I am Professor of Biology and Genetics at Patras Medical School. I studied Biology at the University of Athens and I have a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Heidelberg for my work at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. I carried out postdoctoral research at the EMBL in Heidelberg and at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. My lab at the University of Patras studies how cells maintain a stable genome, and how genomic aberrations are linked to disease, employing imaging, genetics and modeling approaches. I am the Director of the Laboratory of General Biology, the diagnostic Molecular Genetics Unit, and the Institute of Precision Medicine at the University of Patras, coordinating studies on the genetics of rare and common diseases. I am a member of the Evaluation and Accreditation Council of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education, responsible for the evaluation of higher education in the Biosciences and Medicine in Greece, and I chair the Sectorial Scientific Council on Biosciences and Medicine of Greece. I am a member of the European Molecular Organization (EMBO) and a member of EMBO Council.

I will be visiting the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, to acquire experience in the derivation and gene editing of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells, as tools for modeling rare diseases studied at the University of Patras. In addition, during the proposed visit I aim to seek strategic partnerships with academic institutions and biotech, paving the way for new collaborative projects.