Pharmacy Technician Course

Lesson 1 • Drug Classification and Nomenclature

Covers generic, brand, and chemical naming conventions alongside major drug classes. Enables accurate identification and communication about compounds throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Pharmacodynamic Principles

Defines receptor theory, dose-response relationships, and therapeutic windows. Grounds technicians in the biological rationale behind assay design and result interpretation.

Lesson 3 • Regulatory and Ethical Framework

Outlines the regulatory bodies, good laboratory practice standards, and ethical obligations governing pharmacology labs. Ensures compliant and responsible technician conduct from day one.

Lesson 4 • Basic Pharmacokinetic Concepts

Explains absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion as they apply to lab testing. Connects drug behavior in the body to measurable laboratory parameters.

Lesson 1 • Chemical Hazard Identification

Teaches reading of safety data sheets, hazard pictograms, and chemical labeling systems. Directly supports safe handling of reagents and drug compounds used throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Waste Segregation and Disposal

Explains categories of laboratory waste and proper disposal pathways for each. Ensures regulatory compliance and environmental protection in daily lab operations.

Lesson 3 • Biological Safety Protocols

Covers biosafety levels, containment practices, and handling of biological specimens. Prepares technicians for labs that use cell-based or tissue-based pharmacological assays.

Lesson 4 • Personal Protective Equipment Selection

Details PPE types, selection criteria, donning and doffing sequences, and inspection. Ensures technicians choose and use appropriate protection for each task.

Lesson 1 • Metrology and Instrument Calibration

Covers SI units, significant figures, and calibration of balances and pipettes. Accurate measurement underpins every quantitative procedure performed in the lab.

Lesson 2 • Buffer and pH Solution Preparation

Explains buffer theory, Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, and practical buffer preparation. Correct pH control is critical for enzyme assays and cell-based pharmacological tests.

Lesson 3 • Stock Solution and Working Solution Preparation

Guides preparation of drug stock solutions, vehicle controls, and working dilutions. Establishes the practical workflow used before every pharmacological experiment.

Lesson 4 • Quality Control of Prepared Solutions

Introduces verification methods including spectrophotometric checks and osmolality testing. Ensures prepared solutions meet specifications before use in assays.

Lesson 1 • Spectrophotometry and Colorimetric Assays

Covers Beer-Lambert law, UV-Vis spectrophotometer operation, and standard curve construction. Forms the basis for quantitative drug and protein assays performed throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Microscopy in Pharmacological Studies

Teaches bright-field, fluorescence, and phase-contrast microscopy for cell-based assays. Microscopy skills are applied in cytotoxicity and receptor localization experiments.

Lesson 3 • Electrophoresis and Gel Analysis

Covers agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for protein and nucleic acid analysis. Supports receptor characterization and drug-target interaction studies.

Lesson 4 • Centrifugation Principles and Practice

Explains relative centrifugal force, rotor types, and sample preparation by centrifugation. Centrifugation is used in plasma preparation, cell isolation, and protein extraction workflows.

Lesson 1 • Enzyme Activity Assays

Covers kinetic and endpoint enzyme assays, Michaelis-Menten parameters, and inhibition studies. Enzyme assays are foundational tools for evaluating drug mechanism of action.

Lesson 2 • Receptor Binding Assays

Explains radioligand and fluorescent binding assays, saturation curves, and competition assays. Provides the tools to quantify drug-receptor interactions in membrane preparations.

Lesson 3 • Cell Viability and Cytotoxicity Assays

Teaches MTT, LDH, and trypan blue exclusion assays for assessing drug toxicity. These assays are used to establish safe concentration ranges before functional studies.

Lesson 4 • Assay Validation Fundamentals

Introduces accuracy, precision, linearity, and limit of detection as validation parameters. Ensures technicians can confirm that assay results are scientifically defensible.

Lesson 1 • Weighing and Reconstituting Drug Compounds

Covers gravimetric techniques, reconstitution of lyophilized compounds, and purity correction factors. Accurate weighing is the first critical step in every drug preparation workflow.

Lesson 2 • Sterile Preparation Techniques

Introduces aseptic technique, filtration sterilization, and laminar flow hood operation. Required for preparing drug solutions used in cell culture and in vivo pharmacology studies.

Lesson 3 • Vehicle and Excipient Preparation

Teaches preparation of common vehicles such as DMSO, PEG, and aqueous carriers. Proper vehicle preparation prevents solubility artifacts that confound pharmacological results.

Lesson 4 • Drug Storage and Chain of Custody

Covers temperature-controlled storage, controlled substance logs, and sample tracking systems. Maintains drug integrity and regulatory compliance from preparation through experimental use.

Lesson 1 • Isolated Tissue and Organ Bath Assays

Explains preparation of isolated tissue preparations and recording of contractile or secretory responses. Organ bath assays provide functional pharmacological data on drug efficacy and potency.

Lesson 2 • High-Throughput Screening Workflows

Introduces microplate-based assay formats, liquid handling automation, and plate reader operation. High-throughput methods allow rapid screening of compound libraries in drug discovery labs.

Lesson 3 • In Vitro Data Collection and Recording

Covers real-time data capture, electronic lab notebook entry, and raw data archiving standards. Accurate data recording is essential for reproducibility and regulatory audit readiness.

Lesson 4 • Cell Culture Fundamentals for Pharmacology

Covers cell line maintenance, passaging, and mycoplasma testing in a pharmacology context. Healthy, authenticated cell cultures are the prerequisite for valid in vitro drug testing.

Lesson 1 • Descriptive Statistics for Lab Data

Covers mean, median, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for summarizing assay results. These metrics are the foundation of every quantitative pharmacological report.

Lesson 2 • Statistical Hypothesis Testing

Introduces t-tests, ANOVA, and nonparametric equivalents for comparing treatment groups. Correct test selection ensures valid conclusions from pharmacological experiments.

Lesson 3 • Scientific Report Writing

Guides structured report writing including methods, results, and discussion sections for lab studies. Produces documentation that supports regulatory submissions and peer review.

Lesson 4 • Nonlinear Curve Fitting and EC50 Analysis

Teaches four-parameter logistic regression, EC50 and IC50 extraction, and Hill slope interpretation. Curve fitting transforms raw dose-response data into actionable pharmacological parameters.