HBA Mentoring Program – Mentors
Dr. Costas Arvanitis
Joint Assistant Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Arvanitis’ research is focused on biomedical ultrasound and image guided therapy. His work focuses on understanding the biological effects of acoustically induced microbubble oscillations (acoustic cavitation) and using them to study complex biological systems, such as the neurovascular network and the tumor microenvironment, with the goal of developing novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and central nervous system diseases and disorders.
Keywords: Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Acoustics, Image Guided Therapy, Cancer Research, Neuroengineering
Research Group: http://pwp.gatech.edu/arvanitis/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Arvanitis+CD
Dr. Dimitrios Avgerinos
Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr Avgerinos is an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and an Attending Surgeon at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr Avgerinos earned his medical degree from Athens Medical School and also obtained a MSc in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and a PhD from the University of Athens. He performed his thesis in the research field of robotic laparoscopic simulators with full support from a grant from the National Science Foundation. He subsequently completed a residency in General Surgery at Mt Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, where he received multiple awards including the Leon Ginsburg Award for professionalism and clinical outcomes, and the Society of Laparoendoscopic Award for scholarly activity. His pursued training in Cardiothoracic Surgery at The New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan – Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and remained at Weill Cornell for a year of advanced fellowship training in Complex Cardiac and Aortic Surgery. He was recruited back to the Athens Medical Center in Greece as Chief of Cardiac Surgery where he utilized his skills to develop a large program concentrating on all the areas of cardiac and great vessels surgery. Dr Avgerinos is a member in multiple surgical societies, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed surgical journals. He is certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, the American Board of Surgery, and the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Dr Avgerinos’ clinical interests include all aspects of adult cardiac surgery, including coronary bypass and surgery of the great vessels such as aneurysms and dissections of the entire thoracic aorta. He is also quite experienced in mitral valve repair/replacement, aortic valve repair/replacement, minimally invasive and robotic techniques, transcatheter valve surgery (TAVR), and the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (MAZE). His research interests include aortic surgery and structural heart disease.
Keywords: aorta diseases, dissections, aneurysms, connective tissue disorders
Research Group: https://weillcornell.org/davgerinos
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Avgerinos%20D%5BAuthor%5D
Dr. Konstantinos Drosatos
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Center for Translational Medicine, Center for Metabolic Disease Research, Temple University
Profile and Research Interests:
Konstantinos Drosatos did his graduate training in Boston University, USA and the University of Crete, Greece focusing on the transcriptional regulation of Apolipoprotein E and the role of ApoE in lipoprotein clearance. He did his postdoctoral training in Ira Goldberg’s lab at Columbia University, New York, where he studied the effects of abnormal lipid metabolism in cardiac function. In 2014 he was recruited by the Department of Pharmacology and the Center for Translational Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine, which he joined as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. His group’s research investigates transcriptional regulation mechanisms that link cardiac stress with altered myocardial and systemic acid metabolism. Their long-term goal is to apply interventions that can improve cardiac function by modulating fatty acid oxidation and energy production. He has published more than 25 papers, several of which have been selected for editorials or for the cover of the journal. He and his groups members have received several awards, including the Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association.
Konstantinos Drosatos was the founder and president of the Hellenic Bioscientific Association in the USA (2004-2008) and the president of the World Hellenic Biomedical Association (www.whba1990.org) (2010-2014). During his tenure he organized scientific conferences, satellite symposia of Greek bioscientists and physicians on the side of scientific conferences of prominent societies such as the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, and a very successful international summer school in medical & biosciences research & management of the WHBA for undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate trainees.
Keywords: cardiovascular research, metabolic biology, stress signaling, transcriptional regulation
Research Group: http://www.drosatos.com
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Drosatos+K
D
r. Denis Hadjiliadis
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr Hadjiliadis oversees one of the largest adult cystic fibrosis clinics in North America. He also has experience in the diagnosis and management of patients with bronchiectasis and CFTR-related disorder. In addition, he is a member of the Penn Lung Transplantation team and takes care of patients with end-stage lung disease requiring transplant.
Keywords: Cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and CFTR-related disorder
Research Group: https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g20000940/p5221275
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Hadjiliadis+D

Dr. Stefanos Kales
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health. Director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency, Harvard School of Public Health
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Kales’ primary research involves the health of firefighters and police officers, and he is an international clinical authority regarding cardiovascular disease among public safety personnel. His fire service research has received Massachusetts, Federal (NIOSH and FEMA R&D grants), and Canadian funding. With significant expertise on obesity and cardio-metabolic risk factors in general, he collaborates with other scientific groups on the interfaces between the workplace and metabolic health effects. Dr. Kales’ work has been most influential in determining the causal relationship of heart disease among firefighters to their job activities and other factors. His group has provided seminal contributions in the clinical epidemiology of cardiovascular events in firefighters, including the first definitive statistical association of strenuous job tasks and on-duty cardiovascular deaths, which was subsequently confirmed in a later New England Journal of Medicine publication.
Dr. Kales is also a leader in the emerging field of occupational sleep medicine. He was among the first occupational medicine directors to institute an objective OSA screening protocol for commercial drivers in a busy clinic dealing with driver medical certifications. His group is currently examining psychomotor vigilance testing and driving simulation in relationship to BMI and adiposity and OSA as potential “in clinic” tools for detecting fatigue/sleep disorders in the occupational health setting. Dr. Kales has also lectured at regional, national, and international meetings on OSA screening from the standpoint of occupational health.
Due to Dr. Kales’ research efforts, he participates in Harvard School of Public Health’s Cardiovascular Epidemiology Program and Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine. In April 2013, he was presented the Kehoe Award for Excellence in Education and Research in Occupational and Environmental Medicine by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) for his leadership in and contributions to the field of OEM.
Keywords: Cardiovascular Disease, Occupational Medicine, Environmental Health, Mediterranean Diet
Research Group: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/stefanos-kales/
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=kales+sn
Dr. Peter Kalivas
Professor and Chair of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina
Profile and Research Interests:
I have studied the neurobiological basis of drug addiction for 25 years, with a particular focus on drug induced neuroplasticity in brain circuits that control the motivation to use drugs. We use animal models of addiction and measure changes in brain biology and circuitry using genetic, electrophysiological and biochemical technologies.
The lab conducts experiments intended to reveal the neurobiological underpinnings of drug addiction, and in doing so, rationally design pharmacotherapeutic treatments. Thus, our work spans animal models of addiction at the level of molecular physiology and morphology to strong clinical collaborations conducting clinical trials in human addicts. We are particularly focused on the neurobiology of relapse and the long-lasting changes in brain function produced by drug abuse that create the enduring vulnerability to relapse that defines addiction. In the course of the last 15-20 years of research we have come to a conclusion that impairments in how the prefrontal cortex regulates habit circuitry in the striatum are a critical drug-induced pathology. Accordingly, much of our work focuses on how addictive drugs regulate glutamatergic neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens (the portal whereby prefrontal cortex initiates behavioral change and adaptation).
Keywords: drugs, addiction, brain biology
Research Group: http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/neuro-research/research/lab/kalivas/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Kalivas%20PW&cmd=search
Dr. Pinelopi Kapitsinou
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas
Profile and Research Interests:
The focus of my lab’s research is to understand the molecular mechanisms that dictate tolerance to hypoxic kidney injury and to translate these findings for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Because of its specialized vascular anatomy and the relatively low tissue pO2 levels, the kidney is particularly susceptible and responsive to hypoxia. Central mediators of systemic and cellular adaptation to O2 deprivation are hypoxia-inducible transcription factors HIF-1and HIF-2, whose activity is regulated by proyl hydroxylase domain-containing enzymes (PHDs). To link the hypoxia-elicited adaptive responses to kidney injury, we have two areas of research:
- The endothelial cell (EC) metabolic reprogramming mediated by PHD2/HIF-2 in post-ischemic kidney injury and repair. Our prior studies have demonstrated a critical role for EC HIF-2 in ischemic kidney injury through regulation of inflammation. We further explore the effects of PHD2/HIF-2 axis on kidney injury by using novel transgenic mice in which endothelial HIF-2 is upregulated by PHD2 loss. To assess the effect of endothelial PHD2/HIF-2 in kidney repair, we are using a transgenic model of inducible recombination in the endothelium. Importantly, we hypothesize that the PHD2/HIF-2 mediated responses in injury and repair involve a critical metabolic reprogramming. We are exploring the effects of HIF on metabolism by profiling metabolites, analyzing mitochondrial content and function, assessing oxidative phosphorylation via substrate/inhibitor titration protocols and performing targeted metabolic interference studies.
- HIF-induced systemic metabolic responses as mediators of tolerance to hypoxia/ischemia. To identify the biological pathways involved in mediating hypoxia tolerance, we perform an integrative metabolomic analysis of settings in which hypoxia is encountered; mouse models of hypoxia with samples from humans exposed to hypoxia (high altitude) or remote ischemic preconditioning. Common “hits” from these hypothesis-generating studies are the focus of mechanistic studies examining the contribution of specific metabolic pathways in hypoxia tolerance in the context of kidney injury.
Keywords: Hypoxic preconditioning, vascular biology, kidney disease
Research Group: http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/internal-medicine/nephrology/faculty/pinelopi-kapitsinou.htmlPublications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=kapitsinou+p
Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis
Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor in November 2007. He received his BS in Agriculture Sciences from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1999. He continued his studies at the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) under the supervision of Prof. James M. Tiedje, where he obtained a PhD in 2004. His PhD studies were fully supported by the Bouyoukos Fellowship program and were devoted in advancing our understanding of the ecology and physiology of soil bacteria through the comparative analysis of their whole-genome sequences. This research resulted in a NSF-funded project to advance the species definition for prokaryotes, which also fostered a short post-doc position at the Center for Microbial Ecology. He then moved to MIT and the laboratory of Prof. Edward DeLong to get trained on innovating metagenomic techniques. His work at MIT provided important new insights into the complexity and function of oceanic microbial communities as well as how life is adapting in the deep and cold Oceans.
His research interests are at the interface of genomics and computational biology in the context of microbial ecology with the overarching goal to broaden understanding of the genetic and metabolic potential of the microbial world. Advancing our knowledge on these issues is essential for a better understanding of the microbes that power, by and large, the biogeochemical cycles that sustain life on Earth and cause or control important diseases in humans and animals. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) and the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP).
Keywords: Microbial ecology and genomics, Bioinformatics and multi-omics data integration from microbial systems, Environmental biotechnology, Biodegradation and Bioremediation
Research Group: http://enve-omics.gatech.edu/
Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cT7dxlYAAAAJ&hl=en&cstart=80&pagesize=20
Dr. Maria Kontaridis
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director of Basic Cardiovascular Research (Interim), Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Kontaridis received her undergraduate degrees (B.A. and B.S.) from the University of Florida in Classics and Chemistry, and subsequently, obtained her master’s degrees both in Pharmacology and in Biomedical and Biological Sciences from Yale University in 1999 and 2001, respectively. In 2002, she was awarded a Ph.D. from Yale University for work with Dr. Anton Bennett on the role of protein tyrosine phosphatases, especially SHP2, in cell growth and skeletal muscle differentiation. Dr. Kontaridis’ interest in continuing to work on SHP2 phosphatase led her to accept a postdoctoral position with Dr. Benjamin Neel, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in 2003. Her work as a postdoctoral fellow garnered extramural support from the American Heart Association and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00). In 2007, Dr. Kontaridis was promoted to Instructor, and in 2008, was recruited to the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology at BIDMC as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 2015, she was named the Interim Director of Basic Cardiovascular Research at BIDMC and in 2016 was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In her research, Dr. Kontaridis has made multiple interesting observations about SHP2 and its role in cardiac pathophysiology and disease, as well as in autoimmunity. Her work has been awarded grants from the Milton Foundation, the Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation, the Saving Tiny Hearts Foundation, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Alliance of Lupus Research and the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI-R01s and NCATS-TRND) as well as has garnered support from industry and pharmaceutical companies (Novartis, GSK, Arqule).
Dr. Kontaridis is actively involved in the BIDMC/Cardiology Division and is also a member of the Cardiology Fellowship Selection Committee, serves as Chair for the Joint Commission for the Status of Women (JCSW) at Harvard Medical School, and is Chair of the Research Safety Committee at BIDMC. Dr. Kontaridis is also a member of the Harvard Medical School Biomedical and Biological Sciences Faculty Program, where she has a joint appointment in the department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and with the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine Program of Harvard Medical School. In December of 2010, Dr. Kontaridis was appointed Fellow of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Kontaridis’ research is focused on understanding the signaling pathways that mediate cellular and molecular pathogenesis of disease. The Kontaridis research program focuses on the fundamental mechanisms associated with aberrant protein tyrosine phosphatase signaling and how mutations in these enzymes lead to congenital heart disease and end-stage heart failure, as well as autoimmunity and cancer. The lab uses a myriad of tools and techniques including iPS cells, in vivo mouse model systems, and molecular biology techniques. Together, these provide valuable mechanistic and functional information in understanding the differential signaling pathways that cause disease and allow for an individualized approach to therapeutic targeting. Specifically, the lab is focused on four main interests:
1) Understanding the functional mechanisms associated with SHP2 activity in the development of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). The lab is interested in understanding how SHP2 is involved in mediating the onset/propagation of SLE. The lab’s data indicate that SHP2 activity is increased in SLE and that this mediates proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, thereby causing lupus pathogenicity. Use of a novel inhibitor for SHP2 ameliorated SLE pathogenesis; increased lifespan, decreased fibrosis and inflammation in tissues, and reduced the number of skin lesions in SLE-prone mice. These data suggest that development of an SHP2 inhibitor may serve as a novel treatment for SLE.
2) Elucidation of the cardiomyogenic and gastrointestinal defects associated with Noonan (NS) and LEOPARD (LS) Syndromes. The lab is interested in investigating the cardiomyogenic and gastrointestinal defects associated with NS and LS, two autosomal dominant congenital RASopathy disorders principally caused by unique mutations in the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2. The Kontaridis group was the first to generate a mammalian mouse model system to study LS. Consequently, they identified that LS mutations led to increased AKT/mTOR activity. Moreover, they identified that the cardiac hypertrophy associated with LS could be reversed with treatment of Rapamycin. In addition, the lab is investigating how NS and LS mutations differentially affect multiple-specific tissue lineages during development in mouse embryos and in iPSCs.
3) Determining the phosphatase-independent functions of SHP2 in development and disease. The Kontaridis lab identified novel functional roles for SHP2 in the regulation of downstream signaling events. They were the first to identify that LS-associated SHP2 mutations, unlike the NS mutations, were loss-of-function for phosphatase activity and behaved as dominant-negatives in downstream signaling. This created a paradigm shift that altered the way phosphatases were thought to function in cellular signaling, in general, and suggested that RASopathy disorders should be distinguished by mutational analysis rather than by clinical presentation alone. Currently, the lab is investigating whether SHP2 has unique phosphatase-independent functions critical for the propagation of downstream signaling.
4) Deciphering the cardioprotective effects of the small G protein RhoA in the failing adult heart. The Kontaridis lab has discovered that RhoA, an enzyme regulated in part by SHP2, is involved in transitioning compensatory cardiac hypertrophy to heart failure. Moreover, it is involved in fibrosis, making RhoA and its downstream effectors attractive targets for therapeutic approaches in treating cardiac disease. Projects in the lab are focused on elucidating the RhoA-mediated signaling pathways involved in fibrosis and in onset of end-stage heart failure.
Keywords: Cardiac pathogenesis and disease, Protein-tyrosine phosphatases, autosomal dominant congenital disorders, molecular biology, autoimmune disease, gastrointestinal defects, cardiac development
Research Group: http://www.bidmc.org/Research/Departments/Medicine/Divisions/Cardiovascular-Medicine/Basic-Cardiology-Research/Maria-Kontaridis-Laboratory.aspx
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Kontaridis+M
Dr. Panagiotis Kratimenos
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, The George Washington University, Children’s National Medical Center
Profile and Research Interests:
Mechanisms of brain injury in the fetus and newborn and neuroprotective strategies
Keywords: brain injury, fetus, newborn
Research Group: http://childrensnational.org/departments/neonatal-neurology-and-neonatal-neurocritical-care-program
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=kratimenos+p
Dr. Vasileios-Arsenios Lioutas
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Attending Physician on the Stroke Service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Lioutas received his MD from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. After completing his internship in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., he did his neurology residency at Boston University Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in vascular neurology at BIDMC. Clinically he shares his time between BIDMC’s Neuro Intensive Care Unit, Stroke Unit and Outpatient Stroke Clinic. His clinical interests involve critical care neurology, stroke and neurologic complications of medical disease.
His scientific interests lie in the recovery and ouctomes of intracerebral hemorrhage, epidemiology and risk factors of cerebral small vessel disease and vascular cognitive impairment with emphasis on imaging markers (cerebral microinfarcts).
Keywords: Stroke, vascular neurology, small vessel disease
Research Group: http://www.bidmc.org/Centers-and-Departments/Departments/Neurology/Stroke-and-Cerebrovascular-Diseases/Meet-Our-Team/Vascular-Neurology.aspx
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Lioutas+V
Dr. Diomedes E. Logothetis
Professor and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University
Profile and Research Interests:
My graduate thesis project, published in 1987, aimed to test for direct activation of atrial K+ channels with purified G protein subunits by bath perfusion of inside-out patches and monitoring of channel activity. To our surprise, purified Gbg subunits activated the K+ channels independently of the Ga subunit and even when activation of endogenous G proteins had been blocked by pertussis-toxin treatment (see ref. 6 below under “Selected Peer- reviewed Publications”). This being the first example where Gbg subunits were shown to be effective in regulating the activity of downstream effectors, it motivated many studies that have since shown that both G protein subunits (Ga and Gbg) can each interact with effector proteins to regulate their activity. Current work capitalizes on our understanding of G protein signaling mechanisms to controlling the activity of K channels and using channel activity as an assay to study signaling through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In fact, as it turned out the Xenopus oocyte system that we routinely use to express and study ion channel activity is superbly fit to study heteromeric GPCRs, as one can precisely control the relative ratios of cRNAs injected that is a critical determinant of heteromerization and cross-signaling between heteromeric partners in a GPCR complex.
Together with Javier Gonzalez-Maeso following his breakthrough 2008 Nature paper, we pursued the signaling of the metabotropic glutamate 2/serotonin 2A receptor (mGlu2R/2AR) complex that is involved in schizophrenia. We deciphered a novel mechanism by which antipsychotic drugs act through this complex to unify their action and published it in Cell (see refs. 1 and 5 below under “Selected Peer- reviewed Publications”). In current studies we have extended our studies not only to study the signaling of the mGlu2R/2AR and its disruption in the brain areas affected by schizophrenia but also to pursue new exciting preliminary data we obtained for the function of another critical heteromer between the Dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) and 2AR. Support for our signaling scheme of the D2R/2AR complex came from experiments in native tissues performed collaboratively with Mark Brodie at the University of Illinois in Chicago and we are jointly pursuing elucidation of the role of these heteromeric GPCRs in psychosis (proposal submitted 2/1/16).
The second line of work aims to understand how the phosphoinositide PIP2 controls activity of ion channels. My lab has elucidated molecular mechanisms of Kir channel gating by PIP2 and has studied similarities and differences in mechanisms of channel gating for several other ion channels (e.g. Kv1, TRPM8, K2P, KCNQ, Slo, SK2, BK, NMDAR, P2X) and even the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor. We have received continuous funding for the past 18 years for this line of work and continue to make significant contributions. Our most recent work explored how small molecule activators of a Ca2+-activated K+ channel work by allosterically enhancing the channel’s interaction with PIP2. I plan to explore development of small molecule regulators of several PIP2-dependent channels. In addition, post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, affect channel-PIP2 interactions to either weaken or strengthen them and thus inhibit or stimulate channel activity, respectively. The grant supporting this work was just renewed for another 4 years (Yrs. 19 through 22).
The third line of work aims to understand the molecular details during signaling in the GPCR/G protein/K channel macromolecular complex. Structural insights into how the Gbg subunit interaction with the K+ channels could gate the channel came in 2013, 26 years following my 1987 work, from two papers, one from the MacKinnon lab (x-ray) and the other from our lab (computation), published two months apart (see below ref. 14 under “Selected Peer-reviewed Publications”). There was good agreement between the two studies that offered insights into the allosteric control of K+ channel activity. We are currently pursuing this question aiming to elucidate the structure of the entire signalosome, using reconstitution into planar lipid bilayers and collaborating with a cryo-electron microscopy lab. Funding for this work is currently lapsing (proposal in preparation).
Keywords: G protein signaling mechanisms, GPCRs, ion channels
Research Group: http://www.northeastern.edu/bouve/directory/diomedes-logothetis/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Logothetis+DE
Dr. George Z. Mentis
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Columbia University
Profile and Research Interests:
Spinal motor neurons serve as mediators of motor output from the spinal cord and their activity is modulated by a network of spinal neurons, known as the central pattern generator, responsible for the coordinated motor output that comprises locomotion. Locomotion and the spinal network that generates the required patterns of muscle activity is an appealing system for studying how the nervous system produces complex behavior. In our laboratory, we have taken a developmental approach to the study of locomotion in the neonatal mouse. To understand the role of spinal motor neurons in normal motor behavior, we must first depict the local circuitry in which they function. These same functional connections are undoubtedly perturbed in diseased states such as the neurodegenerative motor neuron disorder, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and must be understood in the context of disease models if function is to be protected or restored. Advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of heritable diseases such as SMA and ALS have also made it possible to model these disorders in mice. We are using these models to elucidate the synaptic, cellular and neuronal circuit pathophysiology in motor neuron disorders using physiological, anatomical, behavioral and optogenetic approaches.
Keywords: Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, Systems Biology
Research Group: http://www.mentislab.org/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Mentis+GZ

Dr. Anastasia Nikolopoulou
Senior Scientist (PET radiochemistry and Imaging), Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Discovery Sciences at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
Profile and Research Interests:
I am a translational Scientist with PhD in medicinal chemistry and 15+ years experience in radiopharmaceutical chemistry applied to Molecular Imaging and PET Clinical Research.
In my current role at Janssen R&D, I am responsible for the development of novel imaging probes, particularly for positron emission tomography (PET), for applications in different medical areas, including oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious disease, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. I develop state-of-the-art methods for the radiolabeling of various bioactive molecules – both small and large – with medical radionuclides for target engagement and/or therapeutic response monitoring and quantification. Prior to joining Janssen, I was Assistant Professor of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences in Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, specialized in radiochemistry using a broad array of medical radionuclides (C-11, F-18, Ga-68, I-124, Zr-89, Lu-177, Ac-225) and vectors (small molecules, peptides, proteins, virons, exosomes and cells) for both preclinical and clinical research in Oncology and Neuroscience. I was also interested in small animal PET and SPECT imaging as well as in cell-based assays and animal-based models of disease, while also involved in regulatory and cGMP processes for clinical radiotracer translation. During that time, my research was dedicated to PET imaging of the brain and in particular imaging the basal ganglia and also to the evaluation of tumor exosomes as radioactive probes to study the pre-metastatic niche formation.
I obtained my Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the School of Pharmacy at Aristotle University (Thessaloniki, Greece) working on the development of radiolabeled peptide analogs of somatostatin receptors overexpressed in neuroendocrine tumors for SPECT. I, then, moved to Weill Cornell, where I completed my postdoc work on radiolabeled PSMA specific antibodies and small molecule inhibitors for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Keywords: Molecular Imaging, Radiochemistry, Brain PET, Clinical PET, Neuroscience Biomarkers, Targeted Radiotherapeutics, Tumor Imaging Probes, Tumor Theranostics, Radiopharmaceuticals
Research Group: Under construction
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1rghqlRO-RPkB/bibliography/public/

Dr. Laurence Rahme
Associate Professor of Surgery, Microbiology and Immunnobiolohy, Harvard Medical School
Microbiologist, Director of the Molecular Surgical Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Rahme received her BS in Biology from the University of Naples, Italy, and earned her Master’s in Molecular Genetics from the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, CNR and University of Naples, Italy and her PhD in molecular host-microbe interactions from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. She conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School in the Departments of Molecular Biology and Genetics, respectively. At MGH she also affiliated with the Department of Molecular Biology and Division of Infectious Diseases. She also holds a scientific staff position at Shriners Hospital for Children, Boston. Dr. Rahme is the Scientific Founder, and a member of the scientific advisory board of Spero Therapeutics located in Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Rahme has a distinguished record of academic achievement in bacterial regulatory systems that govern virulence and host responses to infection. Her research group studies pathogen and host mechanisms that mediate or restrict bacterial pathogenesis in order to obtain knowledge that can be applied toward the development of host-protective interventions targeting critical pathways. She has an international reputation for her pioneering work on the development of anti-virulence drugs that block pathogenesis but not cell viability, as well as the use of non-vertebrate hosts to study bacterial-host interactions. Anti-virulence drugs will limit the use of antibiotics and it is believed that they will decrease the development of antibiotic resistance, while preserving the beneficial flora. Moreover, her group developed the first pipeline that permits the identification of patients with a high risk of developing multiple infections after burns, days before infection occurs. This information permits personalized therapy, and facilitates the determination of appropriate treatment courses, particularly in regard to antibiotic use. As such her pioneering research is bridging clinical and basic science and opens new avenues for novel therapeutics.
Her research is funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DoD) and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) among others. She served thus far as mentor to more than 50 pre-doctoral, doctoral and post-doctoral research fellows (PhD and MD). She is on the editorial board of several journals and she has served on NIH, NSF and on several national and international foundation review panels and also served on the advisory and editorial Board of PLOS Biology, and as an associate editor and ad-hoc editor/reviewer for many scientific journals. Her publications have been cited more than 7,000 times. She is the leading inventor of more than 10 patents and patent applications.
Keywords: Immunology, anti-virulence drugs, pathogen/host mechanisms
Research Group: http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/RahmeWeb/people.html
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=rahme+l
Dr. Irini Sereti
Senior Clinical Investigator, Chief HIV Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Sereti received her M.D. from the University of Athens, Greece, in 1991. She did research for one year in Dr. Greg Spear’s laboratory at Rush Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and then completed an internship, residency, and chief residency in medicine at Northwestern University. In 1997, Dr. Sereti came to the National Institutes of Health as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. She became a staff clinician in 2003. She was appointed to a clinical tenure-track position in 2009 and she got tenured as a Principal Investigator in 2015.
The primary research focus of my group is the study of inflammation in HIV infection in the form of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) or chronic inflammation in treated patients, which had been linked to serious non-AIDS events with the aim to understand pathogenesis that can inform improved therapies. IRIS is an aberrant immune response, frequently with an intense inflammatory component, that can occur in the context of immune restoration in patients with HIV infection and severe CD4 lymphopenia after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The second interest is the study of idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia (ICL). ICL is a rare, likely heterogeneous condition characterized by low CD4 T-cell counts in the absence of HIV or other known infection or disease that can cause lymphopenia.
Keywords: inflammation, HIV, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia (ICL)
Research Group: https://irp.nih.gov/pi/irini-sereti
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Sereti+I
Dr. Sotiria Sotiriou
Engagement Manager, Commercial Strategy and Planning, inVentiv Health
Profile and Research Interests:
My experience and current duties include the following: corporate strategy development (including forecasting and asset evaluation), commercialization support (including launch support and product strategy development), cross-functional integration and capabilities development, pricing and market access. My PhD was in the molecular biology of Parkinson’s disease.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Biostatistics, Cellular biology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Parkinsons disease
Research Group: http://inventivhealth.com/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Sotiriou+Sotiria
Dr. Aristotelis Tsirigos
Associate Professor of Pathology, NYU School of Medicine
Profile and Research Interests:
Our lab has extensive experience in Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics involving designing computational methods and pipelines, analyzing data and interpreting the results in different biological contexts (e.g. leukemia, stem cells). We have developed GenomicTools, a free open-source computational platform for designing high-throughput analytics in genomics (Tsirigos et al. Bioinformatics 2011), and HiC-bench, a computational platform for comprehensive and reproducible Hi-C data analysis designed for parameter exploration and benchmarking. Our work was pivotal in the molecular understanding of epigenetic changes in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ntziachristos*, Tsirigos* et al. Nature Medicine 2012; Ntziachristos*, Tsirigos* et al. Nature 2014) as well as the discovery of novel long non-coding RNAs as biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets (Trimarchi et al. Cell 2014).
Keywords: Cancer genomics, cancer epigenomics, computational methods and pipelines
Research Group: http://tsirigos.com/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Tsirigos%2C%20Aristotelis%5BAuthor%5D
Dr. George Tsokos
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief, Rhematology Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Profile and Research Interests:
Dr. Tsokos’s research has focused on the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). His laboratory has opened and led the field of molecular abnormalities on immune cells in patients with SLE. There are two central needs to improve the care of patients with SLE: 1) reliable markers to diagnose and follow the activity of the disease and 2) therapeutic targets which will be specific for the disease with minimal toxicity. His lab performs biochemical, molecular biology and cellular studies of immune and kidney cells using human material. Major findings are transferred to lupus animal models (drug treatment or genetic manipulation). Dr. Tsokos has led the field of deciphering cellular and molecularaberrations that characterize SLE T cells and has identified several that can be used as disease markers.
Keywords: Rheumatology, Immunology, Lupus
Research Group: http://www.bidmc.org/research/departments/medicine/divisions/rheumatology/tsokoslab.aspx
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=tsokos+gc
D
r. Athanassios Vassilopoulos
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Northeastern University
Profile and Research Interests:
One of the fundamental observations in oncology is that increasing age is the strongest statistic variable that predicts for carcinogenesis. A fact that has emerged over the last several years is that aging is a complex process that appears to be regulated, at least in part, by several signaling protein families that have been identified in multiple species, including sirtuins, a relatively new gene family that was initially identified in S. cerevisiae and C. elegans. SIrtuins have been found to both increase life span and decrease spontaneous tumor development suggesting that they may regulate both processes. They appear to function as fidelity proteins and loss or decrease of function, which may occur during aging, creates a cell environment permissive for several age-related illnesses, including cancer. The significant role played by sirtuins can be explained by accumulating evidence establishing their pivotal role in regulating post-translational modifications (PTMs) in both histone and non-histone proteins involved in diverse cellular processes. Despite recent scientific interest in this field, there is still scarcity regarding the functional consequences of the role of these PTMs in cellular homeostasis. Our proposed studies take an integrative approach to current challenges in dissecting the functional role of sirtuin-directed PTMs in tumorigenesis which may bridge the gap between the observation that tumorigenesis increases with age and the limited information regarding the specific mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. By blending classic molecular/ cellular biology, biochemistry and mouse genetics with large-scale proteomics, our ultimate research goal is to elucidate the function of sirtuins in maintaining cellular homeostasis which may provide novel mechanistic insights in different aspects of tumorigenesis.
Keywords: Biochemistry, cancer, cellular biology, mouse genetics, sirtuin-directed PTMs
Research Group: http://www.vassilopouloslab.com/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Vassilopoulos+A

Dr. Aristeidis Veves
Rongxiang Xu Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Profile and Research Interests:
I am mainly involved in ‘bench to bedside’ research. My main research field is diabetes and its complications, with the main emphasis on wound healing and cardiovascular disease. Approximately 90% of my effort is dedicated to research, 5% for teaching and an additional 5% for administrative and other relevant professional activities. Translational research is a major part of my research activities. My work mainly focuses on the interaction between neuropathy and microvascular disease in the development of diabetic foot ulceration and the subsequent wound healing impairment. This work has been supported by NIH funding and nonprofit organizations. I collaborate with investigators from various departments of my hospital, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and investigators from other institutions, such as the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to conduct additional translational research.
I conduct investigator-initiated research studies that examine the effects of various FDA-approved medications on cardiovascular function. These studies, although funded by the industry, have been conceived, designed and executed by my unit and focus on possible new mechanisms through which these medications exert their beneficial effects. Finally, in the past I have served as the leading investigator and the leading author in industry sponsored multicenter trials that investigated the efficacy of new therapeutic interventions for the management of diabetic foot ulceration. I also run my own basic research laboratory that mainly explores the findings of the translational research and tries to identify mechanisms that are related to the observed results. My laboratory works closely with Dr. Frank LoGerfo’s laboratory and other laboratories in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is funded by NIH grants. I also collaborate with Dr. David Mooney’s laboratory at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Engineering School and Dr. Jonathan Garlick’s at Tufts Medical School; the main aim of our collaboration is the development of new wound-healing products. This collaboration has resulted in grant applications that are currently being funded by NIH.
The results of my research have been published in prestigious medical journals, including Lancet, Diabetes and Circulation. My work, according to Google Scholar as of July 2016, has resulted in more than 14,000 citations an h index of 63 and i10-index of 137. My teaching responsibilities include participation in the training of the podiatry residents, supervision of the fellows and junior faculty in my lab and participation in mentorship committees of junior faculty members from other units. I am also involved in educational activities of the Center for Education of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which provides guidance to candidates for NIH K series awards. Finally, I participated as series editor, book editor or co-editor and author in numerous textbooks. One of these textbooks (Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease) has been already translated to the Italian language and another one (Diabetic Foot) to the Greek language.
I am also the Director of the Rongxiang Xu, MD. Center for Regenerative Therapeutics since its establishment in December 2015. The Center was established after a generous donation from the National Rongxiang Xu Foundation and its mission is to further advance the treatment of patients throughout the world with chronic wounds, burns, and other conditions resulting from a failure of tissue repair and regeneration. As part of its mission, the Center provides resources for the conduction of collaborative bench-to-bedside research with investigators worldwide and the education of physicians and scientists internationally regarding the management of the previously mentioned conditions.
Keywords: Diabetes, diabetic foot, diabetic neuropathy, pathophysiology of wound healing, vascular reactivity of micro- and macrocirculation
Research Group: http://www.bidmc.org/Centers-and-Departments/Departments/Surgery/Research/Podiatry/Aristidis-Veves.aspx
Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=veves+a
Dr. Ioannis Zervantonakis
Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh
Profile and Research Interests:
Yannis received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, and his masters degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich in 2006. From 2006-2007 he was a graduate research assistant at the Ultrasound Elasticity laboratory (Prof. Elisa Konofagou) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York. Yannis completed his doctoral studies at MIT in the mechanobiology laboratory (Prof. Roger Kamm) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in December 2012. Since January 2013 he has been a postdoctoral fellow in cancer biology at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Prof. Joan Brugge and has been awarded the DoD Breast Cancer Postdoctoral Fellowship (June 2014) and the NIH Pathway to Independence K99/R00 Award (September 2017).
Research Interest
Systems biology approaches to cancer drug resistance and metastasis in breast and ovarian cancer
• Microfluidic and microfabricated assays to model the tumor microenvironment
• Tumor heterogeneity: single cell phenotypic decisions
• Localized drug release and gradients within the tumor microenvironment
• Endothelial permeability regulation and cell invasion: Role of immune microenvironment and cell-cell interactions
Keywords: bio engineering, cancer biology, microfluidics
Research Group: https://www.zervalab.com/
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=zervantonakis+I