School of Health Sciences

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Natural Products
(A DST-FIST supported Department, Approved by Pharmacy Council of India and AICTE)

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Natural Products (DPSNP formerly known as Centre for Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences was established in 2011 with the objective of producing skilled Pharma professionals. DPSNP is a DST-FIST supported department with state of the art research laboratories having a number of sophisticated research instruments, such as microwave synthesizer, solid-phase peptide synthesizer, solvent extractor, flash chromatography, monochromatic micro palate reader, HPLC, HPTLC and GC-MS  At present, DPSNP is running various programmes, which include M. Pharm. (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) and M. Pharm. (Pharmacognosy), along with M.Sc. Chemical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry) and Ph.D. Programmes in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicinal Chemistry. Both M. Pharm. programmes are duly approved by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) as well as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi. Department is having well qualified, young, experienced, and enthusiastic faculty working in various domains of Pharmaceutical research. Department is also having visiting faculty from prestigious institutes as well as pharmaceutical industry. Department organizes time to time expert lectures for the benefit of the students and to create awareness about the recent trends followed in Pharmaceutical Sciences worldwide. The major thrust area of the Department includes Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD), synthesis of lead molecules, lead optimization, methodology development of bioactive molecules and natural product-based drug discovery. The Department has also achieved research grants from pioneer funding agencies like SERB-DST (Young scientist Fast-track and core research), CSIR, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES), UGC (Major and Minor), DST-FIST, in addition to university own grant (RSM-Research Seed Money). Moreover, the Department has also received Industrial funding from the giants in Pharmaceuticals, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, USA.  Department is actively involved with the Pharmaceutical industry through collaborative research projects to boost research productivity. Industry experts have been inducted as expert members in the Department Board of Studies to provide their input to frame curriculum as per the latest industrial requirements. Industry experts are also invited for guest lectures, training, seminars, and workshops for aspiring students to learn theoretical concepts and research problems practically. Department is also having Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with global research institutes/industries for the technology transfer of the research output to generate IPR. Department has organized a number of workshops on Recent Advances in Drug Discovery Process to train young researchers across the country.

Faculty

  1. Dr. Raj Kumar, Professor & HOD
    Profile     Publications
  2. Prof. P. Ramarao, Professor
    Profile     Publications
  3. Dr. Suresh Thareja, Associate Professor
    Profile     Publications
  4. Dr. Vikas Jaitak, Assistant Professor
    Profile     Publications
  5. Dr. Pradeep Kumar, Assistant Professor
    Profile     Publications
  6. Dr. Ranjit Singh (Guest Faculty)

Academic Programmes Offered

  • 2020-22
    • M. Pharm. Pharmaceutical Chemistry
    • M.Pharm. Pharmacognosy
    • M.Sc Chemical Scienes (Specialization in Medicinal Chemistry)
    • Ph.D Medicinal Chemistry
    • Ph.D Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • 2019-21
    • M.Sc Chemical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry)
    • M. Pharm. Pharmaceutical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry)
    • M.Pharm. Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
    • Ph.D Medicinal Chemistry
    • Ph.D Pharmaceutical Sciences

Syllabi

Approvals

AICTE
PCI

Areas of Research
  1. Computer Aided Drug Design and Synthesis: Molecular modeling for the study of drug-receptor(enzyme) interactions as well identification of small lead molecules (natural/synthetic) using molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD), 2D- and -3D QSAR methods in the following areas:
    • Anticancer Research:  Mono or multi inhibition of cancer over expressing kinases: Tyrosine kinases (e.g. EGFR, HER-2. etc.), others like CDKs and PKM-2. epigenetic enzymes: HDACs and HATs, topoisomerases I and II, microtubule proteins, DNA repair enzymes (e.g. APE-1 and PARP-1), estrogen receptors (ERs) including ERa, ERb aromatase, steroidal sulphatase, HIF1-α, Inhibition of cell signalling transducers like PI3K
    • Antihyperuricemic/Antigout agents: Xanthine oxidase
    • Antiinflammatory agents: COX-1, COX-2 and LOX
    • Antiviral agents: Anti-HIV (LEDGF/p75 and HIV Integrase),
    • Antidiabetic: Aldose reductase, Protein tyrosine Phosphatase-1B (PTP-1B), a-amylase, a-glucosidase and DPP-4
    • Antimicrobial agents: Anti-MRSA agents, ant-HIV (NNRTIs)
  2. Natural Product Research: Preparation of extracts, their standardisation.
    Isolation of active constituents from bioactivity guided fractions and their characterisation (e.g. Plants of genus: Citrullus, Piper, Stevia rebaudiana, Potentilla fulgens, P. atrosanguinea, Calotropis procera, Azadirachta indica, Asparagus racemosus, Cassia fistula, Withania somnifera, Cucurbeta pepo, Nigella sativa, Artemisia maritima, Heraculum thomsonii)
  3. Eco-friendly Organic Transformations for the synthesis of bioactive agents: Reactions involving C-X (X = C, N, S, O) bond formation utilising one or more green protocols such as under solvent free condition, or “on or in water” reactions, heterogeneous catalysis, ionic liquids surface mediated reactions, microwave/ ultrasound assisted enhancement of reaction rates. Applications of the above mentioned methodologies for the synthesis of drugs, drug intermediates and new chemical entities for various therapeutic areas and Enzymatic biotransformation reactions.

BOS