MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Requirements for Degree Completion

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  • MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences

    • Program Learning Objectives

    The Program Learning Objectives for the Masters program in Pharmaceutical Sciences are available here.

    Units Required

    A minimum of 24 units in coursework (see Course Offerings below) and 28 total units are required for graduation. All students participate in 12 units or core course curriculum (PSCI 501-503) plus one 4Students in the thesis track take 4 of the units in 594A and 594B (MS thesis). The core curriculum emphasizes drug discovery, drug delivery and molecular pharmacology.

    Research

    Research can be initiated at any point in the program. Students selecting the non-research master’s track may elect and are encouraged to carry out research in their program.

    Thesis/Dissertation

    Students may choose between two tracks to complete the Master of Science degree. First, the research track requires that the student carry out a research project during their program. As noted above, research towards the thesis can be begun at any point, though typically this begins during the first semester. The thesis should be about 50 pages.

    Second, the non-research, non-thesis Master’s track requires that the student complete 28 units of coursework. Several options regarding the nature and scope of coursework are available.

    Graduate students are expected to possess knowledge in various areas of pharmaceutical sciences. The following are graduate courses offered by the program (some courses are not offered every year):

    PSCI 501, Drugs: Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion

    PSCI 502, Drugs: Principles of Therapeutic Mechanisms

    PSCI 503, Drugs: Principles of Research Methodology

    MPTX 510, The Other Side of Drugs

    PSCI 513, Drugs: Biologics and Specialty Pharmaceutics

    PSCI 515, Drugs: Pharmacogenetics

    PSCI 517, Protein Engineering and Drug Discovery

    MPTX 520, Drugs in the Media

    PSCI 557, Introduction to Tools and Techniques for Chemical Biology

    PSCI 655,  Immunopharmaceutics

    PSCI 662, Advanced Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics

    PSCI 664,  Drug Discovery and Design

    PSCI 665,  Drug Transport and Delivery

    PSCI 666,  Molecular Structural Biology

    PSCI 667,  Intracellular Drug Delivery and Targeting

    PSCI 671,  Drug Metabolism (Morphology)

    The following are graduate courses offered in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology:

    MPTX 500, Molecular Pharmacology and Cell Signaling

    MPTX 501,  Toxicology of Oxidants and Free Radicals

    MPTX 602,  Sciences, Research and Ethics

    USC Course Catalogue

    For Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSCI) and Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology (MPTX) courses, see School of Pharmacy

    For Interdepartmental (INTD) and Physiology and Biophysics (PHBI) courses, see Keck School of Medicine.

    USC Course Catalogue

    Schedule of Classes

    For course availability for the current year see the Schedule of Classes.