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Pharmacology- A Great Career Choice

By Ioana Raluca Kovacs, staff, ADL Online Education. on August 17, 2016 in Health & Science | comments
Pharmacology as a degree can lead to many career paths involving academia, research science or pharmacy to name a few. Not only are there many career options but there are also, extensive range of opportunities available for further and higher education - students are able to choose from masters to post-doctorates and second degrees.

It is also a relatively easy science to get on to, providing you have the correct background qualifications - one of which may be  ADL's Psycho-pharmacology BPS302 course that will help equip you with the basic skills needed to pursue, at a later stage, a degree in pharmacology e.g.  critical skills are essential for the study of chemicals.

Studying pharmacology may allow you to possibly make a breakthrough discovery. Jeffrey Rimer and his group at the University of Houston, stumbled upon a fruit extract that  dissolves calcium oxalate, one of the main components in kidney stones, ending a period of almmost 30 years searching for such a breakthrough.

The sample of HCA (hydroxy citrate acid), after trials, was given to human volunteers, and tested to see the effects of the crystal (usually expected to expand) upon exposure to small amount of HCA the crystal actually began to shrink under AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy- allows to record images of the crystal in a near-molecular basis and in real-time). During human trials HCA was found to be excreted through urine showing that it can be used as a normal supplement. They then applied density functional theory (a highly precise computer operational method) to view the properties and structure of HCA and explain how a crystal can dissolve in a super concentrated solution; such as urine. HCA was discovered to form a stronger bond with crystal surfaces creating a strain that is broken down by the release of calcium and oxalate leading to breakdown of crystals/kidney stones.

If you are convinced that pharmacology is the right career path for you then don't hesitate to get studying on ADL'S Psycho-pharmacology BPS302 course and one day you might be able to make an important discovery that will have far reaching effects!