Home Page News Structure Personnel  History Partners Grants Gallery Contacts			Ivane Beritashvili Institute of Physiology Ivane Beritashvili - student of St. Petersburg University (1910). The establishment of a tradition in physiology and neuroscience in Georgia is associated with one the outstanding scientists of the 20th century Ivane S. Beritashvili. In 1906-1910 he studied at the Natural Division of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of St. Petersburg University. Beritashvili began his experimental research early, as a third year student under the supervision of the eminent Russian physiologist Prof. N.E. Wedensky [1852-1922]. Young Beritashvili studied the problem of reciprocal innervations of skeletal musculature in frogs showing that local strychninization of the dorsal horn did not disrupt the coordination of the ‘wiping’ reflex. The results of his first work were published in 1911. Ivane Javakhishvili - founder of Tbilisi University (1918).   In 1918, Ivane Javakhishvili established the first University of Tiflis and Beritashvili received an invitation to organize its physiological department and the course instruction in physiology. In 1919 he set up this Department and from that time onward Beritashvili succeeded in progressively developing intensive physiological teaching and research in Georgia. By 1920-1921 he had published in Tiflis the first Georgian-language textbook on physiology, in two volumes and with a practical guide, and in 1922 in the Russian language. At the same time, he founded a physiological research laboratory and started intensive work. New building of Tbilisi University (1918). In 1935, at the Tbilisi State University, Beritashvili established the laboratory of physiology in the research Institute of Physiology, which now bears his name and honors his dedication to physiology and neuroscience. Very soon the Institute became a leading center for physiology and nervous system research in the Soviet Union and eastern European countries. Ivane Beritashvili - head of Physiology Department of Tbilisi University (1919). One of Beritashvili’s peculiar features as a representative of the Russian physiological school was his wide multi- and interdisciplinary approach to nervous system research. That is why he always supported and continued to establish new departments in the Institute, especially those of the Pathophysiology of the Nervous System (Voronin V.V.), Biochemistry (Kometiani P.A.), Neuromorphology (Zurabashvili A.D.), Biophysics (Zaalishvili M.M.), and Radiobiology (Vatsadze G.S.). Later, there emerged laboratories for the study of cerebral blood circulation (Mchedlishvili G.I.), electron microscopy (Mikeladze A.L.), membrane biophysics and biochemistry (Kometiani Z.P.), neurocytology (Svanidze I.K.), nervous system development (Javrishvili T.D.), brain metabolism (Mitagvaria N.P.), neurochemistry (Mikeladze D.G.), neuropharmacology (Chikvaidze V.N.), and neuroendocrinology (Moniava E.S.). This list clearly emphasizes the great variety of biomedical sciences involved into the study of nervous system. First staff of the newly established Institute of Physiology (1935). Ivave Beritashvili - founder of the Institute of Physiology (1935).   Traditional topics of basic and systems neurophysiology were also investigated, among them: sensory systems and receptors (Dzidzishvili N.N.), hearing and vestibular processes (Khechinashvili S.N.), cerebral cortex (Roitbak A.I.), brainstem structures and reticular formation (Narikashvili S.P.), electrical activity of the cortex (Gedevanishvili D.M., Tskipuridze L.R), conditioned reflexes in monkeys (Bakuradze A.N.), motivation-emotional reactions and sleep (T. Oniani), animal behavior (Khananashvili M.M.), hemispheric specialization and interaction (Mosidze V.M.), basal ganglia, and problems of pain (Butkhuzi S.M.), and the cerebellum (Bekaia G.L.). The topics currently being investigated in the institute cover a number of modern and exciting developments. First experiments in the Institute of Physiology (1935). At present, some of the exciting problems of recent physiology and neuroscience are being investigated in five Departments: Systems neurophysiology (Nanobashvili Z.I.), Biochemistry (Mikeladze D.G.), Blood flow and metabolism (Mchedlishvili G.I.), Neuroanatomy (Svanidze I.K.), and Behavior and cognitive functions (Kezeli A.R.), and in two laboratories: Membranology (membrane biophysics and biochemistry – Kometiani Z.P.), and Neurobiology of sleep-wakefulness cycle (Oniani N.T.).