Pharmacognosy, perhaps the first branch of the Faculty of Pharmacy established in 2004 deals with crude drugs of natural origin and implicated with the development of Pharmacopoeial parameters and herbal formulations. Research aspects of ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, and ethnopharmacology are also accommodated under this discipline. Being a translational discipline in science, Pharmacognosy has developed and adapted with the recent changes by the incorporation of phytomedicine, phytochemistry, and its analysis. Molecular Pharmacognosy, a blend of molecular biology and Pharmacognosy has become an essential part of the discipline, depends on various aspects of systems biology like proteomics, genomics, and metabolomics that play a vital role in the drug discovery process from natural products. This makes the department as one of the core branches in the pharmacy curriculum and therefore found an imperative forte in the Faculty of Pharmacy as a coveted department.

Faculty members with boundless experience in teaching and research are the strength of the department. Non-teaching supports staff with varied skills is the added advantage to the department. All the faculty members are Doctorate degree holders and sculpted several postgraduates and Ph.D., scholars to date. The department has nearly 100 research publications in peer-reviewed national and international journals to its credit. Consequently, the publication of a book titled ​“Pharmacognostical assessment of novel potential medicinal
plants”, a compilation of the departmental research work provides insight on pharmacognostical parameters of 27 plant species used in various traditional systems of medicine. The graduates of our department placed in an impressive position in industry and academia at various capacities speak about the employability of our students.

The Department of Pharmacognosy has state-of-the-art facilities to meet the evolving needs of the herbal and health care industry with advanced research labs. The labs are equipped with sophisticated instruments like HPTLC, HPLC, UV-Visible spectrophotometer, Lyophilizer, Cooling centrifuge, Microcentrifuge, Muffle furnace, Orbital shaking incubator, Trinocular microscope, Polarized microscope, Laminar flow unit, etc., In addition, the department has established an herbal drug museum unveiling more than 150 crude drugs and a medicinal plant garden to provide a live experience, inspiring student to get involved in natural product research. The Department is also supported by a central computer lab with a high-band internet facility.

Thrust Areas

In collaboration with other departments, research divisions of the faculty and other research centers across RUAS, the Department of Pharmacognosy is capable of providing activities associated with herbal drug standardization, herbal formulation development to facilitate commercialization, and establishment of pharmacological activities of natural products.

• Standardization of crude drugs
• Phytochemical analysis
• Isolation of novel phytoconstituents
• Development and evaluation of herbal formulations, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, etc.,
• Nanopharmaceuticals (Phytosomes, Herbosomes)
• Plant tissue culture
• Molecular Pharmacognosy
• Development of new technologies for commercialization

Salient Features

• Highly qualified and experienced staff
• State-of-the-art lab facilities 
• Medicinal plant garden 
• Herbal drug museum
• Research publications in national and international journals 
• National and international level Conference presentations
• Collaborative research with applied sciences
• Consistent campus placement in leading pharmaceutical and allied industries
• Annual filing of Indian patents
• Organizing regular seminars and guest lecturers for knowledge acquisition and dissemination
• Design of herbal-based dental products
• Conducting workshops and hands-on training programme
• Undertaking industry consultancy projects
• Updated pedagogical approach