PI: Nikolaos Kourkoumelis, Assistant Professor (tenured)

Scientific advances and technological achievements are almost exclusively being made at the junction of Physics, Chemistry and Medical Science. Our research interests lie at the intersection of the above disciplines. Through a variety of experimental methods we exploit the multidisciplinary field of biological physics by applying optical techniques for medical diagnostics. Furthermore, via computational modeling we are trying to establish solid theoretical models to illuminate the experimental results concerning the biophysics of drug action. We have also invested research time and effort in scientific software development and body composition studies with stable isotope techniques.

Awards

Martin Black Award in Medical Physics (Shortlist)

Our paper "A new technique for the assessment of the 3D spatial distribution of the calcium/phosphorus ratio in bone apatite" A Hadjipanteli, N Kourkoumelis, P Fromme, A Olivo, J Huang and R Speller (2013) Physiol. Meas. 34, 1399, was: (i) Featured Article (November 2013), (ii) in Highlights of the year 2013 and (iii) Shortlisted for the 2013 Martin Black award (Medical Physics Web Link)

Best Poster award (International Center for Diffraction Data, ICDD)

"X-STRIPPING with ME: An improved numerical method for deriving monochromatic datasets from laboratory polychromatic diffractograms based on Maximum Entropy" Robert J. Papoular, Nikolaos Kourkoumelis, ICDD Spring Meeting, 11-15 March 2013, ICDD, Newtown Square, PA, USA

Journal Cover (Metallomics)

Our paper "Banti CN, Giannoulis AD, Kourkoumelis N, Owczarzak AM, Poyraz M, Kubicki M, et al. Mixed ligand-silver(I) complexes with anti-inflammatory agents which can bind to lipoxygenase and calf-thymus DNA, modulating their function and inducing apoptosis. Metallomics: integrated biometal science. 2012;4(6):545-60" made it to the front cover!

PhD students
George Rossos, MSc - Molecular Dynamics studies of drugs with lipid bilayers
Eleytherios Pavlou, MSc - Vibrational spectroscopic studies of bone
Elli Akribi, MSc - Optical diagnostics in biological fluids with non-ionizing radiation

MSc students
Chrysa Petrokilidou - Raman studies of malassezia fungi

Students
Maria-Magdalini Satrazani - Finite element analysis studies of biological tissues
Nikolleta Zoupanou - Raman spectroscopy
Zoe Spanou - Raman spectroscopy
Symela Kansizoglou - Molecular docking

Alumni
Chrysa Petrokilidou - Inhibition of three isoforms of lipoxygenase using molecular docking
Chrysoula Livitsanou - Bioavailability studies of common drugs using X-ray powder diffraction
Sophia Zoupanou - Modeling Transport Phenomena in Skin
Anna Meletiou - Theoretical study of DNA interactions with anticancer agents

International Federation of Medical Student Associations (IFMSA) Research Exchange (Students' Supervision)
Zhang Xianzuo, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, China
Agniezka Wintrowicz, Medical School, Lodz University, Poland