Starting this fall, chemistry majors at UC Davis will be able to take a new designated emphasis in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The program is intended to give students more exposure to applied aspects of chemistry, and increase the number of graduates with bachelor's degrees and a strong background in pharmaceutical chemistry.

"This is an exciting program for the department of chemistry," said Winston Ko, dean of the division of mathematical and physical sciences, "expanding the undergraduate chemistry major to allow for a track in pharmaceutical-medicinal chemistry has broad appeal to students and parents. And it is one of our academic priorities, as well as a natural area for private support, given the importance of drug discovery and delivery for people across the globe."

David Britt, professor and chair of the chemistry department, said: "We have this industry in the greater Bay Area, and we want to provide bachelor's level training that will attract students and give them a leg up in working for these companies."

At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry has a need for bachelor's degree graduates with an understanding of pharmaceuticals, said Jacquelyn Gervay-Hague, professor of chemistry and one of the organizers of the new program.

The program's introduction was planned for today during the annual symposium in honor of the late R. Bryan Miller, a professor of organic chemistry at UC Davis.

Any program that prepares students for the drug industry will give them a significant advantage, said Sundeep Dugar, a former graduate student of Miller's who went on to become a senior scientist at Schering-Plough Corp. and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and vice president for chemistry at Scios Inc. Dugar has since started his own company, SAI Advantium, and he advised the department and the dean's office on the new program.

"We have experience in the U.S. in drug discovery and development that most other nations in the world do not. We should use this experience to train our chemists and give them the advantage they will need in the global market place," he said.

Pharmaceutical chemistry is rooted in organic chemistry, the chemistry principally of carbon. Yet a surprising number of students do not realize that chemistry is the key to pharmaceuticals, said Dean Tantillo, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Davis and one of the organizers of the new program.

The department will offer two new upper division classes, Chemistry 130 A and B, and revise the advanced organic chemistry lab class, 135, Tantillo said. Chemistry

130 A would be an overview of pharmaceutical chemistry, and 130 B would focus on case studies of drugs.

Synthesizing a new compound is only the first step in pharmaceutical development, Britt said. One issue, for example, is the rationality of drug design.

Companies often will screen thousands of compounds to find one with interesting properties, then tweak it chemically to boost useful properties while minimizing any unwanted effects. Or they might start from an existing drug and look for ways to improve it. In many cases, drugs developed for one disease or condition turn out to be useful for other purposes.

Traditional university curricula have done a good job of teaching basic science and specific fields to students, but basic science majors rarely got exposure to applied sciences, Dugar said. That meant that the industry has had to do further education and training of chemists, he said.

"With this course the students will graduate with a background in the basic sciences and also an understanding of the industry they will be joining," Dugar said. The program should be expanded to the graduate level as well, he said.

The new courses should also be helpful to nonchemistry majors, such as those who intend to go on to graduate school in medicine, veterinary medicine or pharmacology, Gervay-Hague said. The organizers also intend to work closely with pharmacologists in the School of Medicine.

Pharmaceutical chemistry research is a "strong presence" in the department, said Gervay-Hague, who studies organic synthesis of compounds that might be used to treat viral infections or cancer. Tantillo carries out computer-based research on organic molecules, including potential drug targets. Other faculty whose research is related to pharmaceutical chemistry include professors Mark Kurth, Xi Chen and Neil Schore. The department is now recruiting for a senior faculty position in biological chemistry.