Pharmacology of Antibacterial Agents (Coursera)

Pharmacology of Antibacterial Agents (Coursera)

The online course “Pharmacology of antibacterial agents” has been designed and developed by the team of authors of Department of General and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Institute of People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). The main objective of the course is to provide systemic knowledge on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters of the main groups of antibacterial agents and insight into their proper and safe use.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The course is divided into 11 Modules covering the main questions of rational antibacterials’ use, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, indications, contraindications, adverse drug reactions of the main classes of natural antibiotic and synthetic agents, and parameters of their safety and use in specific population of patients.
The course is performed with multimedia enriched videos, complementary educational material, interactive links to the actual articles and guidelines according to each module, and online Quizzes.
The course “Pharmacology of antibacterial agents” is intended for students studying Medicine (including next specialties: General Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Pediatric), post-graduate students studying Clinical Pharmacology and clinicians who want to refresh knowledge on antibacterial agents’ pharmacology. Students of medical universities of 2nd year education and up.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Introduction to the course of Pharmacology of antibacterial agents. Rational antibiotic therapy
Week 1 is “Introduction to the course of Pharmacology of antibacterial agents. Rational antibiotic therapy”, which is aimed on consideration of the actual problems of antibiotic use.

WEEK 2
Pharmacodynamics of antibacterial drugs
Week 2 is “Pharmacodynamics of antibacterial drugs”, highlighting the main mechanisms of antibacterial action, types of effects, general mechanisms of antibacterial resistance development and strategies to overcome it.

WEEK 3
Pharmacokinetics of antibacterial agents
Week 3 is “Pharmacokinetics of antibacterial agents”, dedicated to next parameters, absorption and bioavailability, distribution, and elimination, as well as to pharmacokinetic drug interactions.

WEEK 4
Beta-lactam antibiotics. Penicillins
Week 4 is “Beta-lactam antibiotics. Penicillins”, it includes the questions of beta-lactams classification with consideration of penicillins pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic parameters, indications, contraindications, adverse drug reactions including penicilliun-induced allergy, resistance mechanisms and ways to fight them.

WEEK 5
Beta-lactams. Cephalosporins. Carbapenems. Monobactams
Week 5 is “Beta-lactams. Cephalosporins. Carbapenems. Monobactams”, dedicated to the named groups of beta-lactam antibiotics and the actual parameters of their effective and safe use.

WEEK 6
Pharmacology of natural antibiotics
Week 6 is “Pharmacology of natural antibiotics”, covering the main pharmacologic characteristics and actual problems of effective and safe use of Tetracyclines, Aminoglycosides, Macrolides, Glycopeptides, Streptogramins, Lipopeptides, Lincosamides.

WEEK 7
Pharmacology of antibacterials of synthetic origin
Week 7 is “Pharmacology of antibacterials of synthetic origin”, dedicated to the main parameters of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, indications, contraindications, adverse drug reactions and safe use of Quinolones/Fluoroquinolones, Phenicols, and Oxazolidinones.

WEEK 8
Pharmacology of antibacterial drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Week 8 is “Pharmacology of antibacterial drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis”, which is aimed on providing information about pharmacologic characteristics of the first line antituberculosis agents and highlining the actual problems of their safe use.

WEEK 9
Antibacterial agents’ safety. Part I
Week 9 is “Antibacterial agents’ safety. Part I”, covering the actual problems of antibiotic-induced cardiotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, adverse drug effect involving skeletal muscles.

WEEK 10
Antibacterial agents’ safety. Part II
Week 10 is “Antibacterial agents’ safety. Part II”, which includes actual questions regarding antibiotic-associated neurotoxicity, gastrotoxicity, and hematotoxicity.

WEEK 11
Antibacterial agents use in special populations
Week 11 is “Antibacterial agents use in special populations”, highlining the main problems of safe and effective antibiotic use in pediatric practice, in elderly and geriatric patients, in hepatic or renal failure.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

History of Medical Cannabis (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

History of Medical Cannabis (Coursera)

This History of Medical Cannabis course is designed to have you think critically about past, present, and future research on the health effects of cannabis by developing a more nuanced understanding of the barriers to research as well as different approaches to research. You will learn about the history of cannabis cultivation, the legal history of cannabis or "marijuana", and the obstacles that led to the lack of science on its medicinal use.

Jul 27th 2026
4 Weeks
Measuring Pharmacodynamics: From Ligand Binding to Clinical Outcomes (edX) EdX
Davidson College,DavidsonX

Measuring Pharmacodynamics: From Ligand Binding to Clinical Outcomes (edX)

Drugs are biologically active compounds. Drug discovery and drug development rely on methods for measuring biological activity. The term “activity” is quite general. In practice, a substance’s biological activity can refer to how a substance affects a biological pathway, cell-level responses, safety risks, how long a substance resides within in a system, as well as a substance’s effects in an organism (called pharmacodynamics). The design of methods for measuring activity is a critical aspect of drug discovery. The design of robust and informative methods can accelerate the drug discovery and development process.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Clinical Pharmacokinetics: Dosing and Monitoring (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Taipei Medical University

Clinical Pharmacokinetics: Dosing and Monitoring (FutureLearn)

Understanding pharmacokinetics, from basic principles to clinical applications. Explore the key principles of pharmacokinetics and how to apply them. On this course you will learn about the principles of clinical pharmacokinetics, including factors that affect the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and binding of drugs.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Transmitting and Fighting Infectious Diseases (Coursera) Coursera
University of Leeds

Transmitting and Fighting Infectious Diseases (Coursera)

Understanding how pathogens cause infections and how infectious diseases are transmitted is crucial for preventing and controlling the spread of illnesses. In this course, you will learn how diseases like the common flu spread, the mechanisms behind bacterial resistance, the body's defence mechanisms, and the importance of immunization.

Aug 3rd 2026
2 Weeks
Uso prudente de antimicrobianos en el entorno hospitalario (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Uso prudente de antimicrobianos en el entorno hospitalario (Coursera)

La resistencia a los antimicrobianos es actualmente un problema de salud pública a nivel mundial, que se incrementa debido al uso inadecuado de antimicrobianos en diferentes escenarios, uno de estos es durante la atención en salud en un entorno hospitalario, u otro centro de atención médica, escenario en el cual el uso inadecuado de antimicrobianos puede generar adicionalmente eventos dañinos o no deseados a nivel individual, en el paciente. Este curso busca fortalecer los conocimientos sobre el uso adecuado de antimicrobianos del personal del área de la salud que en su práctica diaria pueda estar involucrado en los procesos de prescripción, administración y control de este grupo de medicamentos.

Aug 3rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Pharmacy Dosages and Prescriptions Essentials (Coursera) Coursera
MedCerts

Pharmacy Dosages and Prescriptions Essentials (Coursera)

In the Pharmacy Dosages and Prescriptions Essentials course, students will learn the language of medicine, using pharmacy nomenclature and the skills necessary to measure different types of prescriptions through four lessons. This includes understanding the dosage calculation methods, mathematical conversions, and formulas most commonly used within the pharmacy.

Jul 20th 2026
4 Weeks
Causes of Human Disease: Transmitting and Fighting Infection (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Causes of Human Disease: Transmitting and Fighting Infection (FutureLearn)

Learn how pathogens cause infectious diseases, how these diseases are transmitted and how our immune system respond to infection. Most of us have experienced common diseases like flu or less common ones like pneumonia. On this course, you’ll learn how pathogens cause infectious diseases and how these diseases are transmitted. You’ll examine the bacterial resistance to antibiotics, how this leads to serious infections like MRSA and reflect on approaches to address this problem.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Genome Sequencing (Bioinformatics II) (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, San Diego

Genome Sequencing (Bioinformatics II) (Coursera)

You may have heard a lot about genome sequencing and its potential to usher in an era of personalized medicine, but what does it mean to sequence a genome? Biologists still cannot read the nucleotides of an entire genome as you would read a book from beginning to end. However, they can read short pieces of DNA. In this course, we will see how graph theory can be used to assemble genomes from these short pieces. We will further learn about brute force algorithms and apply them to sequencing mini-proteins called antibiotics.

Jul 20th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Antimicrobial Stewardship in Wound Management (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - BSAC,European Wound Management Association

Antimicrobial Stewardship in Wound Management (FutureLearn)

Gain insight into antimicrobial resistance, learn about the threats it poses to wound care, and explore preventative measures. Learn how to manage wound infection as a healthcare professional. It’s common to control wound infections with antibiotics. Understanding antimicrobial stewardship is key to preventing antimicrobial resistance and treating a range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi.

Self Paced
3 Weeks