MSc Molecular Biomedicine students - Entry Year of 2018
Ioanna Angelioudaki graduated from the biology department of the University of Crete and obtained her Bachelor degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Her dissertation project was practiced at the Autoimmunity and Inflammation laboratory, at the Medical School of the University of Crete. During this project she studied how oxidative stress-induced IL-33 expression can modulate the immune response. She was also an Erasmus+ intern at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine in Edinburgh, where she participated in a study about the effects of mutations in human disease-associated genes. To pursuing a career in the biomedical research field, she decided to attend the MSc Molecular Biomedicine program at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the BSRC "Alexander Fleming". She graduated from the MSc in November 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maya Roubelakis, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Antonia Vlahou, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Maya Roubelakis, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● PhD student — Medical School - National & Kapodistrian Univeristy of Athens (Prof. Manousos Konstadoulakis lab)
Katerina Dimitropoulou received her Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Patras. She conducted her dissertation thesis titled "Study of polymorphisms in the C2orf88 region and their possible correlation to cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Greek population" at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunology, at the Department of Pharmacy, under the supervision of Dr. Patrinos, where she gained valuable experience and insight. After her graduation she worked in a follow-up project, which aimed at identifying novel genetic loci associated with cases of sporadic ALS in Greek patients, in the Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine group. To broaden her knowledge and build strong expertise, she is currently participating in the Master program in Molecular Biomedicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in collaboration with the BSRC Alexander Fleming.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Efthimios Skoulakis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Scientific Associate — Intelligencia.ai, Athens, Greece
Stavros-Alexandros Doumas, MD was born in Brussels. He graduated from the Medical School at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens "Summa cum laude". Stavros shares a particular interest in autoimmunity/inflammation, his goal is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these disorders and successfully translate research from bench to bedside. To achieve this, he decided to enroll in the international MSc Program "Molecular Biomedicine" jointly organized by the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and BSRC "Alexander Fleming". He graduated from the MSc in July 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Antonios Chatzigeorgiou, Medical Schoo - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Prof. Dimitrios Boumpas, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. Dimitrios Boumpas, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● PhD student — Biomedical Reseach Foundation, Academy of Athens (Prof. Dimitrios Boumpas lab)
Konstantinos Kelepouras was born in Athens, Greece in 1994. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Biology (2017) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. His undergraduate thesis entitled: "Study of naturally derived and semi-synthetic compounds as inhibitors against the Hepatitis C (HCV) virus and other Flaviviruses proliferation" was conducted at the Laboratory of Molecular Virology at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute under the supervision of Dr. Dido Vassilacopoulou and Dr. Niki Vasilaki. During his military service, he took over the position of the head of the Immunohistochemistry Laboratory at the department of Pathologoanatomy in 401 General Hospital of Athens, where he was specialized in the immunohistochemical diagnosis of the underlying disease entities in biopsy samples from patients. He then joined in 2018 the Master's Program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming", from which he graduated in June 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Athanasios Kotsinas, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Crete
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. Vassilis Gorgoulis, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● PhD student — Uniklinik Köln (Cologne University Hospital), University of Cologne, Germany
Maria Koufaki received her BSc degree in Biology with honors from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 2017. Her undergraduate thesis, a prerequisite for her diploma, focused on the role of H2S, oxidative stress and T3 in cardiomyocyte proliferation and differentiation using the animal model zebrafish and cell lines. It was performed in the Center of Clinical, Experimental Surgery & Translational Research at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) under the supervision of Prof. Catherine Gaitanaki and Dr. Dimitris Beis. After graduating, she joined Prof. Ampatzis’ laboratory at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in the field of Neuroscience, for a 4-month Erasmus+ internship. She then joined, in September 2018, the International MSc in Molecular Biomedicine of the the Medical School of NKUA in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming". She graduated from the Master's Degree Program in September 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Antigone Dimas, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vasiliki Kostourou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Vasiliki Kostourou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● PhD student — Cancer Inflammation and Immunity Group (Dr. Santiago Zelenay Lab), Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Mikaela Koutrouli obtained her BSc degree in Biology from the University of Patras in 2017. Her past research experience includes a year and a half spent in the Laboratory of Cellular Biology at the Department of Biology at the University of Patras, where she had completed her Dissertation on the Antitumor activity of the extract of Helleborus cyclophyllus under the supervision of Dr. Panagiotis Katsoris. Furthermore, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Immunology and Transplantation of the Institute of Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) in Dr. Evangelos Andreakos’ Laboratory. Mikaela undertook the MSc course in Molecular Biomedicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - School of Medicine, in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming". She graduated from the MSc in June 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. George Pavlopoulos, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Prof. George Kollias, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. George Pavlopoulos, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● PhD student — Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (Prof. Jiri Lukas Lab), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Maria Lala was born in Athens in 1994. She received her Bachelor’s Degree (2018) from the Department of Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She conducted her research thesis in the laboratory of Genetics, at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), under the supervision of Dr. Ema Anastasiadou. It was entitled “Gene regulation in thyroid carcinogenesis” and provided her the opportunity to become familiar with a variety of techniques while performing molecular and genetic profiling on human tissues and cell lines. She is currently attending the MSc in Molecular Biomedicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming".
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Tsoumakidou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Aristidis Charonis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Politis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Scientific Associate — Intelligencia.ai, Athens, Greece
Alexandra Papadimou studied Biology at the University of Athens and did her internship at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center where she was a member of Dr. Benitez lab, focusing on breast cancer genetics. During her undergraduate thesis project, under the supervision of Dr. Gourgiotis and Dr. Skorilas, she studied the expression of miRNAs in childhood leukemia patients in association with several prediction factors. She is currently a postgraduate student of the MSc in Molecular Biomedicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Medical School and BSRC "Alexander Fleming", while out of the lab she is a member of the “SciCo Ambassadors” project, in which she is involved in volunteer management and organization of Science communication events, such as the Athens Science Festival, Mind the Lab and Researcher’s Night.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Fousteri, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. George Panayotou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Maria Fousteri, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
Miranta Papadopoulou received her Bachelor degree from the department of Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She conducted her dissertation thesis entitled “Study for association between the polymorphism of miRNA-196a2 T>C (rs11614913) and coronary artery disease in the Greek population” at the Laboratory of Human Genetics. During her undergraduate studies she undertook a 3-month internship at the Laboratory of Immunology at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA). In 2018, she decided to attend the MSc program “Molecular Biomedicine” of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Medical School, in collaboration with BSRC "Alexander Fleming", from which she graduated in September 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Apostolos Klinakis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panayotis Verginis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panayotis Verginis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● PhD student — Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Greece
Antonis Papaioannou obtained his BSc in Biology from the University of Patras. He conducted his dissertation thesis in the Laboratory of Cell Biology, generating resistant cancer cell lines to the drug Bortezomib and studying their mechanism of resistance, under the supervision of Professor Panayiotis Katsoris. Upon his graduation, Antonis joined Dr. Panayiotis Verginis’ team at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) as an intern, where he studied the involvement of T regulatory cells in tumor development. He joined in 2018 the MSc Molecular Biomedicine program of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and BSRC "Alexander Fleming" to fulfill his long-term plans of working in the academic research. He graduated from the MSc in September 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panayota Kafasla, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. George Bertsias, Medical School - University of Crete
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Panayotis Verginis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Junior Clinical Research Associate — Pharmaserve-Lilly, Athens, Greece
Panagiotis - Georgios (Akis) Passias, MD was born in Athens in 1994 and graduated from the Medical School at University of Crete (2018). For his undergraduate studies, he had joined the Basic Neuroscience lab of University of Crete, where he was trained in basic laboratory techniques under the supervision of Prof. Domna Karagogeos. Being intrigued by the clinical presentation and the pathophysiology of the diseases of the central nervous system, he decided to join in September 2018 the MSc Program in Molecular Biomedicine of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and BSRC "Alexander Fleming". His main interest focus on the interplay of inflammation and aging in neurodegeneration.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Paraskevi Koutsoudaki, Medical School - National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Leonidas Stefanis, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Leonidas Stefanis, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
George Tsafaras was born in 1995. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 2018. During his internship and his dissertation thesis in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Immunology at Hellenic Pasteur Institute he conducted biochemical, structural and functional studies of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels and especially of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) under the supervision of Emeritus Professor Socrates Tzartos of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras in collaboration with Professor George Diallinas (NKUA). George always being eager to probe into the functions of the human body and the mechanisms that govern diseases, he made the decision to enroll in the “Molecular Biomedicine” Master’s Degree Program of the Medical School - National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in collaboration with the BSRC Alexander Fleming Institute. He graduated from the MSc in October 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Georgina Xanthou, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Kostas Vekrellis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Kostas Vekrellis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● PhD student — Research Group for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy (Prof. Veerle Baekelandt Lab), Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven - University (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Belgium
Katerina Tsitsopoulou was born in Athens in 1995. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Patras in 2017. The last year of her studies, she conducted her dissertation project, titled “Renal transplantation: Impact of immunosuppression on innate immunity” at the Laboratory of Biology, in the Department of Biology of the University of Patras, under the supervision of Dr. Tsakas. To gain more experience, she performed a two-month internship in the field of Immunology at Dr. Xanthou’s lab, at the Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens (BRFAA). After her graduation, she joined the Erasmus+ program, where she was a four-month intern at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine of the University of Edinburgh, in Prof. Ottersbach’s lab, focusing mainly on the developmental origin of Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs). She enrolled then, in September 2018, in the International MSc in Molecular Biomedicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Medical School, in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming". Katerina graduated from the MSc in November 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Vassiliki Kostourou, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Apostolos Klinakis, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Georgina Xanthou, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
Marili Vasilogianni studied at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Thessaly (2014-2018). At the end of the third year of her undergraduate studies, she did an internship at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA). She conducted her diploma thesis in the same laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. Marios Agelopoulos, and studied the regulatory mechanisms that govern gene expression during viral infections. Marili attended the MSc in Molecular Biomedicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Medical School, in collaboration with the BSRC "Alexander Fleming" and graduated in December 2021.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Evangelos Andreakos, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● PhD student — Royal Veterinary College (RVC), BBSRC LIDo, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences (Prof. Damer Blake lab), University of London, London, United Kingdom
Anna Vathrakokoili-Pournara obtained her BSc degree in Biology from the University of Patras in 2018. She conducted her thesis, entitled “Signaling pathways of phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear cells in patients undergoing hemodialysis”, under the supervision of Dr. Tsakas. She also participated in an additional project, more clinically focused, comparing different types of haemodialysis in the terms of their influence on the number of NK cells and the phagocytic capacity of neutrophils on blood samples. In September 2018, Anna joined the MSc in Molecular Biomedicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in collaboration with BSRC "Alexander Fleming", in order to broaden her knowledge on the continuously evolving field of Biomedicine and achieve her future career goals. She graduated from the MSc in October 2020.
● First Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● Second Rotation Supervisor: Dr. Panagiotis Moulos, Biomedical Sciences Research Center"Alexander Fleming"
● MSc Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Pantelis Hatzis, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming"
● PhD student — Gene Expression team (Dr. Irene Papatheodorou Lab), European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) - European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom