Platon Kostiuk

Platon Kostiuk Платон Костюк
Born	(1924-08-20)20 August 1924 Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Died	10 May 2010(2010-05-10) (aged 85) Kyiv, Ukraine
Residence	USSR, Ukraine
Citizenship	USSR (1924–1991) Ukraine (1991–2010)
Fields	Physiology
Institutions	Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Kyiv branch
Alma mater	Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Bohomolets National Medical University
Thesis	Nerve adaptation to expanding current (1949)
Doctoral advisor	Danylo Vorontsov
Notable students	Oleg Kryshtal Roman Shirokov Yaroslav Shuba
Notable awards
Spouse	Lyudmyla Khokhol-Zelenska (1929–2011)
Children	Olena (1957–2011) Olga (1966)

Platon Hryhorovych Kostiuk (Ukrainian: Платон Григорович Костюк) was a Ukrainian physiologist, neurobiologist, electrophysiologist, and biophysicist. He was a member (academician) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine and the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was also a director of the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology and the International Center of Molecular Physiology NAS of Ukraine; chair of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Kiev branch, vice-president of the NAS of Ukraine, and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR.^[1][2]

Biography

Platon Kostyuk was born in Kiev to the family of the Ukrainian psychologist Hryhoriy Kostyuk. A native speaker of both Ukrainian and Russian, Kostyuk studied English and German, and graduated from high school when the German–Russian War began in 1941. Kostyuk entered Stalingrad University to study biology and Roman philology. He was later evacuated to Siberia where he studied medicine till 1945. After half a year of military medical service, he was demobilized for entry into the Department of Biology at Kyiv University. In parallel he studied psychiatry at Kyiv Medical Institute. Kostyuk worked on his doctoral thesis in Danylo Vorontsov's laboratory of physiology. In his research, he developed microelectrode equipment independently of Judith Graham Pool and Ralph W. Gerard (1949). He completed his doctoral thesis in 1957. In 1958, Kostyuk became Head of the Department of General Nervous System Physiology at the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology. From 1969 to 2010, he served as the director of the institute.^[3]

In 1960–61, Kostiuk was invited to John Eccles' Laboratory in Canberra, Australia to study the mechanisms of synaptic inhibition in the spinal cord. In 1974, he was elected a member (academician) of the Soviet Academy of Science. In 1975–1988, he was the academician-secretary of the Section of Physiology of the academy. In 1975–1990, he was also a deputy in the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR and in 1985–90 was its chairman.

Research

Platon Kostiuk was the first to introduce microelectrode studies of the nervous system in the USSR.^[4] He was the first to prove directly the presence of calcium channels in neuronal cell membranes.^[5] Under his supervision, two types of calcium currents were discovered: high-voltage activated and low-voltage activated.^[6] He also proposed an original hypothesis on calcium channels' selectivity mechanism.^[7]

Awards and chairs

Kostiuk was a vice-president of the International Union for Physiologycal Sciences from 1989–1993.^[8]

In memoriam

Kostiuk students established Kostyuk Foundation to support young scientists and promote physiological research in Ukraine. Once a year Foundation presents Kostyuk Award to outstanding young researchers in field of biomedical sciences.^[9]

Publications

He published more than 1000 scientific papers in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. Some of the most important include:

• Kostyuk, P. G.; Eccles, J.С.; Schmidt, R. F. (1962). "Central pathways responsible for depolarization of primary afferent fibres". J. Physiol.(Gr.Brit.). 65 (2): 237–257. 
• Kostyuk, P. G.; Araki, T.; Ito, M.; Oscarsson, O. (1962). "Injection of alcaline cations into cat spinal motoneurones". Nature. 196 (4861): 1319–1320. doi:10.1038/1961319a0. 
• Kostyuk, P. G.; Krishtal, O.A.; Pidoplichko, V.I. (1975). "Effect of internal fluoride and phosphate on membrane currents during intracellular dialysis of nerve cells". Nature. 257 (2): 691–693. doi:10.1038/257691a0. 
• Kostyuk, PG; Molokanova, EA; Pronchuk, NF; Savchenko, AN; Verkhratsky, AN (December 1992). "Different action of ethosuximide on low- and high-threshold calcium currents in rat sensory neurons". Neuroscience. 51 (4): 755–8. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(92)90515-4. PMID 1336826. 

References

External links

• Platon Kostyuk on a NeuroTree
• Platon Kostyuk on a Chemistry Tree
• Helmut Kettenmann. Platon Gregorievich Kostyuk (1924-2010) in memoriam. FENS News, 17 May, 2010
• Verkhratsky, Alexei; North, R. Alan; Petersen, Ole H.; Krishtal, Oleg (2010). "In memoriam: Platon Kostyuk (1924–2010)". Cell Calcium. 48 (1): 91–93. doi:10.1016/j.ceca.2010.07.003. ISSN 0143-4160. 

Verkhovna Rada
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