Biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice has start in the Department of Medical Physics in 1949 with prof. Jozef Skotnický, M.D. as the first Head of department. In 1961the Department of Medical Physics became self-dependent under continued supervision of Jozef Skotnický. Due to reorganization in the faculty structure in the 1970s and beginning 1980s physics department became a part of other departments. In 1984 the physics facilities were moved into new faculty building, where assoc. prof. Boris Boručuk started studying cell membrane activity in newly formed physics laboratories, still, headed by the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics. In 1985 the first attempts were performed to delineate the independent biophysics department as a ground of new teaching subject, followed by the reorganization of qualification pattern in 1989 hiring biophysicists RNDr. M.Danilák, RNDr. L.Vojčíková,CSc. and RNDr. G. Laputková, CSc.
In the meantime, efforts were continuing to institutionalize viable University department to this field. In 1991 a Department of Medical Biophysics (DMB) was established, with Boručuk as its interim Head. In the same year L.Vojčíková became officially Head of department. Responding to her interests, early research in DMB focused on nucleic acids interactions with model lipid membranes. A new search led to the appointment in 1994 of RNDr. Ján Sabo, CSc. as a Head of the department. His sphere of interest covered research on the impact of electromagnetic fields on living cells and electron transfer studies in protein complexes. His major concern in last two decades fell into proteomic analysis of human cell lines and membrane proteins isolation. The unit was in 2012 renamed on the Department of Medical and Clinical Biophysics and strongly supports undergraduate training and research programs in this field.
Heads of the Department
1949 – 1971 prof. MUDr. Jozef Skotnický,
1971 – 1973 prof. MUDr. E. Kunštadt, DrSc.,
1973 – 1975 prof. MUDr. J. Uhrík, CSc.,
1975 – 1986 prof. MUDr. I. Ivančo, CSc.,
1986 – 1991 assoc. prof. RNDr. I. Kalina, DrSc.,
1991 – 1991 assoc. prof. MUDr. Boris Boručuk, CSc.,
1991 – 1994 assoc. prof. RNDr. Lea Vojčíková, CSc.,
since 1994 assoc. prof. RNDr. Ján Sabo, CSc.,
