The faculty in Medicinal Chemistry offer diverse opportunities for study and research at the interface between chemistry and biology with emphasis on issues of biomedical importance. These include the role of phase I and II biotransformation processes in toxification and detoxification reactions, the metabolic consequences of phenotypic and genotypic diversity in the population, drug metabolism and enzyme kinetics, drug/drug and drug/herbal interactions, protein engineering, mechanisms of pathogen resistance, molecular modeling of peptides and proteins and vaccine development - to name but a few. In addition to specialized training acquired during their medicinal chemistry thesis work, graduates acquire a broad foundation in biochemistry, pharmacology and molecular biology which is important in the rapidly evolving, multidisciplinary biomedical arena. This is aided by the Department’s commitment to interdisciplinary efforts in the study of metabolism-based mechanisms of drug interactions with faculty in Pharmaceutics, a pre-doctoral training grant in the pharmacological sciences with Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, as well as faculty involvement in the School of Public Health’s Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health and in the Biomedical Structure and Design Program.

In addition, the Department houses the Analytical Biopharmacy Core which aims to serve the University and the local biotechnology communities in their efforts to perform biophysical characterization of macromolecular drugs and delivery platforms including proteins, polymers, nucleic acids, or other nanodevices. This Core facility, established through the Center for Intracellular Delivery of Biologics, provides a further collaborative link between the Departments of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.