THE TEAM
Manolis Ladoukakis
Principal Investigator
Associate Professor of Biology
Manolis Ladoukakis received his Bachelor in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Biology and his M.Sc. in Marine Biology from the Department of Biology, University of Crete, Greece.
He received his Ph.D. from the same Department. He worked as a Marie Curie Post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Evolution, University of Sussex, UK, and as a visiting Lecturer at the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, UK. He was elected in 2007 as a Lecturer at the Department of Biology, University of Crete, Greece, where he is currently an Associate Professor. In 2015 he worked at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, RI, USA as a Fulbright fellow. He teaches the “Evolution” and the “Molecular Evolution” courses at the Department of Biology, and he participates in other undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
His research interests regard the evolution of the inheritance and recombination of mitochondrial DNA, the co-evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes and the heteroplasmy of mtDNA. He is also interested in the factors that determine the structure of microbial communities.
Further, he works on the extension of the evolutionary theory in other evolvable systems beyond organisms, such as microbial communities (in collaboration with ecologists) and languages (in collaboration with linguists). His research has been published in several journals such as Molecular Biology and Evolution, PLoS Biology, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Molecular Ecology and others. He has participated in several research projects.
George Koumoundouros
Professor of Marine Biology
George Koumoundouros is Professor of Marine Biology at the Department of Biology (http://www.biology.uoc.gr), University of Crete since 2011.
He holds a BSc in Biology (1991), MSc (1993) and PhD in Marine Biology (1998).
He has worked as a Researcher at the Institute of Marine Biology of Crete and the University of Crete (1999-2003), and as a Professor at the University of Patras (2003-2011).
He has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the fields of Ichthyology, Zoology, Marine Biology, Marine Biological Resources Management and Aquaculture for several years.
His published Research work includes more than 160 Scientific Papers
(> 80 of them in International Peer-reviewed Scientific Journals, (> 5270 citations, H-Index=38, Google-Scholar).
He mainly focuses on the influence of the environment on the development, structure and function of fishes, as well as on improving the quality of farmed fishes. He has participated in a large number of European and National Research Projects, with active collaborations with laboratories in Greece and abroad.
Antonis
Makrigiannakis
MD, PhD
Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Prof A. Makrigiannakis graduated from the Medical School of the Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed his PhD thesis on Reproductive Endocrinology and Pharmacology at the Medical School of the University of Crete. He received his subspecialty training in Human Reproduction in the University of Pennsylvania, Division of Human Reproduction, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Philadelphia,USA and in the In Vitro Fertilization Unit, Department of Reproductive Surgery & Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK. He is currently Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Medical School of the University of Crete. He conducts basic and clinical research mainly on the mechanisms of implantation and endometrial receptivity, involving reproductive immunology and receptivity markers. His research is focused on the role of CRH in human reproduction. His main achievement was the description of the mechanism by which trophoblast and decidual CRH immunomodulates local maternal T-cell immunity, facilitating implantation.
This research yielded a great volume of publications in scientific journals with a high impact factor (>5), including ( Nature Immunology, New England journal of medicine) as well as invited reviews in highly accessed journals.His overall scientific activity has so far resulted in 186 publications with 7676 citations (Scopus) and H-index: 45, in 8 books and 16 chapters. His wide recognition resulted in being a reviewer in more than 15 scientific journals and in receiving more than 10 national and international awards. Additionally, he has been an invited speaker in more than 350 international conventions.
Administrative positions:
• ESHRE evaluator for clinical excellence of IVF centers in European Union(European Society of Human Reproductive Medicine)
• ESHRE Assessor for Certification of IVF centers in European Union
• Chairman of the Clinical Award Committee of ESHRΕ
• Executive Member of the MSRM ( Mediterranean Society for Reproductive Medicine)
• SIG Co-ordinator for Endometrium-RIF, ISIVF (International Society for In vitro Fertilization)
• Past Member of the Advisory Committee of ESHRE
• Past – Member of the Executive Committee of ESHRE.
• Past Member of the Scientific Committee of EBCOG.(European Board & College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology)
• Past Chairman of MSRM
• Past – Member of the Executive Committee of European Society Clinical
Investigation. (ESCI)
Ekaterina Gudkova
PhD Candidate of Biology
Ekaterina Gudkova studied Biology at the Department of Biology of the University of Crete and received her Master’s degree from the same department, specializing in Environmental Biology.
She was a fellow of The A.G Leventis Foundation. She is a PhD candidate of the same Department. Her research interests include co-evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, the study of mtDNA heteroplasmy and its impact on phenotypic characteristics of the organism.
She has participated in TNA project “Nuclear transfer in zebrafish eggs” of the Project “AQUAEXCEL3 – Aquaculture infrastructures for Excellence in European fish research 3.0” and 6th SSRHR meeting “Controversies in human reprodaction”