Department of Botany and Plant Physiology

Historical background

Teaching of Botany in Kazan University began a year after the foundation of the university, in 1805, and is connected with the name of Karl F. Fuks, who was the first professor of natural history and botany. The Department (Botany Classroom) was organized only in 1836. It was headed by P.Ya. Kornukh-Trotsky who also paid much attention to the arrangement of the Botany Garden and study of the Kazan province's flora.

Origination of the plant physiology at Kazan Imperial University dates to the 70's of the XIX century and is associated with the name of N.F. Levakovsky, professor of the Botany Classroom. In 1932, the Department of Plant Physiology and Microbiology was founded under the framework of Botany Laboratory. For almost 40 years (1932-1971) the Department was headed by the Honoured Science Worker Prof. Aleksei Mikhailovich Alekseev.

Today

The Department headed by Dr. Sc. Prof. Olga Timofeeva comprises  3 professors, 12 docents 5 senior  lectures, and 1 teaching assistant

There are 3 Master's programs and 1 postgraduate program in Botany, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. The scientific research is carried out in the fields of population, cell, biochemical, and molecular plant biology in the following directions:

• Molecular-genetic basic concepts of plant resistance and development of practical approaches to the increase in plant productivity and resistance (using biotechnological and gene-engineering methods);
• Molecular-biological and morphology-systematic basic concepts in plant growth and reproduction;
• Biology and biochemistry of resource plants (medicinal, food and odoriferous plants);
• Innovational methods in biology teaching

In order to solve these tasks the Department applies modern methods and facilities: gasometry, NMR, immunofluorescence electrophoresis, molecular-genetical analysis, adsorption spectrometry, conductometry, etc.

The results of the research are presented in top-rated journals. Professors of the Department are the laureates of the V.A.Engelgardt award of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, the students and postgraduates not once were laureates of Russian and Tatarstan competitions.

The Department extensively cooperates with foreign scientists from Germany, Finland, Belgium, Poland, China, and other countries. The young researchers, students, and postgraduates participate in business trips abroad supported by Russian and foreign grants

We invite everybody who would like to learn the mystery of plant vital activities and protect them from hostile environmental factors to join our Department.