Becoming a medicinal chemist
AT some point of your life, you would fall sick and need drugs – but where do drugs come from? Not many have given thought about the background of drug development, which is where medicinal chemistry comes in.
“Today, we know more than 30,000 diseases and the molecular cause for 4,000 of them, but we have treatment for only 250 of them,” says Dr Ken Yeong Keng Yoon, lecturer at Monash University Malaysia's School of Science.
Medicinal chemistry is the latest major to be introduced in Monash University Malaysia’s Bachelor of Science programme. It is an emerging and exciting field that involves particularly organic synthesis chemistry as well as life science and pharmaceutical science.
Dr Yeong believes that the medicinal chemistry industry needs to grow in Malaysia as we are turning into an ageing society. This means that as an increasing number of people live longer, there will be more people getting sick and needing new treatment and cures. Thus, new drugs are always in need.
“At the moment, this field is slightly isolated as there are not enough scientists and collaborations. When you are isolated in research, things move at a much slower pace. You cannot possibly do everything on your own. It would be good if we can have a platform to produce more scientists,” says Dr Yeong.
At the forefront of technology today, many are using computational methods to predict how drugs interact in the body. There are also drug companies that use artificial intelligence to develop and predict the interaction of drugs.
“At Monash, we teach students how to use this technology, albeit at a very basic level. The medicinal chemistry students learn about the different classes of drugs, their pharmacokinetics, drug discovery and drug development.
“The aim is to make students realise the exciting things they could learn and relate to real life as well as let them know that they might eventually have the chance to make a difference in people’s lives,” adds Dr Yeong.
The laboratories at Monash are well equipped with instruments such as the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and liquid chromatography-mass spectrophotometer to support research in this field. Students will have a chance to sharpen their hands-on skills during practical sessions.
Students spend four hours a week working in the laboratories. Apart from the traditional small molecules, they will be able to work on large molecules such as proteins and peptides.
Upon graduation, students can look for jobs in the specific field of medicinal chemistry. They can work in pharmaceutical companies to help in the formulation, production, quality assurance and quality control of drugs. They can also be in research or academia while some even join patent offices.
For more information, visit www.sci.monash.edu.my.