or senior ophthalmologist from Moorfields Eye Hospital.

The module is delivered in Terms 1, 2 and 3 of this 1-year course.

To prepare for the dissertation you will develop academic skills in the Research in Ophthalmology (RIO) course. During face-to-face weekly 2-hour tutorials, you will develop your skills in searching literature databases, reading and critically evaluating published work, presenting oral work, and undertake training in medical statistics to allow you to evaluate ophthalmology research papers.


Indicative RIO lecture topics:

Statistical tests and their application
More advanced statistical pitfalls in ophthalmic research
Patient Public Involvement: an NIHR perspective
Oculomics - linking systemic disease and the eye
Quantitative image analysis
Global eye health: Research in low and middle-income settings and conducting population-based eye surveys
Academic writing, plagiarism, academic ethics
Health Economics: The societal cost of vision loss, and critical appraisal


In addition, there are dissertation writing workshops that will help you understand the dissertation module and prepare you to ask the question that you will answer with the literature review. You will present your ideas in oral format, a written abstract of the proposal (20% marks) and the final 10-12,000 word dissertation (80% marks) of the work.