Department of Physical Chemistry of Drugs

The department exists since the formation of the national Faculty of Pharmacy on Comenius University on 1960 September 1, with the original name Department of Physical Chemistry and with a primary focus on teaching Mathematics, Physics and Physical chemistry. In 1991, the department expanded to include a laboratory, originally established at the Department of analytical chemistry, focused on the study of the interaction of drugs with membranes using physico-chemical methods. In 1994, the name of the department was changed to the current Department of physical chemistry of drugs. In more than fifty years, five personalities took turns in the position of head of the department. The founder of the department was doc. J. Čelechovský, who headed the department until 1979, in the period 1979–2003 the department was headed by doc. F. Kopecký, who worked at the department from its foundation until 2010. In the period 2003–2006, the head of the department was prof. K. Sarka and in 2006 the position of head of the department was overtaken by prof. P. Balgavý. In 2009, prof. D. Uhríková was appointed head of the department.

 

Research  at the department is long-term focused on elucidating the mechanism of drug action at the molecular level, which is a basic requirement for the preparation of suitable drug formulations. Solved problems are related to grant-supported research tasks. The entire staff of the department, PhD students, as well as graduates of the department participate. Topics for diploma theses represent the solution of partial problems of currently solved projects. The experimental research is focused on the study of the interaction of selected drug molecules with phospholipid bilayers. Using theoretical computational methods, physicochemical properties of drugs and drug-receptor interactions are studied.

 

The department provides the teaching for the Master degree study programme of two obligatory courses, Pharmaceutical Physics and Physical chemistry, and offers obligatory elective courses, Mathematics for pharmacists, Biophysics, Biostatistics for pharmacists and Pharmacokinetic modelling and drug development. The elective courses Problem solving in pharmaceutical physics and Problem solving in physical chemistry are designed with the aim to clarify and bring closer the theoretical knowledge obtained from lectures to their applications in solving practical tasks in laboratory exercises and problem solving.