Plant, Pharmaceutical and Scientific Research Application and Research Center

I am Professor Temel Özek. I am a faculty member at Anadolu University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology. I am essentially a chemical engineer. At the same time, I am the Director of Medicinal Plants, Drugs and Scientific Research Center. Our center was officially founded in 1986. It is a center that was first established to carry out research on medicinal and aromatic plants with a thematic structure. Later, the studies on obtaining drugs have started to be carried out in our center. Finally, in 2019, it was renamed as Medicinal Plants, Drugs and Scientific Research Center. In our center, processes related to the production, analysis and quality controls of medicinal and aromatic plants, especially herbal materials, and pharmaceutical raw materials are carried out. For many years, our center has carried out training programs given only in Turkey and in this center in the world on behalf of the United Nations Development Organization. These training programs have been carried out continuously for 10 years. Later, different research areas were added to the scope of this training. As a result of these trainings in our center, researchers from developing countries from all over the world were certified with the training they received. After these trainings, which were given in a 1-month training period, they have become able to continue their research in this field in their own countries with the certificates they received. These trainings were later suspended due to some restrictions of the United Nations itself. Continuing trainings had been given in short-term periods, that is 1-week trainings. In addition to this, different projects have been carried out in our center with the DPT (State Planning Organization) projects. Within the scope of these projects, significant contributions have been made to our country both economically and socially. Within the scope of these researches, support services are provided in such a way that studies are carried out with the researchers of our university and other university researchers within the scope of public demands and, in general, cooperation at the national and international levels. In our center, we offer researchers the opportunity to use all the equipment in our infrastructure. In addition, we offer the opportunity to develop projects within the scope of joint national or international projects with our infrastructure facilities. With the equipment provided by our central infrastructure, it is possible to experience the theoretical knowledge in practice, especially in terms of reinforcing the theoretical knowledge with practical knowledge. In general, thanks to this infrastructure, researchers can reinforce their skills and knowledge for their future works.
In our center, studies for the production and quality control of these materials, especially pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical raw materials, are carried out by designing for current problems, in line with our possibilities. In addition to existing research, partnerships are being formed for new international projects. Project studies to solve current problems continue with many national and international researchers. Research in our center starts with the studies carried out in the sample preparation laboratory. In this laboratory, different extraction and distillation methods, as well as fractionation and similar studies are carried out. Afterwards, other analytical studies are carried out in other laboratories. One of them is where gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and similar devices are used to analyze volatile compounds and volatile gas. In addition to aromatic plants, we have HPLC laboratories with high performance liquid chromatography systems where the analysis of extracts obtained from medicinal plants can be performed. For similar research purposes, we have a laboratory in Turkey with an ultra-performance combination chromatography device, a device currently only available in our laboratories. We have laboratories where analyzes are carried out by applying other extraction methods and we have devices that are used for the analysis of products. We also have laboratories with different devices for the determination of the obtained products, fractions and the structures of the purified substances. One of them is where we have nuclear magnetic resonance devices, which we call as NMR for short, and we have 3 different devices in this laboratory. It is known that this is the first and only laboratory in Turkey where all three of them can be found together. We also have cell culture laboratories to carry out our current studies. The laboratories, where the cell culture studies of the extracted and purification products are carried out, continue with video applications. We have laboratories where we analyze the mechanisms by which useful results can be obtained. In addition to these, we have 2 more laboratories that have been established recently. One of them is the synthesis laboratory, where the synthesis of substances in drugs is carried out along with the microwave synthesis applications. Here, the synthesis of structures containing drugs with the “bis imidazole” structure is carried out. Our recently established laboratory is the electrophysiology laboratory. In this laboratory, where patch clamp method is applied, applications are carried out on current effects. International studies on this subject continue. In this context, 2 master's thesis studies were carried out. There are also those that continue nationally and internationally.
Our graduates are offered the opportunity to participate in new projects and to engage in actual practices within the scope of these projects, by using the infrastructure facilities in our laboratory. Especially in terms of reinforcing the theoretical knowledge, the infrastructure facilities of the center can support the shortcomings of our students in this field. If our students want to pursue an academic career, they can use the infrastructure here in line with the higher education program they will attend. Our students also have the opportunity to participate in research and project studies. One of the issues that students prioritize while choosing a university is, of course, the opportunities offered by the university. Anadolu University, which has a deep-rooted history, has a very well-established research center, so students can experience the studies in practice. Students can use this information as a guide in evaluating our university and related departments in our university. I recommend students who will prefer our university to use these infrastructure opportunities. I wish all students good luck in their exams.