My story
Here I am, Athanasios.
My friends call me either Sakis or Thanos. You can refer to me with any of these two.
I am a graduate MSc student in Biotechnology at DTU that sometimes thinks creating quirky biology stuff. I hold myself from doing that ( yet! ), unless there is someone that would want to collaborate with me, and do the next crazy thing in bioengineering together.
I could call my personality as amiable, agreeable, and gregarious. Others recognize me as quick-witted, proactive and diligent. Dreaming, breathing, and experiencing biology is what gives me vitality. Rethinking life, making it amenable to never seen before alterations with an open-eye while pushing the boundaries, is what I aim.
More than two years of research experience in Greece, France, Israel, and Denmark are on my back, to institutions that are known for their scientific output in the world.
Science writing is my second love. It helps me deconstructing non-easy to digest scientific knowledge, making it available in layman language for everyday people with no science background. The perk is that I gain, at the same time, a lot of know-how for different fields.
Scroll down and read more on my timeline (press the buttons on the right side – or on the bottom in mobile version – to see many more details)…
Born in a rural area in Kozani, Greece. Raised in a small, beautiful village named Eani.
Started my BSc studies in Biomedical Sciences at the International Hellenic University of Thessaloniki, Greece (IHU).
Conducted my first research internship abroad at the Institute Pasteur in Paris, for 6 months, hosted by the lab of Dr. Sven van Teeffelen.
Research visit, for 6 months, at the lab of Dr. Kenn Gerdes, University of Copenhagen-Biocenter
( former BASP Center ).
Awarded the competitive Kupcinet-Getz International Science School Scholarship, summing up to the amount of 1000€ (7500 DKK). I was a member for three months at the lab of Dr. Ilana Kolodking-Gal, at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Start of my MSc studies in Engineering in Biotechnology at the Technical University of Denmark. Achieving my dream to be accepted at this programme has been a real game changer. With coursework chosen carefully, I aspire to develop myself as a future scientist.
Start of my student research assistant position at DTU, being a member of the "Gut, Microbes and Health" Group. Here - till December of 2019 - I was a member of the "Gut, Microbes and Health" Group, under the supervision of Prof. Egon Bech Hansen.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I started to write articles, network with local Greek news media owners, and had science writings of mine published to news portals.
Science communication is my sidekick!
I was born in a beautiful and full of nature village in the area of Kozani, Greece. The name of it is Eani, and it is a place that I am proud of as ( like pretty much the whole country ) it carries tremendous ancient history on its back, that characterizes it as the “Historical Basis of Kozani’s County”.
Had the privilege to be raised with big chunks of curiosity to explore the world. This was inherited by my parents and developed further by the constant mental support of my two older siblings. My family had a major impact on me as an individual. They gave me the motivation to not only pursue my dreams and aspirations, but also guided me through the process of “refining” myself.
I am a first-generation university student, thus the only member of my immediate family that has reached bachelor and graduate-level studies.
At IHU, I learned a whole lot about different scientific realms and the good ethics of treating patients’ biological samples with respectability and attention to detail.
I found out that Microbiology and Biotechnology had the “thing” that enchanted me in each lecture. The other was to observe, under the microscope, stained human tissue from different parts of the body…This Was Equally Fantastic! Histology is, still, a real “scientific crush” for me.
Putting into practice what I learned was something I yearned for. My thesis’ time did not yet come, and I was inspired by a former fellow-bachelor student – my dear Aikaterini – to apply for a research internship. I want to thank her for that long talk we had that evening, back in 2015. It was enormously revelating and cleared out some of the doubts (or personal “demons” someone could say).
During my BSc degree, I had a mandatory internship and a final bachelor thesis project to do. The internship was for 2-months and took place at the private diagnostic lab of Prof. Maria Chatzidimitriou at Thessaloniki.
I was trained into performing analysis of human biological specimens ( e.g blood, urine, and saliva ). Doing antibiograms and examining the antibiotic resistance of the cultivated microorganisms was my most memorable and beloved task.
My BSc thesis was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Phaedra Eleftheriou at the IHU, in Thessaloniki. The subject of my thesis was “Computational prediction of DNA gyrase’s inhibition in the bacterium Escherichia coli by using the Molecular Docking method”. Through a collaboration with the School of Pharmacy, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, I had to model and investigate the antibacterial properties of 78 chemical compounds. The chemical structures were obtained and transformed into easy-for-biotools-to-read formats. The analysis has shown their docking on amino acids close to the active site of the gyrase and high predicted energy released from their interaction with the enzyme.
Part of this work has resulted in some data being meaningful enough to be published in the journal of MedChemComm, where I was included as one of the authors.
The acceptance for my premier in research has come from Institute Pasteur in Paris. The lab that hosted me was that of Dr. Sven van Teeffelen, the Principal Investigator of the Microbial Morphogenesis and Growth research group, and co-supervised by Dr. Efthimia Lioliou.
The topic of my project in the group was about deciphering the function of three redundant endopeptidases – located in the periplasm of Escherichia coli – named MepM, MepS, and MepH. These three enzymes are majorly contributing to the building up of the peptidoglycan layer and subsequently to cell wall expansion. Understanding their mechanism of action can lead to new antibacterial targets.
My enthusiasm for research has grown even bigger after my first experience at the Institute Pasteur. Of course, I will not deny it, Paris – as a city – has bewitched me during my time there, and still today has a special place in my heart.
This supported the notion in my mind that I love doing research, I love designing experiments and I crave to give the best I can for the discovery of new fundamental biomedical knowledge.
The Bacterial Stress Response and Persistence Center, which was directed by Prof. Kenn Gerdes, had a lot to offer me. His research group was quite big, comprised of up to 22 people, and this itself helped me realize the importance of diversity.
My research internship’s project was about a specific toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli, named relBE. Toxin-antitoxin systems are mainly identified in low copy number plasmids, and are known for their capability to create an environment where plasmid stability is maintained by post-segregational killing of the plasmid-free daughter cells.
The basis of the experiments performed had as a goal to see the effects of the relE toxin towards the metabolism (arrest of cell growth through mRNA degradation) and how relB could abolish the activity of relE.
Finally, important was to analyze the proteins being still expressed after relE over-expression, for example after performing 2D gel electrophoresis. Various molecular biology methods were used for the construction of the desired to-be-tested strains and bioinformatics tools for the analysis of the 2D protein gels.
The last 3-month research visit abroad has come with me being selected at the competitive Kupcinet-Getz International Summer Science Research School Program of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Being among the 32 students selected from all around the world, and getting a 1.000 euro fellowship was an unprecedented and special moment for me.
The lab that hosted me during the program was the Assembly and Disassembly of Microbial Biofilms lab, at the Department of Molecular Genetics, led by Prof. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal.
The project Prof. Kolodkin-Gal and I chose to work with, was about the expression level assessment of the skfA (sporulation killing factor A) in Bacillus subtilis. SKF, the extracellular protein product of skfA, can induce the lysis of other surrounding B.subtilis cells when those have not yet entered the sporulation pathway.
As B. subtilis is found on the surface/upper levels of soil, and known to be located in the rhizosphere of plant roots, the delineation of the interplay between this bacterium and the expression of SKF was critical. During growth, the root exudates of various plants ( Solanum lycopersicum, Eruca sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana ) added to the medium was tested.
B. subtilis biofilms spread on the roots of Eruca sativa was also observed. Fluorescent microscopy has helped to monitor how skfA-gfp expressed in B. subtilis, in a petri dish setting where B. subtilis, the competitor strain B. thurigiensis, and the plant root of Eruca sativa were present.
The aim was to see firsthand how the expression of skfA-gfp is differentiated depending on the physiology and location of the biofilm onto the plant’s root.
Receiving the acceptance letter from DTU’s Biotech MSc program in Engineering in Biotechnology is a memory that will never fade away.
That day I was together with my parents. The announcing of this news to them were happily received. I have chosen this study line due to its integrity and coursework. You can build up your specialization if you desire and have a focus depending on courses that align with your interests.
Many courses have, so far, a special place in my heart. But, I can distinguish Advanced Prokaryotic Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology, Protein Structure, and Computational Biology.
Of course, I could start rambling about other ones, but I will keep it short! I regard myself as versatile and a bit divergent sometimes. So, if you discuss with me face-to-face ( or internet-face ), you will see that I have a plethora of science geeky stuff to talk about.
From January 2021, I am delighted to say that I will have my MSc thesis conducted at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. I will become part of Dr. Roisin Owens laboratory, at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
My joy for this immense opportunity is indescribable with simple words. I am looking forward to it and am hoping that COVID-19 will not mess-up with my plans!
Right after the commencing of my MSc studies at the Technical University of Denmark ( a.k.a DTU ) in September 2018, I become a student research assistant at the lab of “Gut, Microbes and Health” which resides at the National Food Institute of Denmark.
My mentor and supervisor for more than a year was Prof. Egon Bech Hansen. As co-PI, Prof. Egon Bech Hansen is sharing the lab’s leadership with Prof. Tine Rask Licht.
The plan was to develop an in-house protocol for an efficient bacterial evolution strategy, with Lactococcus lactis being the strain to-be-evolved.
A collaboration between Aalborg University and DTU – under the umbrella of the PROVIDE project – endeavors to make use of patatin (potato protein), among other food residuals.
Identification of patatin as a very potent residual food protein source, resulted in trying to chop it down to smaller biopeptides, for making it available for use as a food additive.
For this exact reason, I intended to evolve L. lactis with non-GMO methods (Adaptive Laboratory Evolution, UV irradiation, and creation of a novel fastidious growth media protocol).
Nobody knows what the future holds.
The way we behave in this world shapes us in so many ways that we do not even recognize it.
Till today, I love what I do! I would not change or distort it, but I would try my best to improve and become a better future scientist and a version of myself that I could be proud of someday.
Contributing to the vast evolution that synthetic biology offers, becoming a key figure that redefines the already established norms in biology, and supporting this, by all means, can pay my due to the world.
Acquiring valuable job qualifications and being part of a company that can help me thrive as a future synthetic biologist, is what I wholeheartedly desire.
SynBio and Microbiome are the two scientific realms, that I am most passionate about, and combined can revolutionize what we know in the healthcare sector.
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, I am honing my science writing skills having articles of mine getting published in Greek news portals, while I am looking meticulously for my next industry-based biotech student job.
A quote from the American Ralf Waldo Emerson says that “Science does not know its debt to imagination” and that is what I am good at, bringing ideas through rational – and many times intentionally irrational – contemplation.
I just need the right environment to do so!