Pharmacognosy, one of the fundamental disciplines of pharmacy, is the science that studies natural-source medicines. Research in this field focuses on the traditional use of plants, herbal medicines, other organisms such as bacteria and fungi, and, more recently, marine life. The primary areas of study in pharmacognosy include the discovery of natural-source drugs, the biological activities of natural substances, plant-drug interactions, and phytotherapy. Pharmacognosy is a multidisciplinary field requiring collaboration with botany, plant chemistry, microbiology, and pharmacology. Today, pharmacognosy is divided into three main branches: natural product chemistry, ethnopharmacognosy, and phytotherapy.

The main areas of study in our department include the isolation of secondary metabolites from nature, structural elucidation of these compounds using spectroscopic methods, and the investigation of the antioxidant, MAO, and acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase activities of isolated pure compounds.