Professor Elias Eliopoulos is the Director of the Genetics Laboratory at the Biotechnology Department of the Agricultural University of Athens (A.U.A.) and leads the bioinformatics and structural biology group. He is professor of Biochemistry, a biophysicist and crystallographer by training with considerable experience in biomolecular structure analysis, epitope mapping of protein receptors, genetic polymorphisms and variation, cloning, with experimental and computational methods, protein structure prediction, ligand and drug design, protein design, in silico antibody design and biosoftware development. The group has experience and international reputation on computational protein folding, ab initio and homology modeling of proteins derived from edge gene research and membrane protein modeling. The group is also involved in many ligand computational design projects for pharmaceutical, medicinal and agricultural applications. 

Dr. Stathis Frillingos is Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of Ioannina, Department of Medicine, and Director of the Interinstitutional Interdepartmental Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Ioannina, Greece (http://msc-mcbb.ac.uoi.gr). His research team focuses on the analysis of structure-function-specificity and evolutionary relationships of membrane transporters, with current emphasis on Solute Carriers responsible for the transmembrane transport of nucleosides, nucleobases and their antimetabolite analogs. His research studies include the functional characterization of new nucleobase/nucleoside transporters from microorganisms and analysis of their binding-site interactions with inhibitors and antimetabolite compounds as potential antimicrobial drugs (http://www.frillingoslab.gr).

STAMATIOS (AKIS) LIOKATIS

Address: Sikelianou 3a, 45221 Ioannina Tel: +30 6976615407
Email: aliokatis@gmail.com

Research positions / experience

Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina (Post-Doc - Group leader: Prof. A. Politou)           2023-todate

Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin) Principal Investigator                     2014 - 2019

Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin) Post-Doc - In-Cell NMR group (Group leader: Dr. P.Selenko) 2008 – 2013

EMBL-Heidelberg Visiting Ph.D. student – Biomolecular NMR group (Group leader: Prof. M.Sattler) 2005-6-5 months

• Biocenter, University of Basel, Switzerland (Visiting Ph.D. student – M.E. Müller Institute for Struct. Biol. (Group leader: Prof. U.Aebi)  2004

Higher Education

University of Ioannina, Greece (Medical School), Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Structural Biology. Thesis: Structural and functional characterization of the LBR Tudor domain (Supervisor: Anastasia Politou) 2008

University of Ioannina, Greece (Chemistry Department) M.Sc. in Biochemistry Thesis: The impact of intravenous lipid administration in patients with acute lung injury (Supervisor: Marilena Lekka) 2002

University of Ioannina, Greece (Chemistry Department) B.Sc. in Chemistry 1999

Skills - Techniques

• Protein biochemistry/Molecular biology
Bacteria and mammalian cell culture
Cell extracts preparation
Recombinant DNA technology (cloning, PCR, protein overexpression, isotope-labeling)
Protein purification with chromatographic methods (affinity, ion exchange, size exclusion) in batch or automated setup (FPLC/HPLC, AKTA systems)

In vitro reconstitution of nucleosomes
Enzymatic assays (western blotting)
Protein-protein interactions – PPIs (IPs, pull-down assays, analytical gel filtration)
• Protein biophysics/Structural biology
CD spectroscopy (low-resolution structural characterization of proteins)
Electron microscopy – negative staining (Structural characterization of proteins)
ITC (studying PPIs)
Fluorescence spectroscopy (studying PPIs)
NMR spectroscopy (atomic-resolution protein structure, dynamic characterization, enzymatic activities, studying PPIs)
• Software tools
NMR spectroscopy (TopSpin, iNMR, Sparky,CcpNmr)
Molecular graphics (Pymol)
Bionformatic tools (Expasy portal)
Scientific graphing (GraphPad Prism)
Adobe suites (Photoshop, Illustrator)
Office suites (Powerpoint, Word, Excel)

Fellowships / Grants Year

Research grant for a principal investigator from the German Research Foundation (DFG) 2017 Title: Cross-regulation of post-translational protein modifications and effects on the histone H3tail conformations/dynamics: A structural and mechanistic study on whole nucleosomes by NMR spectroscopy – Part Two (240.000 € for 2.5 years).

Research grant for a principal investigator from the German Research Foundation (DFG) 2013 Title: Cross-regulation of post-translational protein modifications and effects on the histone H3tail conformations/dynamics: A structural and mechanistic study on whole nucleosomes by NMR spectroscopy – Part One (295.300 € for 3 years).

FEBS fellowship Jun 2006 Attending the young scientist forum and FEBS congress in Istanbul, Turkey

EMBO short-term Sep-Dec 2004 Training on electron microscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation at the Biocenter of University of Basel, studying the oligomerization state of Lamin B Receptor.

Original publications (full list)

1. Liokatis S. Reconstitution of nucleosomes with differentially isotope-labeled sister histones. J Vis Exp (2017); 121:55349

2. Liokatis S*, Klingberg R, Tan S, Schwarzer D. Differentially Isotope-Labeled Nucleosomes to Study Asymmetric Histone Modification Crosstalk by Time-Resolved NMR Spectroscopy. Angew Chem Int Ed (2016); 55(29):8262-5
3. Stuetzer A*, Liokatis S*, Kiesel A, Schwarzer D, Sprangers R, Soeding J, Selenko P, Fischle W.  Modulations of DNA Contacts by Linker Histones and Post-translational Modifications Determine the Mobility and Modifiability of Nucleosomal H3 Tails. Molecular Cell (2016); 61(2):247-59

4. Theillet FX, Rose HM, Liokatis S, Binolfi A, Thongwichian R, Stuiver M, Selenko P. Site-specific mapping and time-resolved NMR monitoring of serine and threonine phosphorylation in reconstituted kinase reaction mixtures or mammalian cell extracts. Nature Protocols (2013);8(7):1416-32

5. Liokatis S, Stuetzer A, Elsaesser SJ, Theillet FX, Klingberg R, van Rossum B, Schwarzer D, Allis CD, Fischle W, Selenko P. Phosphorylation of histone H3 Ser10 establishes a hierarchy for subsequent intramolecular modification events. Nature Struct Mol Biol (2012);19(8):819-23

6. Theillet FX, Liokatis S, Jost JO, Bekei B, Rose HM, Binolfi A, Schwarzer D, Selenko P. Site-specific mapping and time-resolved monitoring of lysine methylation by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. J Am Chem Soc (2012);134(18):7616-9
7. Theillet FX, Smet-Nocca C, Liokatis S, Thongwichian R, Kosten J, Yoon MK, Kriwacki RW,  Landrieu I, Lippens G, Selenko P. Cell signaling, post-translational protein modifications and NMR  spectroscopy. J Biomol NMR (2012);54(3):217-36
8. Liokatis S, Edlich C, Soupsana K, Giannios I, Panagiotidou P, Tripsianes K, Sattler M, Georgatos SD,  Politou AS. Solution structure and molecular interactions of the Lamin B Receptor Tudor domain. J Biol Chem (2012);287(2):1032-1042 

9. Theillet FX, Binolfi A, Liokatis S, Verzini S, Selenko P. Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement to improve sensitivity of fast NMR methods: application to intrinsically disordered proteins. J Biomol NMR (2011);51(4):487-95

10. Dose A*, Liokatis S*, Theillet FX, Schwarzer D, Selenko P. NMR profiling of histone deacetylase and acetyl-transferase activities in real time. ACS Chem Biol (2011);6(5):419

11. Liokatis S, Dose A, Schwarzer D, Selenko P. Simultaneous detection of protein phosphorylation and  acetylation by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. J Am Chem Soc (2010);132(42):14704
12. Karetsou Z, Emmanouilidou A, Sanidas I, Liokatis S, Nikolakaki E, Politou AS, Papamarcaki T.  Identification of distinct SET/TAF-Ibeta domains required for core histone binding and quantitative  characterisation of the interaction. BMC Biochem (2009):10
13. Lekka ME, Liokatis S, Nathanail C, Galani V, Nakos G. The impact of intravenous fat emulsion  administration in acute lung injury. Am J Respir Crit Care Med (2004);169(5):638-44
14. Nakos G, Tsangaris H, Liokatis S, Kitsiouli E, Lekka ME. Ventilator-associated pneumonia and  atelectasis: evaluation through bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis. Intensive Care Med (2003);29(4):555-63

Conferences (selected)

Liokatis S, Selenko P. Independent observation of sister histones and readout of asymmetric post- translational modifications (PTM) patterns in nucleosomes by high-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy (Poster presentation). EMBO Conference: Chromatins and Epigenetics, 2015 – Heidelberg (DE).

Liokatis S, Selenko P. NMR-monitoring of asymmetric post-translational modification patterns in nucleosomes (Oral presentation). 6th Conference of the Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: 2015 – Athens (GR).

Liokatis S. Reading asymmetric post-translational modification (PTM) patterns in nucleosomes by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy (Oral presentation). SEE-DRUG Conference- NMR applications in life sciences: 2015 – Patras (GR).

Liokatis S, Stuetzer A, Sprangers R, Schwarzer D, Fischle W, Selenko P. Modulation of transient histone-tail/DNA interactions by post-translational modifications determine the nucleosomal histone H3 code (Poster presentation). EMBO Workshop on Magnetic resonance for cellular structural biology: 2014 – Grosseto (IT).

Liokatis S, Stuetzer A, Elsaesser SJ, Allis CD, Sprangers R, Fischle W, Selenko P. A ta(i)le of post- translational modifications and dynamics (Oral presentation). Chromatin and Systems Biology, Summer School: 2011 – Spetses (GR).

Liokatis S, Edlich C, Sattler M, Georgatos SD, Politou AS. Structural and functional characterization of Lamin B Receptor (LBR) Tudor domain (Poster presentation). FEBS Biochemistry Congress: 2006 – Istanbul (TR).

Liokatis S, Makatsori D, Sattler M, Georgatos SD, Politou AS. Structural-functional studies of the Lamin B Receptor (LBR) (Poster presentation). EMBL Conference- Structures in Biology: 2004 – Istanbul (TR).

Languages

Greek (Mother tongue)

English (Fluent writing and spoken) – Proficiency from University of Michigan

German (B2 level communication skills)

Stratos Mylonas studied at the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department at the Democritus University of Thrace in Alexandroupolis and conducted his BSc thesis research at the Immunology lab of Prof. Chris D. Platsoucas at the Temple University of Philadelphia. He was accepted at the EMBL International PhD program and joined the lab of Dr. Dmitri Svergun at EMBL Hamburg, Germany focusing on method development and structural analysis of flexible proteins using Small Angle Scattering. After his PhD, he joined the lab of Dr Naoto Yagi at Spring-8, JASRI, Japan working on the structural analysis and simulations of surfactant assemblies, as potential gene delivery systems, and DNA polypods working mostly in collaboration with the group of Prof. Kazuo Sakurai at the University of Kitakyushu. He, then, worked at the lab of Prof. Michael Kokkinidis at IMBB-FORTH in Heraklion, Crete and was involved in several projects including a protein folding model protein, designing enzymes with new specificities, non-coding RNAs and bacterial Type III Secretion Systems. He will soon join the Department of Chemistry at University of Ioannina as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. He is interested in the structural analysis of biological macromolecules, combining information from experimental and computational methods for the better understanding of structure-function relations.