Presentation

Origin, characteristics, tradition, vocation and role in the University

The history of the "Pharmacy studies in Rome" has profound roots: from 1303 to 1808 were first the University of the Aromatari and then the Noble College of Speziali founded in 1429 by Martino V, to carry out the legal regulatory actions to regulate the pharmaceutical profession in the Ecclesiastical State, both the didactic-professional activity with the concession of the "freshmen" to the new apothecaries. In 1808, the "Pharmacy studies" were included among the disciplines taught in the Archiginnasio Romano, one of the oldest Italian universities founded by the will of Pope Boniface VIII on April 20, 1303, with the papal bull "In suprema praeminentia dignitatis", established the "Studium Urbis" in Rome.

The "Pharmacy studies" through the centuries passed through the ecclesiastical tradition and were normalized in regular university courses in 1872 with the birth of the Royal University of Rome; they were then organized into two regular university courses, one in Pharmacy and the other in Chemistry and Pharmacy, which included a considerable variety of subjects intended to ensure aspiring pharmacists a theoretical-practical preparation far removed from the mainly empirical professionalism of the apothecaries.

The R.D. 10/27/1932 n. 2090 marked the birth of the Degree in Pharmacy.

Established the autonomy of the “Pharmacy studies” they obtained the status of Degree Course.

The Faculty of Pharmacy of Rome was officially established in 1932. Beside to the Degree Course in Pharmacy in 1967 was established the Degree Course in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, aimed at a specific competence in the field of design, synthesis, production and control of drugs. With the reforms followed in the recent years, in addition to the two single-cycle master's degree courses established according to the European directives, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, has also been activated the degree course in Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The Faculty of Pharmacy of Sapienza, consisting of a multidisciplinary scientific community whose professors follow the students during their theoretical and practical activities. The Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs (DCTF) was established on March 28th, 2008 from the combination of the Department of Pharmaceutical Studies and the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Biologically Active Substances, both belonging to the Faculty of Pharmacy. Currently, the Department belongs to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine and is located over three buildings: the new (Ed. CU020) and the old building of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (Ed. CU019), located in the south-west area of the University City – close to the buildings of Chemistry, Mathematics and Orthopedic Clinic - and the Organic Chemistry, located in the L. Caglioti building (Ed. CU032).

The DCTF is included in the macro area of Chemical Sciences (Area 03) and is inspired by the cultural values that have always distinguished the chemical sciences in general and the analysis of the development of pharmaceutical interest compounds in its many aspects. Currently, the Department includes professors and researchers (61 units) from different sectors of Chemical Sciences area, PhD students, scholarship holders, research fellows and 28 units of technical and administrative staff.

The cultural project, based on the inheritance of the two Departments of origin, maintains and strengthens the characterizing areas of the chemical sciences and pharmaceutical technologies, bringing together the specific scientific skills to promote and coordinate interdisciplinary research lines in the field of drug sciences and the study of the relationship between food and health, both aimed at maintaining and increasing people's well-being. The multidisciplinary nature of the research conducted in the Department is a peculiar feature that allows interaction with many research groups of the University as evidenced by the publications and the description of the research activity reported below. In addition, the Department has hosted numerous and authoritative scientists from prestigious international institutions, in the context of European projects. All professors, including foreign visitor professors, participate in intensive teaching programs in degree programs, in second level masters and in graduate schools that are in charge of the department.

One of the main objectives pursued is to contribute to the widening of knowledge in the field of basic research, fundamental cultural investment to set up qualified research aimed at both the development in the pharmaceutical and food sectors, thus able to realize the conditions for an effective transfer technological.

Territorial, national and international context

The Department of Chemistry and Technologies of Drugs is the main department of Lazio that deals at the educational level of the various aspects related to Pharmaceutical Sciences. Its institutional mission in the local and regional area, through an increasingly articulated collaboration with local companies, mainly in the pharmaceutical and food sector, can contribute promoting a virtuous cycle to stimulate the economy with innovative actions, aimed at improving productivity and the birth of new entrepreneurial subjects. This is possible through a better interconnection between the peculiar characteristics of teaching and research of the Department with the socio-cultural and economic needs of the territory, not only at the regional level but also at the national level, as evidenced by the numerous agreements stipulated. In this context, sure support to this action comes from the several existing international collaborations with public and private research centers and companies whose effects are also extended at the regional and national level.