Pharmacognosy Department- Faculty of Pharmacy- Mansoura University, was created in 1970 under the direct supervision of the Department of Pharmacognosy- Faculty of Pharmacy- Cairo University. At present, Pharmacognosy Department - Faculty of Pharmacy- Mansoura University is one of the largest scientific departments in the faculty.

 

Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants or other natural sources. The word "pharmacognosy" is derived from two Greek words pharmakon (drug), and gnosis (knowledge). Pharmacognosy Science concerns with the study of macro and microscopical characters of the medicinal plants along with their phyochemical investigation. The majortasks are the discovery of new biologically active compounds from natural sources e.g: plant, fungal or marine sources. Our aim is the quality, improvement of herbal medicinal products as well as the sustainable products of natural sources by biotechnology approaches.

 

The department teaches the pharmacogosy science to all years of undergraduate and Clinical Pharmacy programs, which include the framework knowledge of proper ways to collect the drug from various natural sources, identify, store and separate its components, their structural elucidation as well as testing their biological activities. In addition, the department teaches drug development using "Biotechnology", such as "Plant tissue culture" and "Microbial biotransformation" in order to increase the ability of plant tissue to the synthesis the active substances or increase the effectiveness of their derivatives.

 

At the post-graduate level, the department offers master, doctoral programs and Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences (pharmacogosy) in the various branches of specialization, which aims to get researchers distinctly contribute in various modern scientific methods applied in the field of medicinal plants and natural products, as well as be able to innovate and compete on the local and international levels.

 

Toward the future:

 

The department seeks to develop the possibilities and turn them into self-sufficiency. So the department tries to develop its units:

Biotransformation Research Unit.

Plant and animal tissue culture.