POSITION TITLE: Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine/Head of Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Patras, Greece
Father’s Name: Evangelos
Mother’s Name: Marianna
DOB: 1st April 1980 (01/04/80)
Εmail: argyrios.tzouvelekis@fleming.gr
argyrios.tzouvelekis@yale.edu, atzouvelekis@upatras.gr
Work Address: University Hospital of Patras, 26504, Greece
Facebook: Argyris Tzouvelekis, Twitter: @atzouvelekis,
Linkedin: Argyris Tzouvelekis
| INSTITUTION AND LOCATION | DEGREE | YEAR(s) | FIELD OF STUDY |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Crete School of Medicine, Greece | MD | 1997-2003 | Medicine |
| Democritus University of Thrace, Medical School, Greece | PhD | 2004-2008 | Role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1a in the pathogenesis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis |
| Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace and Medical School, University of Crete, Greece | MSc | 2009-2011 | Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics |
| Yale School of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary Critical and Sleep Medicine, New Haven, USA | Post-doctoral | 2013-2016 | Phosphatases-Thyroid Hormone in IPF |
| Biomedical Sciences Research Center Alexander Fleming, Athens, Greece | Post-doctoral | 2016-2018 | Phosphatases-Kinases in IPF |
| 1st Academic Dpt of Pneumonology, Hospital of Thoracic Diseases “Sotiria”, University of Athens, Greece | Consultant Physician/Clinical Scholar | 2017-present | IPF – ILDs |
| Associate Professor of Internal and Respiratory Medicine, University of Patras, Greece (elect) | Faculty | 2019 – present | Medicine |
| European Respiratory Society Executive Officer | Internal Auditor | 2019 – present | Medicine |
A. Personal Statement
Education and clinical accomplishments:
On 28th August of 2019 Ι was elected Associate Professor of Internal and Respiratory Medicine at the University of Patras, Greece. Currently, Ι am Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Patras, Greece. I am an Executive Officer-Internal Auditor of European Respiratory Society, member of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) College of Experts, official reviewer of ERS fellowships and Awards, mentor of ERS young scientists (ERS mentoring scheme), Associate Editor of Frontiers in Medicine and Pneumon peer-reviewed journals. I was privileged to be mentored and trained by the top world-experts in the field of Interstitial Lung Diseases, including Roland duBois, Athol Wells, Demosthenes Bouros, and Naftali Kaminski and perform clinical and basic science research in the top Academic Institutions of the world including Imperial College London, Yale School of Medicine and University of Athens. I am still in close collaboration with the Department of Respiratory, Sleep and Critical Care Medicine, and Professor Naftali Kaminski who I consider my mentor, as well as the Department of Pharmacology and Professor Anton Bennett, at Yale University. Our collaboration has led to more than 10 major publications including papers in Nature Medicine, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, JCI Insight, Am J Respir Crit Care Medicine and AJP Lung. Most recently I actively participated in the design and submission to FDA of a phase II, lacebocontrolled clinical trial of a thyroid-mimetic, AN-19, in patients with COVID-19-induced acute lung injury.
My professional career is as follows:
In 2003, I graduated from the School of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece. From 2004-2008, Dr. Tzouvelekis successfully completed his PhD studies with grade of “excellence” in the Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace. In 2004, I was granted with the European Respiratory Society Long Term Research Fellowship and worked up to October 2005 as a research fellow in the Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Imperial College, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital, London, where I was specialized in the genotypic analysis of patients with different forms of interstitial lung diseases. From 2007 to 2012, I successfully completed with excellence his rotation in the Departments of Pneumonology, Internal and Critical Care Medicine, Medical School at Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. Throughout his rotation, Dr. Tzouvelekis performed over 500 flexible bronchoscopic and more than 50 rigid port thoracoscopic procedures. In July 2011, I extended my skills of expertise in the area of clinical pharmacology and he was granted with excellence, a master (MSc) of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. In 2012, i successfully took the exams and was awarded the HERMES European Respiratory Diplomat in recognition of his clinical skills and knowledge on a European level. I successfully completed my obligatory military services between September 2012 and May 2013. In October of 2013 I was awarded a fully-funded post-doctoral position at the Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, CT, USA under the supervision of Professor Naftali Kaminski and the financial support of American Lung Association. In January 2017 i was granted a fully-sponsored position as a Consultant Respiratory Physician at the First Academic Respiratory Department of the General Hospital for Thoracic Diseases “SOTIRIA”, Athens, Greece. In May 2018 i became a certified performer of Endobronchial Ultrasound Bronchoscopy further extending my skills in interventional pulmonology beyond conventional bronchoscopy and medical thoracoscopy. I am a member of the Hellenic Thoracic, European Respiratory and the American Thoracic Society. I am also reviewer in several journals including: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Annals of American Thoracic Society, Respiration, Respiratory Research, Respiratory Medicine, Respirology, BMC Pulmonary Medicine, Thorax. He is also associate Editor of a thematic research topic titled “Pulmonary Fibrosis” for Frontiers in Medicine, a novel, promising, and indexed in Pubmed, peer-reviewed journal (http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/5234/pulmonary-fibrosis). I am an official instructor in two Master degree programs at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (1-Master of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2-Master of Sleep Medicine),. In September of 2017 i became member of the ERS College of Experts and was assigned full responsibilities as a reviewer of ERS Fellowships and Awards. I am also an active member of the ERS RESPIRE mentoring scheme and was assigned responsibilities as a mentor of young scientists awarded by ERS fellowships.
Research accomplishments:
My research focus is the mechanisms and treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, centering on the role of hypoxia, phosphatases and thyroid hormone signaling in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. I was trained in major aspects of translational medicine, including genomics and proteomics, as well as in molecular and cellular fibroblast biology using advanced methodological tools, including microarray and miRNA platforms, nCounter (Nanostring) technology and animal models of lung fibrosis (ie bleomycin-induced). My specialties are focused on the implementation of pioneering research technologies, such as microarrays, as well as the application of novel therapeutic interventions including stem cells. I currently enumerate 162 publications in Scopus and 152 in Pubmed and 198 in Google Scholar, in peer-reviewed scientific journals (with an overall of 3133 citations and a total H-index=31- Scopus, and 3607 citations , H-Index: 33, i-index: 61-Google Scholar), more than 60 presentations and lectures in national and international conferences and 30 grants and honors, including
a) European Respiratory Society Long Term Research Fellowship and
b) European Respiratory Society-Young Scientist Sponsorship and
c) American Lung Association Senior Research Training Fellowship,
d) an European Respiratory Society/Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
My major research accomplishments are summarized below:
- Inventor of a therapeutic patent entitled “Inhaled or aerosolized delivery of thyroid hormone to the lung as a novel therapeutic agent in fibrotic lung diseases” OCR#6368 (the “Invention”), disclosed to Yale University. During his 3-year post-doctoral training Dr Tzouvelekis has focused on the role of thyroid hormone signaling in the pathogenesis and treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). He identified that aerosolized Thyroid Hormone exerts therapeutic effects in two models of experimental lung fibrosis through a mechanism that involves enhancement of mitochondrial function in alveolar epithelial cells. The manuscript, in which I am shared first author, has been published in Nature Medicine (IF: 30.3)
- Identification of a phosphatase (SHP2) as a potent anti-fibrotic regulator in pulmonary fibrosis. Another major project while at Yale University was to delineate the role of a ubiquitously expressed phosphatase SHP2 (SH2 domain-containing-tyrosine phosphatase) as a therapeutic target in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). He discovered that SHP2 is master regulator of fibroblast homeostasis through mechanisms that involve negative regulation of pro-fibrotic signal transduction pathways and induction of autophagy in lung fibroblasts. I aspire to formulate a small molecule (SHP2 activator) and explore its therapeutic efficacy in experimental models of lung fibrosis. The project was published in the Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2016, IF:15.2 followed by an editorial by Downey et al.
- Implication of a major transcription factor (HIF-1a) in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. In this original contribution, I applied sophisticated experimental procedures by using DNA and tissue microarray technology in both human and animal samples and demonstrated that Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF-1a) was one of the most upregulated genes in the bleomycin model of lung fibrosis. Results were further extended by immunolocalization studies showing that HIF-1a was upregulated within the alveolar epithelium and co-localized with apoptotic target genes (p-53) in IPF lung samples. Results were published in the Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007, IF:15.2, Citations:94
- Principal investigator of the first worldwide stem cell clinical trial in patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis This study showed for the first time in literature that endobronchial infusion of adipose derived stem cells is safe and deserves further attention in the context of large multicenter clinical trials. To this end, results of this study open new therapeutic revenue for a debilitating disease with worst prognosis than that of lung cancer and fueled the first FDA-approved stem cell clinical trial in patients with IPF that is currently pending. The study was published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2013, IF: 4.0, Citations: 60.
- Major contributor and co-author in three highly cited publications in the field of Pulmonary Fibrosis. i) Implication of T-regulatory cells in the pathogenesis of IPF. In this study investigators showed both numerical and functional impairment of T-regulatory cells in patients with IPF, reviving the role of immune deregulation in disease pathogenesis. Results were published in the Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2009, IF: 13.1, Citations:83. ii) Identification of gelsolin, an actin filament regulator as a therapeutic target in modeled lung fibrosis. The study was published in Thorax 2009, IF:8.4, Citations:27, and was followed by an editorial analysis, highlighting its significance in the research field of lung fibrosis. iii) I have also been a co-author in one of the most highly referenced papers the past 10 years in the research field of IPF. This study represents the first implication of microRNAs in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. Authors demonstrated that patients with IPF exhibit a distinct microRNA repertoire compared to controls and identified let-7d and mir-29 as two of the most downregulated miRs within IPF lung. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that TGFb downregulates let-7d while its inhibition in epithelial cells promoted epithelial mesenchymal transition. Results were published in the Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2010, IF:15.2, Citations:230).
B. Positions and Honors
Professional Experience
| Oct 2004 – Oct 2005 | European Respiratory Society, Long Term Research Fellowship, Imperial College Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK |
| Dec 2007 – May 2012 | Internal Medicine Residency and Fellowship in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine; Department of Pneumonology, Internal and Critical Care Medicine, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. |
| Mar 2009 – Jul 2011 | Master (MSc) of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace and Medical School, University of Crete, Greece |
| Sep 2012 | HERMES Adult European Respiratory Diplomat |
| Sep 2012 – May 2013 | Compulsory Military Service, Greece |
| Oct 2013 – May 2016 | Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University School of Medicine, and Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, New Haven CT |
| May 2016 – May 2018 | Postdoctoral ERS/Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, BSRC Alexander Fleming, Greece January 2017 –present Consultant Respiratory Physician/Clinical Scholar, 1st Academic Department of Pneumonology, Hospital of ThoracicDiseases “Sotiria”, University of Athens, Greece |
| May 2018 | Certificate in EBUS bronchoscopy |
| September 2018 – | Associate Professor of Internal and Respiratory Medicine, University of Patras (elect) |
| October 2018 | Certificate in Thoracic Imaging – European Respiratory Society Course |
| August 2019 – | Associate Professor of Internal and Respiratory Medicine, University of Patras, Greece |
| May 2020 – | Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Greece |
Honors and Awards
| Oct 2004 | Long Term Research Fellowship, European Respiratory Society, Imperial College Royal Brompton Hospital, London |
| Dec 2005 | 1st Award GlaxoSmithKline annual research grant, Title of project: “The role of angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias” |
| Dec 2006 | Bursary for the 5th International Lung Science ERS Conference, Taormina, Sicily |
| Sep 2007 | ERS young scientist sponsorship, ERS congress, Stockholm |
| May 2008 | American Thoracic Society, Public Advisory Roundtable, Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation, Award. ATS congress, Toronto |
| Oct 2008 | Top 5% special abstract award, European Respiratory Society Conference, Berlin |
| Nov 2008 | 1st Award GlaxoSmithKline Annual Research Grant, Title of project: “The coagulation cascade in the pathogenesis of fibrotic lung disease. Study of the role of Tissue Factor (TF) in different forms of pulmonary fibrosis.” |
| Nov 2008 | Best Project Award, Hellenic Thoracic Society Annual Congress. Title of abstract: “Role of gelsolin in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis” |
| Nov 2009 | Best Presentation Award, Hellenic Thoracic Society Annual Congress Title of abstract: “Study of the inhibition and role of Let-7d in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.” |
| Nov 2010 | 3rd unrestricted grant by Hellenic Thoracic Society, Title of project: “Study of the role of microRNAs (mir-409) in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis” |
| Nov 2011 | 1st unrestricted grant by Hellenic Thoracic Society, Title of project: “Study of the role of the adipose derived stem cells-stromal vascular fraction (SVF) in the treatment and pathogenesis of lung fibrosis” |
| Aug 2013 | Oral Presentation Award, Session 6. Stem Cells and Cell Therapies in Lung Biology and Lung Diseases Conference, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT. “A prospective, nonrandomized no placebo controlled phase Ib clinical trial to study the safety of the adipose derived stem cells in patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis” |
| May 2015 | Best Poster Award, “ SHP2 is a novel anti-fibrotic agent in IPF” Yale Fibrosis Symposium |
| July 2015 | American Lung Association Senior Research Training Fellowship, Title of Project: SHP-2 as a Novel Anti-Fibrotic Agent in IPF |
| April 2016 | Joint Meeting Travel Award, American Association of Physicians Scientists for Best Poster titled: “SHP2 is a novel anti-fibrotic agent in IPF” |
| May 2016 | European Respiratory Society/Marie Skłodowska-Curie/RESPIRE 2-Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Title of Project: The role of phosphatases as anti-fibrotic regulators of fibroblast homeostasis in pulmonary fibrosis |
| July 2016 | American Lung Association Senior Research Training Fellowship, Title of Project: SHP-2 as a Novel Anti-Fibrotic Agent in IPF-Declined |
| January 2017 | Scientific Research Award for Best Poster Presentation “Thyroid Hormone inhibits pulmonary fibrosis through enhancement of mitochondrial function in alveolar epithelial cells”, 4th International Workshop on Lung Health, Budapest 2017 |
| March 2017 | Distinguished Poster Award, ERS Lung Science Conference, “SHP-2 is a novel antifibrotic regulator of fibroblast homeostasis” |
| November 2018 | 1st unrestricted grant by Hellenic Thoracic Society, Title of project: “SHP2 is a novel antifibrotic agent through regulation of fibroblast mitochondrial metabolism |
Participation in Pharmaceutical Clinical trials
| Trial | Role | Year | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. MA29957 | Sub-I | 2017- | Roche |
| 2. MA39189 | Sub-I | 2017- | Roche |
| 3. INDULGE | Sub-I | 2016- | BI |
| 4. ARIES | Sub-I | 2010-2012 | GSK |
| 5. TOMORROW | Sub-I | 2009-2011 | BI |
| 6. PEGASUS | Sub-I | 2003-2005 | Pfizer |
| 7. COBRA | Sub-I | 2003-2005 | Aventis |
| 8. GCP CERTIFICATE | Sub-I | 06/05/2020 |
- Total Number of Publications: 162 Scopus (152 in PubMed), 198 ( Google Scholar)
- Original peer-reviewed articles: 54
- First and last author (total articles): 71
- H-index: 31 (Scopus), 33 (Google Scholar)
- Total citations: 3133 (Scopus), 3607 (Google Scholar)
- Mean Impact Factor: 5.26
- Total Impact Factor: 880.6
Publications (Peer-Reviewed) (from a total of 141)
- Tzouvelekis A, Harokopos V, Paparountas P, Oikonomou N, Hatziioannou A, Karameris A, Tsiambas
E, Vilaras G, Bouros D and Aidinis V. Comparative expression profiling and meta-analysis in pulmonary fibrosis suggests an early role of Hypoxia inducible factor 1 in disease pathogenesis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007; 176(11):1108-19. PMID:17761615 - Tzouvelekis A, Aidinis V, Harokopos V, Karameris A, Zacharis G, Mikroulis D, Konstantinou F,
Steiropoulos P, Sotiriou I, Froudarakis M, Pneumatikos I, Tringidou R, Bouros D. Down-regulation of
the inhibitor of growth family member 4 (ING4) in different forms of pulmonary fibrosis. Respir Res.
2009;10:14. PMID:19250543; PMCID:PMC2662808 - Kotsianidis I, Nakou E, Bouchliou I, Tzouvelekis A, Spanoudakis E, Steiropoulos P, Sotiriou I, Aidinis
V, Margaritis D, Tsatalas C, Bouros D. Global impairment of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells in
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009;179(12):1121-30. PMID:19342412 - Oikonomou N, Thanasopoulou A, Tzouvelekis A, Harokopos V, Paparountas T, Nikitopoulou I, Witke
W, Karameris A, Kotanidou A, Bouros D and Aidinis V. Gelsolin expression is necessary for the
development of modelled pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Thorax. 2009;64(6):467-75.
PMID:19213772 - Pandit KV, Corcoran D, Yousef H, Yarlagadda M, Tzouvelekis A, Gibson KF, Konishi K, Yousem SA,
Singh M, Handley D, Richards T, Selman M, Watkins SC, Pardo A, Ben-Yehudah A, Bouros D,
Eickelberg O, Ray P, Benos PV, Kaminski N. Inhibition and Role of Let-7d in Idiopathic Pulmonary
Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;182 (2):220-9. PMID:20395557; PMCID:PMC2913236 - Oikonomou N, Mouratis MA, Tzouvelekis A, Kaffe E, Valavanis C, Vilaras G, Karameris A, Prestwich
GD, Bouros D, Aidinis V. Pulmonary autotaxin expression contributes to the pathogenesis of pulmonary
fibrosis. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2012;47(5):566-74. PMID:22744859 - Tzouvelekis A, Zacharis G, Oikonomou A, Koulelidis A, Steiropoulos P, Froudarakis M, Kriki P,
Vargemezis V, Bouros D. Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema associated with microscopic
polyangiitis. Eur Respir J. 2012 Aug;40(2):505-7 - Tzouvelekis A, Paspaliaris V, Koliakos G, Ntolios P, Bouros E, Oikonomou A, Zissimopoulos A,
Boussios N, Dardzinski B, Gritzalis D, Antoniadis A, Froudarakis M, Kolios G, Bouros D. A prospective,
non-randomized, no placebo-controlled, phase Ib clinical trial to study the safety of the adipose derived stromal cells-stromal vascular fraction in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. J Transl Med. 2013;11(1):171.
PMID:23855653; PMCID:PMC3722100 - Tzouvelekis A, Bouros D. Anti-acid treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Lancet Respir Med.
2013;1(5):348-9. PMID:24429187 - Bouros D, Tzouvelekis A. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: On the move. Lancet Respir Med.
2014;2(1):17-9. PMID:24461889 - Tzouvelekis A, Guyoing Yu, Jose Herazo-maya, Naftali Kaminski et al. SH2 domain-containing
phosphatase-SHP-2 is a novel anti-fibrotic regulator in Pulmonary Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care
Med 2016 2017;195(4):500-514. PMID: 27736153 - Guoying Yu, Argyrios Tzouvelekis, , Gabriel Ibarra, Rong Wang, Jose D. Herazo-Maya ,Anup
Srivastava, Joao Pedro Werneck de Castro, Giuseppe DeIuliis, Farida Ahangari, Tony Woolard,
Nachelle Aurelien, Rafael Arrojo e Drigo , Robert Homer, Ye Gan, Morven Graham, Xinran Liu,
Praveen Mannam, Patty J. Lee, Erica L. Herzog, Antonio C. Bianco, Naftali Kaminski. Thyroid
hormone inhibits fibrosis and improves epithelial mitochondrial function in experimental
pulmonary fibrosis.Nat Med. 2017 Dec 4. doi: 10.1038/nm.4447. - Jose D. Herazo-Maya, Jiehuan Sun, Philip Molyneaux, Julian Villalba-Nunez, Argyrios Tzouvelekis,
Erica L. Herzog, Naftali Kaminski. A 52-gene signature in peripheral blood identifies a genomic
profile associated with increased risk of mortality and poor disease outcomes in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Lancet Respir Med 2017 Sep 20. pii: S2213-2600(17)30349-1. doi: 10.1016/S2213-
2600(17)30349-1 - Changwan Ryu, Huanxing Sun, Mridu Gulati, Jose D. Herazo-Maya, Yonglin Chen, Awo OsafoAddo, Caitlin Brandsdorfer, Julia Winkler, Christina Blaul, Jaden Faunce, Hongyi Pan, Tony Woolard,
Argyrios Tzouvelekis, Danielle E. Antin-Ozerkis, Jonathan T. Puchalski, Zheng Wu, Naftali
Kaminski, Erica Herzog, Glenda Trujillo. Extracellular Mitochondrial DNA is generated by fibroblasts
and predicts death in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2017 Aug 7. doi:
10.1164/rccm.201612-2480OC. [Epub ahead of print] - Tzouvelekis A, Spagnolo P, Bonella F, Vancheri C, Tzilas V, Crestani B, Kreuter M, Bouros D.
Patients with IPF and lung cancer: diagnosis and management. Lancet Respir Med. 2017 Dec 11.
pii: S2213-2600(17)30478-2. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(17)30478-2.
D. Teaching/Administrative experience
- Member of teaching committee of the Master of Sciences (MSc) titled: Sleep Medicine,
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. Period: April 2017 – ongoing - Member of teaching committee of the Master of Sciences (MSc) titled: Clinical Pharmacology
and Therapeutics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. Period: May 2017 – ongoing - Scientific Lecture at the Master of Sciences (MSc) titled: Clinical Pharmacology and
Therapeutics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. - Scientific Lectures at First Academic Department of Pneumonology, General Hospital of Thoracic
Diseases “SOTIRIA”, University of Athens, Greece. Period: January 2017 – ongoing - Supervisor of 9 undergraduate students, 2 PhD students. Biomedical Sciences Research Center
“Alexander Fleming”, Athens, Greece: Period: May 2016 – ongoing - Supervisor of 2 post-graduate, 1 PhD and 2 post-doctoral students. Yale School of Medicine, CT,
USA. Period: October May 2014 – May 2016 - Scientific Lectures (n=3) at Post-Graduate Seminars in ILDs. Period 2013-2017
- Member of the ERS College of Experts
- Member of the ERS RESPIRE mentoring scheme
E. Research Support
Ongoing Research Support
ERS/Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 30/4/2016 – 30/4/2018
RESPIRE2 3rd round/Proposal No: 8860-2015
The role of phosphatases as anti-fibrotic regulators of fibroblast homeostasis in pulmonary fibrosis
The overall objective is to understand the mechanisms of SHP-2 action within the fibrotic lung and determine whether SHP-2 could serve as a therapeutic target in IPF.
Role: Senior Post-Doc
Completed Research Support (last 3 years)
UH2 HL123886-01 (Kaminski) 7/1/14 – 6/30/19
NIH / NHLBI
Mir-29 Mimicry as a Therapy for Pulmonary Fibrosis
The overall objective of this proposal is to develop miR-29 mimicry as a long-term, efficient and personalized anti-fibrotic therapy. The rationale for this proposal stems from the significant body of work that indicates the important anti-fibrotic role of miR-29 in fibrosis, the efficacy of the mirage miR-29 mimic and the likelihood of identifying a high risk IPF patient population likely to benefit from miR-29 supplementation.
Role: Postdoctoral Associate
Biogen Idec, Inc (Kaminski) 7/1/14 – 6/30/16
Molecular Phenotyping of Disease Relevant Cell Populations in IPF
The focus of this research project is to carry out molecular phenotyping of disease relevant cell populations in IPF lungs.
Role: Postdoctoral Associate
U01 (Benos / University of Pittsburgh) 7/1/14 – 6/30/18
NIH / NHLBI
Center for Casual Modeling and Discovery of Biomedical Knowledge from Big Data
In this grant, we propose to capitalize on the publicly available and private data from the Lung Genomics Research Consortium (LGRC) and Lung Tissue Research Consortium (LTRC) resources to develop the software and tools to identify causal relationships between (1) omic data and image features and (2) disease characteristics and subtypes
Role: Postdoctoral Associate
Senior Research Training Fellowship/Proposal No: RT-350419 7/1/2015 – 7/12016
American Lung Association
SHP-2 as a Novel Anti-Fibrotic Agent in IPF
The overall objective is to understand the mechanisms of SHP-2 action within the fibrotic lung and determine whether SHP-2 could serve as a therapeutic target in IPF.
Role: Senior Post-Doc
Hellenic Thoracic Society (Tzouvelekis) 11/1/2011 – 11/1/2013
Unrestricted Research Grant
Study of the role of the adipose derived stem cells-stromal vascular fraction (SVF) in the treatment and
pathogenesis of lung fibrosis
Goals: Study the effects of three endobronchial infusions of autologous adipose-derived stem cells-stromal vascular fraction in patients with mild-to-moderate Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in the context of a nonrandomized no placebo-controlled phase Ib clinical trial in 1) incidence of treatment emergent adverse events (safety-primary end-point), 2) functional, exercise capacity and quality of life parameters (efficacy-secondary end-points)
Role: PI
The Godrej Group, India (Tzouvelekis) 9/1/2011 – 9/1/2013
Unrestricted Research Grant
Study of the role of the adipose derived stem cells-stromal vascular fraction (SVF) in the treatment and
pathogenesis of lung fibrosis
Goals: Study the effects of three endobronchial infusions of autologous adipose-derived stem cells-stromal vascular fraction in patients with mild-to-moderate Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in the context of a nonrandomized no placebo-controlled phase Ib clinical trial in 1) incidence of treatment emergent adverse events (safety-primary end-point), 2) functional, exercise capacity and quality of life parameters (efficacy-secondary end-points)
Role: PI
E. Member of Scientific Societies: Hellenic Thoracic, European Respiratory and American Thoracic Society
