The Department of Microbiology was established at the Semipalatinsk State Medical Institute in 1954. Its first head was Isaak Karlovich Babich. From 1963 to 1965, the department was headed by Alexandra Nikolaevna Kovalevskaya. From 1965 to 1986, the department was headed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Khatmush Lutfullievich Galikeev. For many years, I.K. Babich, then Kh.L. Galikeev, headed the local branch of the All-Union Society of Microbiologists, Epidemiologists, and Infection Specialists. Since 1986, Marat Mautkanovich Urazalin has been head of the department. Since 2018, the department has been headed by Professor Farida Sergazinovna Rakhimzhanova. The department’s faculty members conduct educational, methodological, educational, research, and organizational activities. The faculty actively publishes educational and methodological literature in the students’ languages of instruction. The textbook “Microbiology” was published in the Kazakh language (co-author M. M. Urazalin), the teaching aid “General and Specific Virology” in Russian and Kazakh (authors O. A. Zavorokhina, M. T. Abisheva – “Evero” – 2017), “Medical Terminology Dictionary” on the discipline of “microbiology” in Russian, Kazakh and English (compilers O. A. Zavorokhina, M. T. Abisheva – Semey – 2017). Also, the department published educational and methodological manuals: “Microbiology zertteuler” 2023. authors: Rakhimzhanova F.S., Malik M.M., Kayyrkhanova I.O., Orazbaeva A.K., Zhaksebergenova A.B., Razakova N.G.. In 2024, two manuals and one monograph were published: “General and Specific Virology” and “Medical Terminology Dictionary.” The monograph “Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance: Mechanisms and Consequences” was authored by F.S. Rakhimzhanova. For many years, the department has been collaborating with the Ryazan State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov and the Kazan Medical University in Kazan, Russia, for the purpose of academic mobility. The main goal of such cooperation is to improve the quality of education, integrate into the international educational space, and exchange experiences to develop professional skills. For many years, the department has had a fruitful student research club. Students in the club have participated in various international and national conferences, as well as university-level conferences. They have won various prizes and been awarded certificates and diplomas. Thus, in 2021, at the IV International Olympiad of Students of Medical Universities “Samarkand-2020” in Uzbekistan, the 3rd prize place was taken, and also in 2023 – the 3rd place at the annual scientific student conference “Science and Health” of the National Joint-Stock Company of Medical Sciences in Semey, Kazakhstan. In 2025, our department took third place at the 5th International Scientific and Student Conference “Modern Achievements of Student Medical Science Students” in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Our department’s lecturer, N.G. Razakova, also took first place in the international competition for young scientists “Interdisciplinary Aspects of Allergology, Immunology, and Pulmonology” in Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The department’s faculty regularly participates in seminars to enhance their teaching skills and engages in research both independently and with students.
The department’s faculty provides educational, methodological, and educational support. Instruction is provided in three languages: the state language, Russian, and English. Plans for further development:
- qualitative improvement of the organization of the department’s research and educational work;
- Continuous improvement of professional qualifications of the department’s teaching staff with subsequent implementation of learning outcomes into the educational process.
- Implementation of scientific and innovative work: participation in scientific research activities, increasing the publication activity of the department’s teaching staff; involving students in scientific research work, ensuring the participation of students in scientific and practical conferences, scientific paper competitions, and olympiads.
- Educational work with students aimed at the comprehensive development of the individual; involving students in volunteer activities
