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Welcome to Pharmacology

The Department of Pharmacology is one of the pre-clinical science departments that form part of the University’s Medical Sciences Division and is focused on basic life sciences research, undergraduate teaching for medicine and biomedical sciences students and the training and development of graduate students.

Latest News

The illustration shows the upregulation of Gsto2, which encodes the glutathione S-transferase omega-2 (GSTO2) enzyme induced by the absence of TrkB signalling in the indirect pathway spiny projection neurons (iSPNs), the initially affected cells in Huntington’s disease, triggers an increase in dopamine, neuronal vulnerability, and motor dysfunction. The selective reduction of this protein activity in mice prevents dopamine and energy metabolism dysfunction, arresting the onset of motor symptoms. Illustration from: Nat Metab (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01155-z

Discovery of key mechanism in Huntington’s Disease could pave the way for early detection and treatment

New research published by the Minichiello group in Nature Metabolism has identified a key biochemical mechanism relevant to Huntington’s Disease, which opens the possibility of studying the disease before its clinical onset.

Top of the QS World University Rankings for Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2019-2021

Founded in 1898

20 research groups

50+ graduate students

Research

The Department of Pharmacology is at the forefront of research into the effects of drugs and other molecules on biological systems with a view to understanding the mechanisms of the human body. Pre-clinical research in the Department aims to examine cellular and molecular pathways in living systems as the first step towards a greater understanding of disease and effective treatment.

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Teaching

Academic staff in the Department lead lectures, seminars and tutorials for undergraduate students on the Medicine and Biomedical Sciences courses. The Department also hosts an internationally-renowned one-year MSc taught course in Pharmacology and has a community of around 40 DPhil students.

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Upcoming talks and events

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Members of the Department have published 937 papers between 2013 and 2022

Recent publications

Full annual lists

We are part of Oxford Medical Sciences