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Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD)

 

 

Message From the Founder 

During the past three years, we have seen impressive growth in our postgraduate student enrollment, our academic programmes, and especially our research effort, as we work directly with our postgraduate students to open to them a whole new world of discovery, development, and practising in a highly qualified environment with our ongoing efforts to build innovative educational and research programs that meet the ever-changing needs of our health care system. This is how and why the idea of the CDRD came to life: to meet the growing needs of pharmaceutical manufacturing and research in addition to the wide expansion in drug discovery. This offers both postgraduate students and researchers a chance to go through the challenges that prepare a great next generation of pharmacists to make a difference in people’s lives and the healthcare system. 

 Sincerely, 

Professor Abdelgawad Hashem

Founder and Former Director
                                                                                                  

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ

Since its establishment in 2013, the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) has provided substantial support to the academic staff of the Faculty of Pharmacy across multiple areas. This support has culminated in over 104 Scopus-indexed publications in high-impact journals, including 25 publications during the reporting period of May 2020 to April 2021. Notably, four of these publications addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, including a proposal for drug design targeting potential COVID-19 treatments.

In addition, CDRD members have secured nearly EGP 5 million in research grants, sourced both from Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ and external funders. During the current reporting period alone, approximately EGP 730,000 was awarded by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology Bibliotheca Alexandrina (ASRT-BA), and the Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF). This continued success in obtaining funding reflects both the dedication of our researchers and the confidence placed in them by national and international funding bodies. Importantly, we are committed to exploring the clinical application of our research outcomes through future clinical trials and studies.

Furthermore, CDRD members have filed more than 10 patents over the years, reinforcing the centre's focus on innovation and translational research. The centre also plays a vital role in community service by offering bench space and laboratory facilities to students from more than five universities.

In response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDRD has continued to deliver training and workshops through online webinars hosted on the Zoom platform, with five sessions held during this period and more planned. Additionally, members of the centre provide consultancy services to both national and international pharmaceutical companies.

The CDRD has also established active scientific collaborations with nearly 12 institutions five of which are international spanning all continents. We remain dedicated to expanding our network of collaborators, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry, to further enhance our global research impact.

 

Vision
Our vision in the CDRD is to achieve state-of-art research activities and attain fruitful interaction between pharmacy departments, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ research centres and other national and international research institutes to provide opportunities for undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral multi-disciplinary excellent research that promotes drug discovery for pharmaceutical industries & ultimately leads to innovative Egyptian Pharmaceuticals.

Mission
We are a well-established, fully equipped research centre that can effectively support and enhance the multi-disciplinary research activities in the Faculty of Pharmacy in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ by applying state-of-art research activities in the fields of drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry. These research activities are enhanced by enhancing inter-disciplinary research within the University, promoting the resources of the centre, collaborating with national and international organizations, and providing training opportunities for both Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ members and other research institutes’ members to augment their research capabilities. These activities should help researchers pursue their state-of-art research and provide opportunities for young researchers to pursue their undergraduate and postgraduate studies with the ultimate goal of enhancing drug discovery, biomedical research, and the pharmaceutical industry.

 

Objectives

1) Support and enhance the state-of-the-art research activities for the Faculty of Pharmacy academic staff in drug discovery, biomedical research and the pharmaceutical industry.

2) Encourage and facilitate the interactions among different departments of the Faculty and other research institutes in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ to develop multi-disciplinary research opportunities.

3) Collaborate with national and international institutes to provide more opportunities for young researchers to pursue their postgraduate studies and for other academic staff to enhance their research activities.

4) Provide high-class training for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ and non-Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ researchers in order to augment their research capabilities.

5) Provide continuous consultancy services for different disciplines of the Pharmaceutical industry/research.

6) Continuous enhancement and development of both financial and infrastructure resources of the centre.