Department of Biochemistry

The Department was founded in 1923.

It was founded in 1923 at the Medical Faculty of Yerevan State University as the Department of Physiological Chemistry. The first head of the department was the Rector of YSU, Professor Hakob Garegin Hovhannisyan.

In 1930, following the separation of the Medical Faculty from YSU and the establishment of Yerevan State Medical Institute, the Department of Physiological Chemistry was transferred to the newly created institute and renamed the Department of Biological Chemistry. The head of the department was the founder and Rector of Yerevan State Medical Institute, Professor Hakob Garegin Hovhannisyan. Under his leadership, research was conducted on the search for catalysts of semi-acetal synthesis, as well as on the study of the antioxidant properties of certain vitamins and oxypurines.

In 1937, the department was headed by Hrachya Khachaturi Buniatyan, who, in 1943, together with other prominent Armenian scientists, founded the National Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (NAS). During his leadership, extensive neurochemical research was carried out in the department, devoted to:

• the biochemical processes underlying excitation and inhibition in the brain, as well as conditioned reflexes (Gabriel Samson Khachatryan, member of the All-Union Neurocouncil, and others);
• the elucidation of the biochemical foundations of the adaptive-trophic influence of the sympathoadrenal system (Emil Yerem Mkheyan and others).

The development of the department’s scientific achievements was also contributed to by the scientific work of Professor Gabriel Samson Khachatryan. Under his leadership, the “Biosynthetic Reactions of the Brain” laboratory was established in the department, where the characteristics of alternative pathways of carbohydrate metabolism in the brain were studied, as well as the role of various nucleic acids in the brain and in the mechanisms of memory during the formation of conditioned reflexes.

From 1961, the department was headed by Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, Honored Worker of Science, Professor Vahan Grigor Mkhitaryan. Under his leadership, the mechanisms of chloroprene poisoning were studied. Subsequently, these served as the basis for the study of free radical chain reactions of lipid peroxidation, as well as the antioxidant system regulating this process. This direction, called “Oxidative Stress,” received further development by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Mikhail Iosif Aghajanov, whose doctoral thesis was devoted to the study of the above-mentioned processes in conditions of burn disease.

Within the framework of the same direction, their doctoral theses were defended by Professors Eleonora Mikael Mikaelyan, Diana Mkrtich Gevorgyan, and Magdalina Mher Melkonyan.

From 1986 to 2008, the department was headed by Professor Mikhail Aghajanov. Under his leadership, studies of the mechanisms of lipid peroxidation in various pathologies continued. At the same time, Prof. M. I. Aghajanov led the research topic “Biochemical Mechanisms of Pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Discovery of New Methods for Their Prevention and Treatment,” the results of which were summarized in several candidate and doctoral dissertations.

In 2002, under the leadership of Professor M. I. Aghajanov, the Armenian Association of Alzheimer’s Disease was founded.

From 2008 to 2011, Professor Hasmik Gurgen Vahradyan was appointed Head of the Department.

From 2011 to 2024, the department was again headed by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Honored Worker of Science, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Mikhail Iosif Aghajanov.

Since 2024, Candidate of Biological Sciences Artashes Gevorgi Gevorgyan has been appointed Acting Head of the Department.

Teaching at the department is conducted for second-year students of all faculties in Armenian, Russian, and English. Starting from the 2025–2026 academic year, the course for students of the Faculty of Stomatology is organized from the second semester of the first year. The thematic material provided by the program is taught in the form of lectures, practical classes, and seminars. All lectures are organized in the form of presentations, with biochemical interpretation of medical processes and substantiation of clinical diagnostics by modern biochemical research.

Students’ knowledge is assessed in a combined manner — orally, through intermediate quizzes, and discussion of situational problems. An examination test bank has been created in the department in Armenian, Russian, and English, which includes several thousand continuously updated tests. Since 2024, a multi-component knowledge assessment system has been introduced in the department, which allows students to form 20% of the final examination grade through intermediate quizzes and oral responses during the semester. The final knowledge of the subject is checked by computer-based methods.

Six textbooks have been published in the department:

• G. S. Khachatryan, M. I. Aghajanyan – “Biochemistry”, Yerevan, 2001;
• M. I. Aghajanyan and A. L. Shaljyan – “Biochemistry of the Oral Cavity” textbook, Yerevan, 2015;
• K. B. Yenkoyan -“Fundamentals of Neurochemistry” textbook, Yerevan, 2015;
• M. I. Aghajanyan and A. L. Shaljyan – “Biochemistry of the Oral Cavity” textbook in Russian, Yerevan, 2019;
• “Biochemistry” textbook edited by M. I. Aghajanyan, Yerevan, 2022.
• N. A. Zaqaryan, R.Kh. Sahakyan, M.I. Aghajanov – Handbook on Biochemistry, I and II parts (in Russian language), Yerevan, 2025

Since 2015, the department’s scientific work has been carried out under the leadership of the Neuroscience unit of YSMU, and since 2022 — under the leadership of the YSMU COBRAIN Center. Within this framework, the works “Morphofunctional Characteristics of the Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Diseases” and “Pathogenesis of Nervous System Developmental Disorders in Animal Models” are being implemented, led by the Leading Researcher of the COBRAIN Center, Head of the Neuroscience Laboratory, Professor of the Department of Biochemistry, Konstantin Boris Yenkoyan.

The department also implements another direction jointly with the COBRAIN Center — “The Role of the Opioid Receptor System in the Neurochemical Mechanisms of Obesity,” led by Professor Gayane Sargis Vardanyan.

The Department of Biochemistry cooperates with:

• the Departments of Pathophysiology and Pathological Anatomy of YSMU;
• the Scientific Center of YSMU;
• the COBRAIN Center;
• the “Muratsan” University Hospital;
• the H. Buniatyan Institute of Biochemistry of the NAS RA;
• the Institute of Physiology of the NAS RA;
• the “Erebuni” and “Armenia” Medical Centers;
• the Prion Disease Laboratory of the Ministry of Health of RA;
• the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden);
• the International Alzheimer’s Association (London).