Scientific committee

Dr. Kostas Stamatopoulos

Coordinator

Kostas Stamatopoulos is the Director of the Institute of Applied Biosciences at CERTH, the Center for Research and Technology Hellas, in Thessaloniki, Greece. He also holds the positions of Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and Research Collaborator at the Hematology Department and HCT Unit, Georgios Papanicolaou Hospital, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Additionally, Dr. Stamatopoulos is a board member of ERIC, the European Research Initiative on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), founding member of the IMGT CLL-DB initiative and the IgCLL group, both operating under the auspices of ERIC, board member of the Splenic Lymphoma Group and member of the Steering Group of the Euroclonality-NGS Consortium. His current research interests include: precision medicine in cancer, immunobiology of human lymphoid malignancies, cell signaling and patient empowerment in care.

Dr. Kostas Stamatopoulos

Coordinator

Kostas Stamatopoulos is the Director of the Institute of Applied Biosciences at CERTH, the Center for Research and Technology Hellas, in Thessaloniki, Greece. He also holds the positions of Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and Research Collaborator at the Hematology Department and HCT Unit, Georgios Papanicolaou Hospital, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Additionally, Dr. Stamatopoulos is a board member of ERIC, the European Research Initiative on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), founding member of the IMGT CLL-DB initiative and the IgCLL group, both operating under the auspices of ERIC, board member of the Splenic Lymphoma Group and member of the Steering Group of the Euroclonality-NGS Consortium. His current research interests include: precision medicine in cancer, immunobiology of human lymphoid malignancies, cell signaling and patient empowerment in care.

Prof. Vassilis Georgoulias

Vassilis Georgoulias is Professor Emeritus of Medical Oncology in the School of Medicine of University of Crete and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Oncology Research Group (HORG) since 2002. He has organized and was the Head of the Department of Medical Oncology in the University General Hospital of Heraklion, Crete (1991-2014) as well as of the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology of the School of Medicine of University of Crete (1986-2014). He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Service des Maladies Sanguines et Tumorales in the Paul Brousse Hospital (Prof. G. Mathe) and he was nominated Chercheur Class I (Unite 268 of INSERM, France; 1986-1991). He has served as elected President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Society of Medical oncology (HeSMO) for 6 years as well as national representative in several committees of the European Community (1990-1995). His scientific interests are focused on lung and breast cancer, intra-tumoral heterogeneity and liquid biopsy.

Dr. Othon Iliopoulos

Othon Iliopoulos, MD, graduated from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He then specialized in Internal Medicine at the  University of Wisconsin Medical School and in Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Currently, he serves as Associate  Professor of Medicine and Clinical Oncologist at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. His research focuses on the discovery of molecular targets for cancer prevention and treatment. Dr Iliopoulos is member if strategic planning committees at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and has longstanding experience in the design and implementation of innovative approaches to medical education and basic biomedical research.

Prof. Vassilis Georgoulias

 

Vassilis Georgoulias is Professor Emeritus of Medical Oncology in the School of Medicine of University of Crete and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Oncology Research Group (HORG) since 2002. He has organized and was the Head of the Department of Medical Oncology in the University General Hospital of Heraklion, Crete (1991-2014) as well as of the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology of the School of Medicine of University of Crete (1986-2014). He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Service des Maladies Sanguines et Tumorales in the Paul Brousse Hospital (Prof. G. Mathe) and he was nominated Chercheur Class I (Unite 268 of INSERM, France; 1986-1991). He has served as elected President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Society of Medical oncology (HeSMO) for 6 years as well as national representative in several committees of the European Community (1990-1995). His scientific interests are focused on lung and breast cancer, intra-tumoral heterogeneity and liquid biopsy.

Dr. Othon Iliopoulos

Othon Iliopoulos, MD, graduated from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He then specialized in Internal Medicine at the  University of Wisconsin Medical School and in Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Currently, he serves as Associate  Professor of Medicine and Clinical Oncologist at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. His research focuses on the discovery of molecular targets for cancer prevention and treatment. Dr Iliopoulos is member if strategic planning committees at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and has longstanding experience in the design and implementation of innovative approaches to medical education and basic biomedical research.

Dr. Dimitrios Thanos

Dimitris Thanos is a Member of the Academy of Athens (Plenum), Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the Chairman of the Scientific Board and Research Director at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. He is an elected member of the Academia Europaea and of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He earned his BS in Biology at the University of Athens and his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Crete working at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (FORTH). He was trained as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Tom Maniatis at Harvard University, USA. He was appointed Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Biochemistry and  Molecular Biophysics at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University. He returned to Greece initially as Director at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming” and subsequently at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. His research focuses on the study of the molecular mechanisms regulating gene transcription in physiological and pathophysiological tissues. He has published numerous research papers at the top scientific journals. He created the only and yet unique in Greece Genome Center.

Prof. Yiannis Ioannidis

Yannis Ioannidis is the President and General Director of the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center as well as a Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also serving a 2-year term (2018-2020) as the Secretary/Treasurer of ACM. His research interests include Database and Information Systems, Data and Text Analytics, Recommender Systems and Personalization, Data Science, Data Infrastructures and Digital Repositories, and Computer-Human Interaction, topics on which he has published over one hundred and fifty articles in leading journals and conferences and also holds three patents. Yannis is an ACM and IEEE Fellow (2004 and 2010, respectively). He currently serves as the Greek delegate to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), a member of its Executive Board, the ESFRI representative to the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (e-IRG), and an expert in the Programme Committee on Research Infrastructures within the European Commission’s Horizon2020 Framework Programme.

Dr. Dimitrios Thanos

Dimitris Thanos is a Member of the Academy of Athens (Plenum), Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the Chairman of the Scientific Board and Research Director at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. He is an elected member of the Academia Europaea and of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He earned his BS in Biology at the University of Athens and his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Crete working at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (FORTH). He was trained as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Tom Maniatis at Harvard University, USA. He was appointed Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Biochemistry and  Molecular Biophysics at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University. He returned to Greece initially as Director at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming” and subsequently at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. His research focuses on the study of the molecular mechanisms regulating gene transcription in physiological and pathophysiological tissues. He has published numerous research papers at the top scientific journals. He created the only and yet unique in Greece Genome Center.

Prof. Yiannis Ioannidis

Yannis Ioannidis is the President and General Director of the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center as well as a Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also serving a 2-year term (2018-2020) as the Secretary/Treasurer of ACM. His research interests include Database and Information Systems, Data and Text Analytics, Recommender Systems and Personalization, Data Science, Data Infrastructures and Digital Repositories, and Computer-Human Interaction, topics on which he has published over one hundred and fifty articles in leading journals and conferences and also holds three patents. Yannis is an ACM and IEEE Fellow (2004 and 2010, respectively). He currently serves as the Greek delegate to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), a member of its Executive Board, the ESFRI representative to the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (e-IRG), and an expert in the Programme Committee on Research Infrastructures within the European Commission’s Horizon2020 Framework Programme.

Prof. Penelope Korkolopoulou

Penelope Korkolopoulou is Professor of Pathology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She graduated from the Medical School of the NKUA and has been trained at John Radcliff Hospital as well as at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital in England. Her scientific work focuses on the evaluation of biomarkers in tumors, especially of urinary, hematopoietic and nervous systems. Her fields of interest are hematopathology, neuropathology and orthopedic pathology, for which she is a reference pathologist. In recent years, she has been actively involved in the validation of cancer biomarkers for molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapy (in collaboration with the Associate Professor Angelika Saetta, Head of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Unit at the First Department of Pathology of NKUA), in the era of Precision Medicine.

Dr. Georgios Nounesis

George Nounesis is the Director and Chairman of the Board of the National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” for a four-year term (2017-2021). Dr. Nounesis studied Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He obtained his PhD at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Minnesota. He completed a three-year Postdoctoral training at the Chemistry Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Executive Education Program on “Innovation for Economic Development” at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is currently the Director of the Biomolecular Physics Laboratory at Demokritos. Prior to returning to Greece he held Research Staff appointments at the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory. He has spent sabbatical leaves at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal at CNRS and the Chemistry Department of the University of Bordeaux I as an Invited Professor. His research is mainly focused on structural and thermodynamic studies of nano-structured soft materials as well as biomolecules, primarily proteins.

Prof. Penelope Korkolopoulou

Penelope Korkolopoulou is Professor of Pathology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She graduated from the Medical School of the NKUA and has been trained at John Radcliff Hospital as well as at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital in England. Her scientific work focuses on the evaluation of biomarkers in tumors, especially of urinary, hematopoietic and nervous systems. Her fields of interest are hematopathology, neuropathology and orthopedic pathology, for which she is a reference pathologist. In recent years, she has been actively involved in the validation of cancer biomarkers for molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapy (in collaboration with the Associate Professor Angelika Saetta, Head of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Unit at the First Department of Pathology of NKUA), in the era of Precision Medicine.

Dr. Georgios Nounesis

George Nounesis is the Director and Chairman of the Board of the National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” for a four-year term (2017-2021). Dr. Nounesis studied Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He obtained his PhD at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Minnesota. He completed a three-year Postdoctoral training at the Chemistry Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Executive Education Program on “Innovation for Economic Development” at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is currently the Director of the Biomolecular Physics Laboratory at Demokritos. Prior to returning to Greece he held Research Staff appointments at the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory. He has spent sabbatical leaves at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal at CNRS and the Chemistry Department of the University of Bordeaux I as an Invited Professor. His research is mainly focused on structural and thermodynamic studies of nano-structured soft materials as well as biomolecules, primarily proteins.

Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis

Nektarios Tavernarakis is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), and Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, Greece. He is the Director of the Graduate Program on BioInformatics at the Medical School of the University of Crete, and is also heading the Neurogenetics and Ageing laboratory of IMBB. He is an elected member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Academia Europaea. He has also served as the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Crete, and trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system, and the development of novel genetic tools for biomedical research.

Dr. Thomas Makatsoris

Dr. Thomas Makatsoris is Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Patras Medical School. He received his Medical Degree from the University of Patras in 1990 and subsequently he did his training in Internal Medicine at Bridgeport Hospital USA from 1990-1994 (in affiliation with Yale University School of Medicine) and then in Hematology – Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1994-1997 (in affiliation with Harvard Medical School). He passed the certification exams in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. Since 2000 he is an attending physician at the Division of Medical Oncology of the University Hospital of Patras and since 2009 he is in the faculty of the University of Patras Medical School. In 2002 he represented the Greek Ministry of Health at the World Health Organization for the Convention on tobacco control. His scientific interests are focused in gastrointestinal as well as lung cancer both in clinical and translational research.

Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis

Nektarios Tavernarakis is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), and Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, Greece. He is the Director of the Graduate Program on BioInformatics at the Medical School of the University of Crete, and is also heading the Neurogenetics and Ageing laboratory of IMBB. He is an elected member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Academia Europaea. He has also served as the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Crete, and trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system, and the development of novel genetic tools for biomedical research.

Dr. Thomas Makatsoris

Dr. Thomas Makatsoris is Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Patras Medical School. He received his Medical Degree from the University of Patras in 1990 and subsequently he did his training in Internal Medicine at Bridgeport Hospital USA from 1990-1994 (in affiliation with Yale University School of Medicine) and then in Hematology – Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1994-1997 (in affiliation with Harvard Medical School). He passed the certification exams in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. Since 2000 he is an attending physician at the Division of Medical Oncology of the University Hospital of Patras and since 2009 he is in the faculty of the University of Patras Medical School. In 2002 he represented the Greek Ministry of Health at the World Health Organization for the Convention on tobacco control. His scientific interests are focused in gastrointestinal as well as lung cancer both in clinical and translational research.