Konstantin Aleksandrovich Efetov is a biologist and biochemist, the Honored Scientist of Ukraine, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural History, Professor, Dr. Biol. Sci., Head of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Laboratory of Biotechnology of the Crimea State Medical University.
Biography
Efetov was born in Simferopol on July 18, 1958. In 1975, having graduated from school with Gold Medal, he entered the Crimea Medical Institute and graduated from it magna cum laude in 1981. After completion of his postgraduate course, in 1986 he became Philosophy Doctor of Medicine having defended his PhD thesis "Stability of Conformation of Immunoglobulins G at Norm and Chronic Lymphoid Leukaemia". In 1986, Efetov was among the founders of the Hybridoma Laboratory at CSMU. Since 1986, he worked as the senior, chief, and then top research scientific researcher at CSMU; since 1992, he has been working as the Head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology. In 1994, he became Doctor of Biological Sciences having defended his doctoral thesis "A Study of Immunoglobulins at Norm and Pathology with Use of Monoclonal Antibodies and Spectral Methods", in which, for the first time, he applied insect peptides for investigation of human proteins. Since 1995, Efetov is Professor and since 1999, he is the Head of the Department of Biological Chemistry of the Crimea State Medical University.
Scientific activities
Efetov's major scientific interests are focused on molecular immunology, evolutionary biology, and biosystematics. Using spectral methods, he has demonstrated the existence of changes in the conformation of human immunoglobulins at malignant tumors. He was the first to suggest using the insect proteins and peptides as molecule probes for investigation of the human proteins at norm and pathology. Efetov has established a new scientific approach – monoclonal immunosystematics that makes it possible to evaluate evolutionary relationships between the biological species through studying their proteins with use of monoclonal antibodies. He has described 4 new genera and 10 subgenera of living organisms, discovered and described 25 new biological species inhabiting Japan, Korea, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Myanmar, New Zealand, India, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hungary. Many times the results of his studies have been represented at international congresses and symposia held in different countries of Europe. In 2004, he initiated and hosted the International Symposium "Biology, Phylogeny, Molecular Biology, and Genetics of Zygaenidae" at the Crimean State Medical University. He is the author of 320 scientific works that include over 20 monographs and 12 patents for inventions. His studies have been quoted 550 times in 200 publications of scientists of 22 countries in 9 languages. He has trained one Doctor of Science and two Philosophy Doctors; currently he is supervising the writing of 6 dissertations.
Awards and titles
He is the Academician of the Crimean Academy of Science, the Honored Scientist of Ukraine, the Chairman of the Crimean Biochemical Society, the Member of the Central Council of the Ukrainian Biochemical Society, the Vice President of the Junior Academy of Science of Crimea, the Member of the Council of the European Lepidopterological Society, the Member of the Union of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian Writers of Autonomous Republic of Crimea. For his achievements in the fields of biology and medicine, K. A. Efetov is awarded with four gold medals: "One Thousand Great Scientists", "Outstanding Europeans of the 21st Century", "International Scientist of the Year", "American Medal of Honor". He is represented in the biographical reference books "Contemporary Who’s Who" and "Outstanding Europeans of the 21st Century". In honour of K. A. Efetov, scientists of Austria, France, Ukraine, and Russia named 3 biological species and a subgenus of living organisms. He is the Laureate of the State Prize of Republic of Crimea, the Laureate of the Prize of the Council of Ministers of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Laureate of the Prize of Autonomous Republic of Crimea. He is awarded with the Honorary Diplomas of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Council of Ministers of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine. He is a member of the editorial boards of the scientific journals "Tavricheskiy Mediko-biologicheskiy Vestnik" and "Entomologist’s Gazette", the scientific Readers "Problems, Achievements and Prospects of Development of Life Sciences and Practical Public Health " and "The Marine Doctor’s Bulletin".
Other facts
He has published several books and articles devoted to his unusual hypotheses at the crossroads of medicine, art and history. In particular, the author asserts that on Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel there are several "invisible" images: if examined, they radically change the spectator's ideas about the specific meaning implanted into these frescoes by their creator. Another hypothesis is dedicated to the interpretation of the biblical myth about the creation of woman from Adam's rib: the author sees parallels between the components of this myth and the biochemical mechanism of the formation of female sex hormones. These hypotheses did obtain wide response in the Internet and even were used for quizzes in the world championship "What? Where? When?". He has published four poetic collections: "Wings’ Stroke", "The Black-and-White Square", "The life of the ‘Bats’" and "The Wells of Memory". He is also the scripter of hymn, the author of flag and the co-author of coat of arms of the Crimea State Medical University.
