Department of Pharmacognosy | Faculty of Pharmacy

The Department of Pharmacognosy has been an independent unit of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Debrecen since 2025. Before that, our team carried out its teaching and research at the Department of Botany of the Faculty of Science and Technology. Our integration into the Faculty of Pharmacy has further strengthened the links between our research and educational activities.

Our educational mission is to provide pharmacy students with up-to-date theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Our teaching focuses mainly on the courses "Pharmacognosy" and "Pharmaceutical Botany". We aim to give students a solid foundation in these disciplines, so that they gain a thorough understanding of medicinal plants, herbal drugs and their bioactive constituents. Our course materials cover plant materials with efficacy supported by modern clinical trials, traditional plant drugs as well as lesser known toxic plants of historical and industrial significance. We aim to regularly incorporate the latest research findings into our educational program.

Our research focuses on bioactive compounds of natural origin. Our work covers the discovery and characterization of natural products and their sources, as well as the exploration of their potential pharmaceutical and other applications. We follow an integrated research strategy in which basic and applied research complement and reinforce each other. In addition to advancing scientific knowledge of natural products, we aim to produce results with practical relevance that can serve as a basis for further development and innovation.

Collaboration with industrial partners is a key pillar of the Department's activities. Together with our partners, we carry out research and development projects that apply academic expertise and advanced analytical and pharmacognostic methods to the practical needs of industry.

Our goal is to foster a dynamic teaching and research environment that preserves and advances the traditional values of pharmacognosy, embraces new directions in natural product research, and actively contributes to knowledge exchange and technology transfer between the University, the wider scientific community and our industrial partners.