Course Review: 

I will begin by saying I took this course as a second-year pharmacology major, so my  experience with this course may differ from a typical student’s (i.e. a final-year medicinal  chemistry major). However, I found this course to be one of the most enjoyable courses I’ve taken. Compared to most MEDSCIs, CHEM 390 felt like a very relaxing course, and is  taught by some of the best lecturers SCS has to offer.  

Course content:

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Block 1 

In block 1, Prof. David Barker takes you through the process of drug discovery from a  medicinal chemist’s perspective. Lecture topics include the rationale of drug discovery,  combinatorial synthesis, high throughput testing, and lead optimization. 

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Overall, there isn’t much to say about this block; I thought this block was straightforward. It is more about memorizing facts than anything else, so just make sure you can quickly  recall facts (such as calculating the molecular weight of a drug – you won’t be given atomic  weights!) 

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Block 2

Block 2 is all about the structure-activity relationship of a drug, taught by Prof. Viji Sarojini.  You will learn about how different functional groups target specific biological targets, such  as DNA, receptors, or enzymes. This block was quite content heavy, with a lot of  abstracted concepts and some chemistry assumptions from CHEM 253, but I found it  tolerable (having only taken CHEM 110 prior).  

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For this block, there are a lot of examples in the lectures, and you are told to not remember  the specific examples. However, I did find it helpful to remember them, since many test  questions will refer directly to examples given in lectures, although understanding is still  very important – you need to have a good understanding of the underlying chemistry  involved.  

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Block 3

In 2026, due to timetabling constraints, block 3 was delivered in conjunction with block 4,  which was a little disorientating for me having to juggle two different topics simultaneously (on top of 4 other courses).  

However, block 3 is taught by another amazing lecturer, Dr. Tristan de Rond. Tristan’s  block has a bit of everything – assays, mechanism of action, and biologics. However, the  central theme of block 3 is data interpretation. Every lecture, you are presented with an  experimental study, and Tristan will take you through the data and figures in the study step  by step to show you what could and could not be concluded.  

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To do well in this block, you need to fully understand what the experiment is about and be  able to apply your understanding to a different scenario. The most important skill needed  for this section is data interpretation, being able to read a graph and understand what it’s  about.  

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Block 4

The final block was taught by none other than Prof. Brent Copp, with no less humor than  CHEM 110. This block is about two topics: ADME and antibiotics. It is important to note  that this is delivered from a chemist’s perspective, so it is not the same “flavour” as ADME in MEDSCI 204 or antibiotics in MEDSCI 202. Because of this, I really enjoyed this block as  it really broadened my knowledge of fundamental pharmacology principles.  

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I found this block quite chill and a nice conclusion to the course, but this topic is very  biology and pharmacology heavy. For most MEDSCI students, this should be no trouble.  However, some knowledge of CHEM 110 chemistry (e.g. mechanism) is still expected here.  

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Study Advice

As with most other courses for me, I used Anki religiously and found it worked quite well. All examinable content is covered in the lectures, so there are no extra readings to do. Every fortnight there is a lecture quiz on Canvas. They are a good way to test your  understanding and find your gaps. I strongly recommend against using AI for those, as it will not be helpful for your learning. 

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Laboratories

The labs are one of the most fun parts of the course. They are just like CHEM 110, except  they’re way less stressful, since you’re allowed to complete lab reports at home barring the lab test.  

The lab test does sound scary at first glance, but it is just a closed book lab with a lab  report to be handed in before you leave. Nothing to be worried about as long as you  somewhat prepare for it, in my opinion.  

Lab professionalism is a newly introduced assessment in 2026. It involves completing your prelabs, showing up on time, using PPE correctly, and tidying up before you leave. Very easy marks as long as you’re organized.  

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Assessment Tips: 

For the tests, I didn’t find them scary at all. As there are plenty of past tests available, I  suggest looking through the past tests to see which topics/questions show up frequently.  

The exam is MCQ, but I found it to test more in-depth understanding compared to the  tests, so you must prepare adequately! There are plenty of past exams available; however, answers are not, so I suggest discussing answers with your peers, especially because  many questions can be quite ambiguous. 

P.S. make sure to double check the marking of your tests against your Canvas grade, as there were quite a few instances of students getting the wrong grade entered on Canvas. 

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Final Advice:

If you enjoyed CHEM 110 and are a biomed/ pharmacology major, I would 100%  recommend you take this course as an elective. It is very fun, very chill, and you’ll gain a lot  of relevant knowledge!

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This course review was written by Robbin Xu​