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Pharmacological and Toxicological Screening Methods

By Prof. Vinod Tiwari   |   IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Learners enrolled: 282
ABOUT THE COURSE:

This 12-week course, Pharmacological and Toxicological Screening Methods, offers a comprehensive exploration of the methodologies and tools vital for assessing the therapeutic potential and safety profiles of new drugs, chemicals, and biological compounds. The program begins with foundational principles of Pharmacological assays, emphasizing toxicity types, dose-response relationships, and safety thresholds. As the course progresses, participants delve into advanced screening techniques, including in vitro assays (e.g., cell-based models, enzyme inhibition studies) and in vivo methods (e.g., animal models for efficacy and toxicity). Additionally, the curriculum incorporates OECD guidelines, ethical considerations in animal research, and alternatives to animal experimentation, providing a well-rounded understanding of preclinical evaluation techniques.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Pharmacy professionals, Pharmacologists, Biologists, Biotechnologists

PREREQUISITES: The participants should have basic knowledge of biology. A keen interest in the domains of biochemistry, physiology, and molecular biology is desirable.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Pharmaceutical & Biotech industries:
 Sun Pharma Ltd, Glen Mark Pharmaceuticals, Mylan Laboratories, Bharat Biotech, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Piramal Life Sciences Ltd, Glaxo Smithkiline, Johnson & Johnsson etc
Summary
Course Status : Upcoming
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Chemical Engineering
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 21 Jul 2025
End Date : 10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends : 28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 15 Aug 2025
Exam Date : 26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.


Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: Laboratory animals: Ethics of animal research
1. Morals of Animal Testing and 3R Principles
2. Common Laboratory Animals and Their Maintenance: Part A
3. Common Laboratory Animals and Their Maintenance: Part B
4. CCSEA Guidelines to Experiment on Animals- Part A
5. CCSEA Guidelines to Experiment on Animals Part B

Week 2: Alternatives to animal experimentation 
1. Form B: Application for IAEC Approval 
2. Anaesthesia and Euthanasia of Experimental Animals
3. Alternatives to Animal Usage in Research
4. In-vitro Models
5. Stem Cell Therapy, Skin Patch Test

Week 3: Drug Screening Approaches
1. In-silico Models, Microfluidic chips, Recent trends
2. High-throughput Screening (HTS) Assays
3. Western Blotting
4. Assay and its Types
5. Classification of Bioassays

Week 4: Models for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
1. Introduction to Alzheimer’s disease
2. Symptoms and Pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s Disease 
3. Screening Models of Alzheimer’s disease
4. Introduction to Parkinson’s Disease
5. Models of Parkinson’s disease 

Week 5: Anti-Depressant Screening Models
1. Introduction to Depression
2. Diagnosis & Pharmacotherapeutics for the Treatment of Depression
3. Models for the Screening of Anti-depressent Drugs
4. Behavioral tests for the assessment of Anti-depressant activity

Week 6: Screening Models for Pain
1. Introduction to Pain and its Pathobiology
2. Preclinical model for neuropathic Pain
3. Preclinical models for inflammatory Pain
4. Behavior assays for pain measurement in animals
5. Behavior assays for Spontaneous Pain Assessment 

Week 7: Screening Models for Anti-diabetic Activity
1. Introduction to Diabetes
2. Pathophysiology and diagnosis of Diabetes 
3. Current Pharmacotherapeutics used for the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus
4. In-Vitro Models of Diabetes Mellitus
5. In-ViVo Models of Diabetes Mellitus

Week 8: Advanced Pharmacological Screening Assays
1. Pharmacological Screening and its types
2. Transgenic animals: Production and maintenance
3. Humanized Mouse: Introduction
4. Applications of Transgenic Animals 
5. Applications of Humanized mouse

Week 9: Introduction to Toxicology and Regulatory Guidelines
1. Introduction to Toxicology 
2. Mechanism of Toxicity and Toxicant Action
3. Toxicity Testing Studies as per OECD Guidelines
4. ICH Guidelines for Drug Toxicity Studies
5. Good Laboratory Practices for Safety Studies

Week 10: Toxicological Investigation Methods
1. Acute and Sub-Acute Toxicity Studies
2. Chronic Toxicity Studies
3. Mutagenicity and Genotoxicity Studies
4. Teratogenicity Studies
5. Reproductive Toxicity

Week 11: Organ System Toxicology
1. Neurobehavioral Toxicology
2. Cardiovascular Toxicology
3. Respiratory Toxicology
4. Dermal/Skin Toxicology
5. Liver Toxicology

Week 12: Carcinogenicity Studies
1. Introduction to Carcinogenesis
2. Categories of Carcinogenicity Studies
3. Autophagy and Apoptosis 
4. Apoptotic pathways and Necroptosis
5. Methods to Screen Anti-cancer Agents

Books and references

 1. Vogel, H.G. ed., 2002. Drug discovery and evaluation: pharmacological assays. Springer Science & Business Media.
 2. Barrett, J.E., Page, C.P. and Michel, M.C. eds., 2019. Concepts and principles of pharmacology: 100 years of the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology

Instructor bio

Prof. Vinod Tiwari

IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Dr. Vinod Tiwari completed his Ph.D. from the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, India (2012), followed by postdoctoral research at the prestigious The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Currently, he is serving as an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), India. His research is focused on dissecting the neurobiology of chronic pain and developing potential translational therapies for the management of neuropathic pain, a critical burdensome disorder worldwide. He has published over a hundred research and review articles spanning diverse fields, including pain, inflammation, learning and memory, diabetic neuropathy, and cognitive deficits.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team


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