1860, the Institute of Pharmacology was opened in the Old Anatomical Theatre of the University of Tartu, the first of its kind in the world. Today, the Department of Pharmacology is part of the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine of the University of Tartu. The Department of Pharmacology has four research groups. The Department of Pharmacology is responsible for teaching pharmacology and toxicology, pharmacotherapy, and clinical pharmacology to students in the Medical Faculty. The main topics of research in the Department of Pharmacology are the study of the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain dysfunctional plasticity, and the study of epigenetic mechanisms of drug dependence.