ArylamineN‐acetyltransferases (NATs) are polymorphic drug‐metabolizing enzymes, acetylating arylamine carcinogens and drugs including hydralazine and sulphonamides. The slowNATphenotype increases susceptibility to hydralazine and isoniazid toxicity and to occupational bladder cancer. The two polymorphic humanNATloci show linkage disequilibrium. All mammalianNatgenes have an intronless open reading frame and non‐coding exons. The human gene productsNAT1andNAT2have distinct substrate specificities:NAT2acetylates hydralazine and humanNAT1acetylates p‐aminosalicylate (p‐AS) and the folate catabolite para‐aminobenzoylglutamate (p‐abaglu). HumanNAT2is mainly in liver and gut. HumanNAT1and its murine homologue are in many adult tissues and in early embryos. HumanNAT1is strongly expressed in oestrogen receptor‐positive breast cancer and may contribute to folate and acetylCoAhomeostasis.NATenzymes act through a catalytic triad ofCys,HisandAspwith the architecture of the active site‐modulating specificity. Polymorphisms may cause unfolded protein. TheC‐terminus helps bind acetylCoAand differs amongNATsincluding prokaryotic homologues.NATinSalmonella typhimuriumsupports carcinogen activation andNATin mycobacteria metabolizes isoniazid with polymorphism a minor factor in isoniazid resistance. Importantly,natis in a gene cluster essential forMycobacterium tuberculosissurvival inside macrophages.NATinhibitors are a starting point for novel anti‐tuberculosis drugs. HumanNAT1‐specific inhibitors may act in biomarker detection in breast cancer and in cancer therapy.NATinhibitors for co‐administration with 5‐aminosalicylate (5‐AS) in inflammatory bowel disease has prompted ongoing investigations of azoreductases in gut bacteria which release 5‐ASfrom prodrugs including balsalazide.

Multidisciplinary topics in education pose a major challenge for traditional learning and teaching methods. Such topics can deter students from selecting particular courses or hinder their study progress. This study focused on the subject of medicinal chemistry, which is a discipline combining medicine and chemistry. This combination of applied and basic science creates a complex field of education that is challenging to both teach and learn. Chemical and pharmacological principles are typically presented in 2D molecular structures and, recently, 3D molecular models have been utilized to improve the visualization of chemical compounds and their chemical interactions. Contemporary studies have presented Virtual Reality (VR) as an alternative method for improving the learning and teaching of multidisciplinary specialties such as this. However, current educational efforts employing VR offer limited interactivity and a traditional teaching method previously presented in 2D. This reduces students’ interest and concentration in the taught subjects. This paper presents the development rationale of a novel VR educational application based on the evaluation of the user requirements by 405 pharmacy undergraduate students. The results informed the development and preliminary evaluation of a proposed VR serious game application, which was deployed in a real-life class environment and evaluated in contrast to traditional teaching methods by 15 students. The derived results confirmed the advantages of VR technology as a learning and teaching tool, in addition to the end-users’ willingness to adopt VR systems as a learning aid.

Medicinal chemistry (MC) is an indispensable component of the pharmacy curriculum. The pharmacists’ unique knowledge of a medicine’s chemistry enhances their understanding of the pharmacological activity, manufacturing, storage, use, supply, and handling of drugs. However, chemistry is a challenging subject for both teaching and learning. These challenges are typically caused by the inability of students to construct a mental image of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of a drug molecule from its two-dimensional presentations. This study explores a prototype virtual reality (VR) gamification option, as an educational tool developed to aid the learning process and to improve the delivery of the MC subject to students. The developed system is evaluated by a cohort of 41 students. The analysis of the results was encouraging and provided invaluable feedback for the future development of the proposed system.

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