Because of adequate rainfall and its location in a mountainous region, the Province of Kurdistan, Iran, has a vast range of medicinal plants. UOK’s reasons for establishment of the Medicinal Plants Breeding and Development Research Institute lies in the fact that it has 11 departments linked to this field. Furthermore, UOK has suitable laboratories (including GC-MS, various kinds of photometers and chromatography laboratories), vast agricultural fields and several greenhouses which make it an ideal place to carry out research.  This research institute has two research groups: Medicinal Plants Breeding and Cultivation and Herbal Medicinal UseSome objectives of the institute include:

• identifying medicinal plants of the region and compiling a complete encyclopaedia,
• extraction and isolation of active medicinal plants’ compounds,
• propagation and breeding of medicinal plants for commercial benefits,
• introduction of new medicinal plant species based on climatic characteristics of the province, and
• increasing the use of medicinal plants for human health purposes.