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Overview
The Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology offers an opportunity for gifted students, scientists and physicians to fulfill a vision together - to explore the life-sustaining biological mechanisms that regulate organ functions of the body, the molecular errors of disease and the pharmacological means to correct them. Biological imaging provides the means to watch and measure the integrated organization and function of organ systems and whole organisms, ranging from the molecular assembly of viruses to the biological function of organ systems in humans in health and disease. The new knowledge coming from these endeavors constitutes the basis of a new field of biological research. Ultimately, it contributes to a new vision of medicine.
What's unique about this program?
The Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA offers a comprehensive educational experience ranging from the basic biological sciences to the imaging of biological processes in cell and tissue cultures, animals and humans. Our department focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of normal organ functions and their failure in disease, as well as newly developed therapeutics designed to correct the molecular mechanisms of disease. The interests of our faculty in the basic biomedical sciences include receptors and ion channels, second messenger systems, biosynthetic and metabolic enzymes, stem cell biology and development, cancer biology and oncogenesis, neurosciences and neurological disorders, and functional genomics and proteonomics. The techniques of structural, cellular and molecular biology, analytical and synthetic chemistry together with mathematical modeling and transgenic and "knock-out" mouse models are used to study these processes. State-of-the art facilities include DNA microarray, cryo-electron microscopy, confocal and deconvolution fluorescent microscopy, autoradiography, CT scan and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). However, understanding disease at the cellular and organ level is insufficient for the ultimate goal of medical research, which is the identification and therapeutic correction of human disease. Thus, the department also contains the Ahmanson Biological Imaging Center where biological imaging procedures are used in the study and care of patients with a wide variety of diseases As a result, you will gain a full understanding of the biological basis of integrated organ function, disease-based mechanistic failure of organ function, and therapeutic modification of disease processes from a laboratory setting to their integration into clinical medicine.
Diversity Statement
The University of California is committed to excellence and equity in every facet of its mission. Teaching, research, professional and public service contributions that promote diversity and equal opportunity are encouraged and given recognition in the evaluation of the applicant’s qualifications. These contributions to diversity and equal opportunity can take a variety of forms including efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population, or research in a scholar’s area of expertise that explores inequalities.