The 10th Quality Improvement Programme for pharmacy college teachers on "Recent Advances in Pharmacology" will begin at Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (DIPS) on November 17. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) sponsors the five-day workshop.

According to Dr SS Agrawal, coordinator of the workshop, there would be 30 pharmacy teachers from various parts of the country to attend the programme. The course contents include lectures and demonstration on molecular pharmacology, hepatoprotective studies, apoptosis & cell proliferation, gene-based therapy, anti-fertility studies and anti-inflammatory studies. The faculty includes experts from AIIMS, DST, AICTE, MAMC and INMAS.

"During the 10th QIP, we not only hope to give the participants an exposure to the recent advances on drug screening procedures but also experimental training in the lab. This should ultimately enable the teachers to develop these techniques of drug development and screening in their respective colleges," Dr Agrawal said.

In the development of any drug, screening procedures on experimental animals are of paramount importance. These procedures not only help detect the efficacy and side effects of a potential drug but also help to determine the pharmacokinetics and thereby aid design of a suitable formulation. Hence development of better screening methodologies and tools is one of the areas of focus among biomedical scientists.