We are part of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), which is one of the 8 Institutes of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), the largest research institution of Greece. We are also affiliated with the Medical School of the University of Crete. Our group was the first to commence C. elegans research in Greece, in mid-2001. Information about our research interests can be found here.Our lab is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). The lab has received a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research award, the Bodossaki Foundation Academic Prize in Medicine and Biology and the EMBO Young Investigator Award.
To facilitate the introduction of nematode research at IMBB and to integrate our activities with those of the local and national scientific community, we have organized the International Conference on the Functional Genomics of Ageing in 2004, the bi-annual European C. elegans Meeting in 2006, the annual meeting of the European Neurosciences Institutes Network in 2009, and the European C. elegans Neurobiology Meeting in 2010. We are also organizing the EMBO Workshop on the Cell Biology of the Neuron in 2011, the Gordon Conference on the Biology of Ageing in 2013, and the 22nd Conference of the European Cell Death Organization in 2014.
We have coordinated the European Commission, Sixth Framework Programme Consortium NemaGENETAG, aiming to generate a genome-wide collection of transposon-tagged mutants. This valuable resource, useful to C. elegans and non-C. elegans researchers alike, is available worldwide. We also participated in the Sixth Framework Programme Consortium TransDeath, with the central strategy of following a trans-kingdom approach to cell death mechanisms.
The lab serves as national coordinator for the Network of European Neuroscience Institutes, an association fostering neuroscience research in Europe, and is a founding member of the European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP). In addition, the lab is one of the partners of the Marie Curie CELLIMAGE, FAMED, NONLIMBA, and Molecular Imaging Early Stage Training and Transfer of Knowledge projects. Finally, we are also involved in several national and European research initiatives.
