Drug Analysis, Environmental Chemistry, Hygiene, Nutrition

The disciplines of Drug Analysis, Environmental and Food Chemistry (Environmental Chemistry, Hygiene, and Nutrition), are included in the program of the Faculty of Pharmacy since its establishment at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babeş” Timişoara, in 1991. Initially, the discipline of drug analysis was called Drug Control until 2006. Environmental and food chemistry, initially under the name Sanitary Chemistry, became, starting with the academic year 2019-2020, Environmental Chemistry, Hygiene, and nutrition factors.

Prof. Dr. Szabadai Zoltán ensured by his committed work the development of disciplines Drug analysis and Environmental chemistry, hygiene, and nutrition. He coordinated and built the course topics and laboratory training classes together with the team members; he also provided the laboratory-specific equipment for the excellent development of teaching and research and practical training of students of the Faculty of Pharmacy. This discipline comprises currently Professor Laura Sbârcea, Ph.D., Associate Professor Angela Caunii, Ph.D., Professor Lucreția Udrescu, Ph.D., and lecturer Camelia Oprean, Ph.D.

Drug analysis is a branch of the pharmaceutical disciplines paramount for the complete professional development of the future pharmacist. It has a multidisciplinary approach and integrates the knowledge acquired in Analytical chemistry, Physical chemistry, Organic chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Technology and applies them in the analytical control of drugs. These rationales emphasize the importance of Drug analysis as mirrored by its presence in the pharmacy license and pharmacy residency exams.

The discipline includes the course and practical training of Drug Analysis for the 5th year of the Faculty of Pharmacy – for the Romanian and French sections (semester I) – and for the 3rd year of the short-term program Pharmacy Assistance (semester I).

The main objectives of Drug analysis are the building of thinking in the methodology of drug analysis and complete control of the pharmaceutical forms; another significant purpose is acquiring practical skills required for working in a drug analysis laboratory.

The Drug Analysis course addresses the description of modern physicochemical methods of analysis and separation methods, highlighting their advantages, limitations, specificities, and applicability in managing the quality analysis of pharmaceutical preparations and expressing the analysis results.

The practical training labs of Drug Analysis are related to the course themes. They aim to acquire and apply the analysis methodology, including identifying active pharmaceutical substances and their quantitative determination in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms.

The Environmental Chemistry, Hygiene, and Nutrition course addresses the third-year students of the Faculty of Pharmacy for the programs in Romanian and French (2nd semester) and the first-year students of the short-term program of Pharmacy Assistance (1st semester). The course’s objectives are presentation and analysis of the impact of environmental factors on human health, knowledge of chemical analysis methods applied to control environmental factors, knowledge of diseases caused by various inorganic and organic chemicals in drinking water in the context of long-term exposure, substances, and nutrient analysis, analysis of food spoilage processes and chemical control of spoilage, presentation of analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in food and information on food additives, introducing the most common food intolerances and disease, and different types of environmental pollutants methods of analysis.

The practical training laboratories introduce the methods of chemical analysis applied to control environmental factors, meaning the chemical composition of water and food.

The main objective of the discipline of Environmental and food chemistry is to train competent specialists in the pharmaceutical field, as they can meet all current requirements and quickly adapt to different jobs in the pharmaceutical and medical areas in the country and abroad.

Our discipline also includes the optional class of History of Pharmacy in the 1st year of the Faculty of Pharmacy and of the short-term Pharmacy Assistance program (semester I). This class presents the evolution of the pharmacy and the profession of pharmacist over the centuries. It also depicts the Romanian pharmacy from the first historical evidence of its existence to today.

Teachers of Drug analysis, Environmental Chemistry, Hygiene, and Nutrition are involved in postgraduate teaching activities for resident pharmacists in General Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical laboratory, practicing pharmacists, by offering classes within the postgraduate lectures and the master’s degree program Formulation and evaluation of the dermato-cosmetic product.

The research activity of the discipline members has the following directions: (1) development and validation of analytical methods in quality control of pharmaceutical dosage forms, (2) optimization of physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of pharmaceutical substances, (3) evaluation of active pharmaceutical ingredients compatibility with excipients (pro formulation studies), (4) in silico analysis of drug-drug, drug-target, drug-gene interactions with applications in drug development, (5) drug repositioning, (6) pharmaceutical data analysis in precision and systems pharmacy.