Dr Andreani Odysseos (female), First Time FET Participant, Director of Biomedical Research at EPOS-Iasis and Head of the Translational Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology Lab through a special academic appointment at UCY. Combines clinical, translational research and entrepreneurial expertise, skills greatly sought for a research project such as the GIANT Excellence Hub. Dr Odysseos is a graduate of University of Athens Medical School and conducted her post-doctoral studies at Dana –Farber Cancer Institute, Discipline of Tumor Immunology. She has been part of the team which identified Lck family of TKR, as a new superfamily of Tyrosine Kinase Receptors that set the bases for the first targeted therapis in Cancer. She did her short-truck Residency in Internal Medicine at Yale Medical School and and Clinical Research Fellowship at Fred-Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She has served as an Honorary Research Scientist at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics where she established the first primary cancer tissue cultures from patients with gentic predisposition to colorectal cancer as a platform for chemoprevention.
Research interests: Since the estblishement of EPOS in 2006 through the First Prize of the Cyprus Enterprenurship Competition she has been leading a vibrant interdisicplinary team for the sift translation of targeted therapies, molecular imaging and nanomedicine –based drug delivery systems. Her research interests include multifactorial, kinase-mediated malignancies, epitomised by malignant gliomas, drug resistance and the role of biological and mechanical barriers in tumor management, epitomized by the Blood-Brain-Barrier and the mucus barrier in ovarian cancer. She is also interested in emerging concepts such as Molecular Communications and Nanonetworks and their applicability in the management of highly complex malignancies such as malignant gliomas. Has trained and supervised more than 15 international students and post-docs through MSCAs.
Research funding: Over the past 10 years Dr Odysseos has attracted national and EC funding, 9 as coordinator, amassing €2,033,496 coordinator and 7 as participant, amassing € 2.418.582. Projects relevant to this proposal: NANORESISTANCE-FP7-IAPP, Management of Resistance to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors with Advanced Nanosystems (Coordinator, , 2011-2015); PATHCHOOSER-FP7-ITN- Innovative, mechanistic-based strategies for delivery of therapeutic macromolecules across cellular and biological barriers (participant, 2013-2017). New Generation of Fluorescent Contrast Agents for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Colorectal Cancer (Coordinator, RPF, 2007-2009); Molecular Markers of Antineoplastic Efficacy of Chromanol Esters (Coordinator, RPF, 2009-2011); Molecular Response Biomarkers of Multipotent Cyanine-Quinazoline Conjugates With Combined Imaging and Therapeutic Properties (Coordinator, RPF; 2009-2011); Multipotent Theranostic Metal-Based Scaffold for Molecular Targeting of Colorectal Cancer (Coordinator, RPF, 2012-2014); Nanofiber Electrospinning and Rapid Prototyping for Intestinal Tissue Engineering (participant, RPF, 2009-2011); LSH-2003-1.2.1-6. Workshop on the creation of biopharmaceutical development platforms with involvement of Biotech SMEs and Pharmaceutical Industry (EC, 2004-2006). Management Committees of 4 COST Actions, including “CM1106- Chemical Approaches to targeting drug resistance in cancer stem cells”; TD1004: Theranostics Imaging and Therapy: An Action to Develop Nanosized Systems for Imaging Guided Drug Delivery. For her innovative achievements she has been awarded by the Cyprus RPF with 2 Innovation Patent Grants amassing 49, 875 Euros (2012, 2014).
Research Policy and Scholarly Achievements: Founding Member and Vice-Chair – European Federation of Biotechnology-Section of Medicines Development; Vice-Chairman, Cluster Management Group, EUREKA Cluster on New Safe Medicines Faster; European Commission, DG Research Expert, FP7 Proposal Evaluator for Nanomedicine, People’s Program, Life and ICT programs. EUREKA Organization, Expert, Proposal Evaluator, EUROSTARS Program, 2011-2013. EUREKA Organization, Independent Expert Panel (Nominated by RPF) EUROSTARS Program, 2013; European Commission, European Research Council, Program Evaluator, HORIZON2020, 2014-2020; Ministry of Science, Poland, STRATEGMED Program Evaluator, 2012-2015; Czech Republic, Scientific Research Evaluator, 2013-2014; European Science Foundation –COST Network, Invited Expert, 2015-2020; EuroNanoMed- Invited Expert, 2017. Dr Odysseos has organized and co-chaired premier scientific events including (i) The International Organizing Committee, International Conference on Biology and Treatment of Metastatic Cancers (2016), Cyprus, (ii) International Organizing and Scientific Committee, 1st and 2nd International Conference on Nanotheranostics (ICoN2013/2015), (iii) Chair, Advanced Summer School, “Managing Drug Resistance with Nanomedicine” (2013), (vi) Program Committee and Session Chair, “Biomarkers in Drug Development”, 13th European Congress of Biotechnology (2007). Active member of the IEEE Communications Society – Emerging Technologies Initiative for Biological and Multiscale Communications (ComSoc). She is the author of 21 papers, 2 chapters, one monograph, 1 editorial, 3 patents, two of which on TKI –based theranostics and nanomedicine, 6 under publication.
Dr. Maria Kokonou, (female) First Time FET Participant, holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Thessaloniki. She has worked as in prestigious grants including the (i) MSCA-NANORESISTANCE IAPP (20013-2015), where she developed electrospun membranes loaded with TKIs (under patenting) and silica coated nanoparticles (EPOS-Iasis) (ii) RPF -“Molecular Electronics and Photonics” (2012-2013 and the Cyprus University of Technology and Marie-Curie Chair of Excellence (2006-2009) on ‘Nano-heater systems for Thermal NanoManufacturing” at University of Cyprus and 2 other RPF programs at UCY on ‘Nanofiber Electrospinning and Rapid Prototyping for Intestinal Tissue Engineering’ (2009-2011) and “ Vibration Assisted Compaction of Rapidly Solidified Alloy Particles” (2011-2012). She was awarded with a 4-year student fellowship at the Institute of Microoelectronics, Demokritos Science and Research Foundation in Greece and the ‘Thomaidion “Award for Excellence in Science. She is the author of 21 peer-reviewed papers and 24 abstracts in conference proceedings.
Dr. Kyriacos –Alexandros Spanoudes, (male), First Time FET Participant: Kyriakos Spanoudes is a registered Veterinary Surgeon (2013 graduate of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) with 5-year experience in experimental surgery, microsurgery, and laboratory animal science, obtained during his PhD (Biomedical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine) at CÚRAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG); currently writing up. In addition to his PhD research (which was focused on the fabrication and implantation of collagen-based and electrospun-based modular living tissue analogues), he was the project manager and surgeon in preclinical studies requiring implantation of biomaterial-based advanced therapeutic medicinal products in rodent and rabbit models (e.g. implants for the nervous system, wound healing, osteoporosis, hernia repair and tendon repair). His postgraduate studies have been funded by the Irish Research Council, the NUIG College of Engineering and the EU FP7/2007-2013, Marie Curie, Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) award (Tendon Regeneration Project). He has co-authored 11 published peer-reviewed articles, 1 book chapter and >40 conference abstracts in key conferences. Six (6) more research manuscripts and 2 review articles are expected to be published within 12 months. In addition, he was also contributed in teaching biomedical engineering BSc and MSc students, while he participated in numerous outreaching activities of the research group. He in is an active member of the European society of Laboratory Animal Veterinarians (ESLAV), and the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB).
Mr. Loizos Economides, BSc, MSc, MBA (male), First Time FET Participant: Loizos Economides is a holder of a Bachelor of Sciences in Electrical Engineering deg. (Hon) from Boston University, a Master of Sciences in Electrical Engineering deg. (Hon) with specialization in Telecommunications from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master in Business Administration deg. (Hon) with specialization in Marketing and Corporate Strategy from the University of Texas at Austin. He has extensive experience in the preparation of business plans for international telecommunication projects, international product development and management, negotiations, contract drafting and high level selling of telecommunication services. He will be coordinating the Technology Transfer program and Commercialization strategy.