Stepan Korshun

KORSHUN, Stepan Vasilyevich (born 1868), professor, prominent bacteriologist and hygienist, organizer and builder of the Kharkov Bacteriological Institute and the Mechnikov Institute of Infectious Diseases in Moscow. He graduated from the medical faculty of Kharkov University in 1893. From 1895, Korshun held the position of assistant at the bacteriological station of the Kharkov Medical Society. From 1914, Korshun headed the Kharkov Bacteriological Institute, which in a short time became an important scientific center and the largest institution in Russia for the production of bacterial preparations. In 1903, Korshun received the title of privatdozent, and in 1908 he was elected professor of hygiene at the medical faculty of Kharkov University. Since 1923, Korshun has served as director of the Mechnikov Institute of Infectious Diseases in Moscow. Korshun has published about 80 printed works. In his dissertation entitled "On the Biochemical Connection Between Toxins and Enzymes" (Kharkov, 1903), Korshun proposed a method for freeing horse serum from substances that obscure its enzymatic action on the rennet enzyme (Lab-ferment); it was proven that Antilab is a substance of a specific nature, and a number of facts were discovered that make it possible to establish a biochemical connection between toxins and enzymes. Also for the first time in this work, the existence of fermentoids was proven—a modification of enzymes analogous to toxoids. In the work "Über hämolytische Eigenschaften von Organ-Extrakten" (jointly with Morgenroth; Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1902, no. 37), the very important fact was proven that the hemolytic action of extracts from organs depends on the presence of lipoids in them. This work formed the basis for the study of Wassermann ingredients. In recent years, Korshun has concentrated his attention on the problems of active immunization against diphtheria and scarlet fever. Numerous works by Korshun in this field have been reported at congresses and published in Profilakticheskaya meditsina, Moskovskiy meditsinskiy zhurnal, Gigiena i epidemiologiya, and Vrachebnoe delo since 1922. Korshun proposed special preparations, the so-called "neutral mixture of diphtheria toxin with antitoxin" and "combined scarlet fever vaccine." In addition to the aforementioned issues, Korshun has worked on anti-tuberculosis BCG vaccination (a series of reports at congresses and articles in the Moscow Medical Journal since 1926). Korshun is the editor and one of the authors of the collections of articles "Diphtheria", "Scarlet Fever" (Moscow-Leningrad, 1925), and "Fundamentals of Medical Microbiology" (vols. I-II, Moscow-Leningrad, 1929-30). As a public figure, Korshun in the old days belonged to the progressive part of the professoriate. Under the Soviet regime, Korshun, defending the idea of the "apolitical nature" of scientific activity, sided with the right-wing professoriate.