MSc Molecular Biomedicine students - Entry Year of 2022
Konstantinos Apostolopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1998. He obtained his Integrated Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the School of Applied Biology and Biotechnology of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in 2022. As an undergraduate student, he conducted his dissertation thesis titled “Optimization and molecular study of the enzyme alginate lyase, the microorganism Lactobacillus paragasseri” at the Laboratory of Enzyme Technology of the department of Biotechnology of AUA under the supervision of Dr. Evangelia Chronopoulou. He also completed a two-month internship in the same lab. Furthermore Konstantinos carried out a 2-month internship at Hellenic Pasteur Institute. He also cooperated with the Structural Neurobiology Research Team of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Immunology, under the supervision of Dr. Marios Zouridakis. In this laboratory he participated in the biochemical and structural study of the enzyme angiotensin-2, human tyrosinase and the homologous fungus Agaricus Bisporus (Abtyr). In addition, he was involved in the structural study of binding of wild-type proteins and mutants of SARS-COV2 to a human ACE-2 receptor. In total, during his lab experience he became familiar with several techniques associated with enzyme technology. Konstantinos is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Kostas Vekrellis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Efthimios Skoulakis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
Vasiliki-Zoi (Vasso) Arvaniti was born in Athens, Greece in 1998. She graduated from the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 2021. At the end of the third year of her undergraduate studies, she undertook a two-month internship at the Department of Immunology and Histocompatibility of "Evangelismos" Athens General Hospital. She conducted her Bachelor's Thesis, entitled "Effects of hemoglobin mutations on the proteostasis of senescent Red Blood Cells (RBCs)" under the supervision of Associate Prof. Marianna Antonelou, at the Red Blood Cell Laboratory of the Section of Cell Biology and Biophysics, Department of Biology, NKUA. After her graduation, she participated as a research assistant in a Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation HFRI program led by Dr. Vassilis Tzounakas and studied the storability and post-transfusion performance of RBCs from donors with beta-thalassemia trait. Vasso is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Marietta Armaka, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vasiliki Koliaraki, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Vasiliki Koliaraki, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Dimitris Brisimis was born in Crete, Greece, in 1998. He graduated from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH) in September 2021. As an undergraduate student he performed his diploma thesis on the “ALDH1 isozymes as potential therapeutics targets in non-small cell lung cancer" at the Laboratory of Molecular Physiology & Cytology of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics - DUTH, under the supervision of Dr. Aglaia Pappa. He has also worked in a diagnostic laboratory, in which he performed various molecular techniques. Dimitris is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Christos Christogeorgos was born in Athens, Greece in 1997. He acquired his Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). His dissertation thesis entitled “Effect of blood donor’s genetic background on the quality of red blood cells intended for transfusion” was completed in the Laboratory of Cell Biology in the Section of Cell Biology and Biophysics under the supervision of Dr. Marianna Antonelou. Christos has also been trained on assays in the Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Ageing of the Institute of Biosciences and Applications of NSCR "Demokritos", under the guidance of Dr. Dimitris Kletsas. Currently, Christos is attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. George Pavlopoulos, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Prof. Maria Gazouli, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Apostolos Klinakis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
Marios Itsios was born in Katerini, Greece in 1998. He obtained his Integrated Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in 2022. As an undergraduate student he did a 4-month internship at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC) "Alexander Fleming" under the supervision of Prof. Eleni Douni, where he also conducted his dissertation thesis entitled “Comparative expression analysis in the TgRANKL osteoporosis mouse model” in collaboration with the Laboratory of Genetics of AUA. During that period, he had the opportunity to familiarize with various molecular technics as well as bioinformatics tools in order to identify differentially expressed genes through RNA-seq. Today, he is a master student of the International MSc Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Fousteri, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Maria (Mary) Lefkaditi was born in Athens, Greece in 1999 and grew up in Chios. She graduated from the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 2022. Her Bachelor thesis was entitled “Mutations in the coagulation system and their role in colorectal cancer” and was conducted in the Department of Genetics under the supervision of Prof. Panagoula Kollia. During her studies, Maria performed a 2-month traineeship in clinical biochemistry and endocrinology under the supervision of Prof. Demetrios Rizos and Ms. Antigoni Kapetanaki, in the Hormone Laboratory of the Aretaieion University Hospital - NKUA. After completion of her thesis, she went to Barcelona, Spain for a 4-month Erasmus+ Traineeship at the University of Barcelona - Faculty of Biology, Laboratory of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics. She took part in two projects, “Functional analyses of genetic variants associated with bone/skeletal phenotypes” and “Functional analyses of germline and somatic missense mutations in TRAF7”, under the supervision of Prof. Susanna Balcells Comas. Maria is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine offered by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maya Roubelakis, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Maya Roubelakis, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Maria-Eliza Logiadi was born in Athens in 1993. She obtained her BSc in Chemistry and Biology from the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) in France. As an undergraduate student she undertook an 8-week internship at the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Grenoble. There, under the direction of Dr. Dimitrios Skoufias, she studied TPPP/p25, a human brain specific protein implicated in Parkinson's disease. Her dissertation was entitled “Study of the dimerisation of TPPP/p25 by Bimolecular Fluorescent Complementation Assay in vitro” (in French). She has also gained valuable experience in diagnostic techniques by working in microbiology labs. Maria-Eliza is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Zoe Cournia, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Martina Samiotaki, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Zoe Cournia, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
Angelos Michailidis was born in Athens, Greece in 1999. His interest in life sciences led him to study at the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in 2022. He conducted his thesis, entitled “Study of signaling pathways in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)”, at the section of Genetics & Biotechnology of the Department of Biology of NKUA, under the supervision of Prof. Andreas E. Agathangelidis. In his work, he assessed the role of autophagy in CLL. During the third year of his undergraduate studies, he conducted a two-month internship at the Cytogenetics department of Genotypos Science Labs. In order to broaden his horizons and improve his career prospects, Angelos enrolled in the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Apostolos Klinakis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Tsoumakidou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Third Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Athanasios Kotsinas, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Katia Karalis, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., New York, U.S.A.
Charikleia (Cleo) Moschou was born in Karditsa, Greece in 1996. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Thessaly. She conducted her dissertation thesis entitled “The role of Primary Cilium in 2Dimensional and 3Dimensional phenotypes of benign and malignant mesothelial cells” under the supervision of Associate Prof. Sotirios Zarogiannis at the Department of Physiology of the Medical School of the University of Thessaly. During the last year of her studies, Cleo did a two-month internship in the Molecular Biology and Cytogenetic Laboratory of BioGenetika in Larissa, Greece. At the end of her internship she was hired and worked there for two years during the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic. Molecular Biology and Genetics have always fascinated Cleo and this reason led her to enroll in the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vassilis Aidinis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiota Kafasla, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiota Kafasla, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Konstantina (Nadia) Pandi was born in Greece in 1999 and grew up in Brussels, Belgium. She graduated from the Maastricht Science Programme of Maastricht University, in The Netherlands. Her dissertation thesis, entitled “The multifarious role of NRP-1 triggered signaling pathways in pancreatic cancer” was conducted at the Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology under the supervision of Dr. Martina Summer-Kutmon. After the completion of her undergraduate studies, she participated in a six-month long internship at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) in the laboratory of Dr. Evangelos Andreakos for the acquisition of knowledge and experience in a variety of immunological areas. Konstantina is currently attending the International MSc Program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vasso Kostourou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Evangelos Andreakos, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
Ilias Papantzimas was born in Athens, Greece in 1998. He obtained his Integrated Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in 2022. He conducted his dissertation thesis “Study of the interaction of the natural and mutated form of the human glutathione S-transferase A1-1 enzyme (hGSTA1-1) with divalent copper” in the Laboratory of Enzyme Technology of the Department of Biotechnology of AUA, under the supervision of Dr. Evangelia Chronopoulou. During his dissertation thesis and a 2-month internship conducted in the same laboratory, he got familiar with various techniques related to protein and enzyme technology. He also performed a 2-month internship in Cooper Pharmaceuticals, Athens, where he gained experience in HPLC analysis and in-process controls of pharmaceutical products. In order to broaden both his knowledge and his skills, Ilias enrolled in the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Prof. Maria Gazouli, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Katerina Papanikolopoulou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. Maria Gazouli, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Marianthi Papathanasiou was born in Kozani, Greece in 1998. She graduated from the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Patras and obtained an Integrated Master’s degree. She conducted her dissertation thesis, entitled “Design, synthesis and biological activities of new amino or/and amide derivatives of pregnenolone” in the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry of the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Patras, under the supervision of Dr. Manolis Fousteris. Taking advantage of her background in Chemistry, she decided to enrich her professional profile by entering the field of Molecular Biology, especially after her participation in the iGEM Competition (Team iGEM Patras 2020), during which she studied the polymorphisms in SLCO1B1 related to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of statins, in the Laboratory of Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy of the University of Patras. She was also involved in the fundraising team. Marianthi is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Georgia Melagraki, NovaMechanics Ltd, Greece
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Christos Zervas, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Georgia Melagraki, NovaMechanics Ltd, Greece
Christina Anastasia (Christiana) Ralliou was born in Athens, Greece in 2000. She graduated from the Department of Biology of the University of Patras in 2022. As an undergraduate student, she conducted her dissertation thesis, entitled “Assessment of the Polygenic Risk Score for psoriasis through GWAS data”, in the laboratory of Genetics at the University of Patras under the supervision of Prof. Ioannis Vasilopoulos. Moreover, she completed a two-month internship in the Olympion General Clinic and acquired several laboratory techniques in the fields of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry and immunology. Christiana is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Prof. Dimitrios Boumpas, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Antonis Chatzigeorgiou, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Antonis Chatzigeorgiou, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Andriani Riza was born in Athens, Greece in 1996. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from the Department of Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She conducted her bachelor thesis in the field of Nanotechnology, entitled “Synthesis of Titania Nanoparticles Coated with Silver for Medical Applications”, under the supervision of Dr. Eleni Efthimiadou in the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry of NKUA and the National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR) “Demokritos”. During her thesis, she specialized firstly in the synthesis and characterization of TiO2 NPs using sol-gel method, then in the coating with Ag and finally in the biological evaluation of HEK-293 and HaCaT healthy cell lines using the MTT assay in order to determine the quantitative viability of the cells. As an undergraduate student, she participated in several scientific trainings and seminars and volunteered in the Athens Science Festival 2017. Andriani is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in collaboration with the BSRC “Alexander Fleming”.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vasso Kostourou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Xilouri, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Xilouri, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
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Maria Shira was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1999. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics at the University of Crete (UoC). She was a visiting scientist at the Laboratory of Pest and Vector Biology at the Foundation of Research and Technology, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Prof. John Vontas, FORTH, IMBB), trained on basic molecular techniques. Moreover, she conducted her 4-month internship at the Laboratory of genome integrity and gene control mechanism, at the Foundation of Research and Technology, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Dr. Matthieu Lavigne, FORTH, IMBB) and worked on “Understanding of essential chromatin/cellular processes ruling RNA polymerase II transcription initiation and elongation”. Maria is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, held by Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vassilis Aidinis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Vassilis Aidinis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Paraskevi (Evi) Tsodoulou was born in Veria, Greece in 1998. She graduated from the School of Pharmacy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in 2022. As an undergraduate student, she conducted her research thesis “Insertion of a sequence encoding TEV cleavage site into the plasmid vector pXCK-K for the expression of HSP-fusions in bacteria” under the supervision of Prof. Christos Panagiotidis in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Department of Pharmacology of AUTH. During her undergraduate studies, she also worked in the project “Recognition motifs for Importin 4 [(L)PPRS(G/P)P] and Importin 5 [KP(K/Y)LV] binding, identified by bio-informatic simulation and experimental in vitro validation” in the same lab, which was conducted in collaboration with the Laboratory of Experimental Endocrinology of the School of Medicine at the University of Crete (UoC). After her studies, she had also the opportunity to study the expression of SARS-CoV-2 Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the bacterium E. coli. Evi is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine, organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Themis Alissafi, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Aikaterini (Katerina) Zacharopoulou was born in Athens in 1998. She graduated from the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 2022. Her thesis project, entitled “Study of proteostatic mechanisms in aging and aging-associated diseases”, was performed in the Department of Cell Biology & Biophysics of NKUA, under the supervision of Prof. Ioannis Trougakos. Katerina also completed an internship in the Department of Hematopathology of the Athens General Hospital "Evangelismos", where she got acquainted with immunochemistry and FISH techniques. She is currently attending the International MSc program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Konstantinos Palikaras, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Themis Alissafi, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Themis Alissafi, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens