Department of Physiology

Normal Physiology Department was founded in 1930.

Teaching the subject of “Physiology” in Armenia and conducting scientific research in this field began in 1922, when the departments of animal (head of the department G. Musheghyan) and human (head of the department A. Hakobyan) physiology were established at YSU, in the Faculty of Medicine. In those years, the main forces of the mentioned departments were directed to the training of personnel, who were later involved in different institutes and laboratories of the Republic.

In 1930 the Faculty of Medicine of YSU was reorganized as Yerevan State Medical Institute (YSMI), and since then the Department of Normal Physiology has been functioning at the University.

The subject “Physiology” is taught to the students of the faculties of General Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Military Medicine and to the students of college. Students study “Physiology” during 2 semesters, moreover, the students of the faculties of General Medicine, Military Medicine and Dentistry – in the 3rd-4th semesters, and the students of Pharmacy faculty – in the 2nd-3rd semesters. The students of college study Physiology during 1 semester.

According to the program the teaching of the thematic material is conducted in the form of lectures, practical classes, students’ self – work. Moreover, the hours, foreseen for lectures and practical classes for General Medicine and Military Medicine faculties, is 34 and 136 hours correspondingly, for Dentistry faculty – 34 and 119, for Pharmacy faculty– 34 and 102 hours.

The teaching staff of the department fully knows the modern approaches of teaching and teaching in all faculties is conducted in three languages: Armenian, Russian and English.

During the practical classes, the bonus system assessment of students’ current knowledge, adopted at the University, is applied in all the faculties, according to which the student earns a bonus of 0.5 point in case of at least 5 positive answers during the semester. It gives them a privilege to increase their marginal mark by 1point during the examination. The examination is organized at the end of each semester: for local and Russian-speaking students by a computer-based test and for English-speaking international students and college students by written test.

Postgraduate education in the department is represented by 3-year postgraduate studies.

Since 2019, a student scientific club has been working in the department. The purpose of the Physiology Club is development of students’ skills in working with scientific literature, debating on various physiological issues, presenting reports, which develop their interest in learning process and clinical thinking. Within the framework of the club meetings, students present reports, experts from other departments and clinics are invited and also involved in the discussion of these reports, conferences with the participation of students are organized, visits are made to various scientific research laboratories.

Students are also involved in the implementation of research and experimental works of the department.

Several textbooks and manuals in 3 languages were published by the staff of the department and are used during the physiology teaching:

• “Normal Physiology” edited by D.N. Khudaverdyan, textbook in Armenian (2020, 2022);
• “Fundamentals of Human Physiology” edited by D.N. Khudaverdyan, textbook in Armenian (1998);
• “Short courses in Physiology” in Russian (2006) and in English (2008),
• Laboratory handbooks in Armenian, Russian and English.

In 2009 and 2010 Professor D. Khudaverdyan, together with famous physiologists of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, wrote 2 textbooks of Normal Physiology in Russian for the dentistry, pediatric and medical faculties of the medical universities of the CIS countries, which were published in 2010-2011.

Over the years, the scientific-research works of the department have been carried out in the following directions:

• “The role of the calcium-regulatory hormonal system in the mechanisms of the functioning of different systems in normal conditions and under the influence of pathological and extremal factors”.
• “Prenatal stress as a trigger for the disruption of various body systems in the postnatal period of ontogenesis.”

In the framework of the mentioned topics, 7 candidate dissertations were defended in the department during the last years, more than 100 scientific articles were published in local and international journals. The scientific works of the department are summarized in 3 monographs, presented during many international conferences.

Since 2011, the employees of the Department of Physiology have been implementing various grants with thematic funding provided by the Science Committee of the RA MESCS.

Currently, the following scientific topics are being studied at the department.

• “The role of immunity alarmins in the development of cardiomyopathy and the mechanism of their action”, which is implemented within the framework of the thematic funding of the RA Science Committee,
• “The role of the calcium-regulatory system in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases.”

The Normal Physiology department has been cooperating with the following organizations for years:

• Karolinska Medical Institute (Sweden, Stockholm),
• Washington University (USA, St. Louis),
• Swansea University (United Kingdom, Swansea),
• Institute of General Pathology and Pathological Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow),
• Institute of Physiology of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences (Kiev),
• Institutes of Physiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences of RA.

The department’s stuff have participated many times in the international conferences held in the USA, Europe (Austria, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Slovenia), CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine) and in our republic, as well in the Congresses of physiologists of the CIS countries ( Sochi, Chisinau, Yalta, etc.).