Summary

The main core of our project was designed by the undergraduate members of our team. Our instructors trained us and always supervised us while working in the lab.

The bibliography research for our project was done by the team members and was supervised by our PI and instructors. Moreover, the support of the scientific community and society is analysed in detail in the Integrated Human Practices.

As far as the wet lab is concerned, the experiments were conducted by the team members, but an instructor always supervised us. They helped us to get used to the lab environment and to feel confident and autonomous while working.

Team members were responsible for the harmonious cooperation of the dry lab work, models, hardware, and software. Attributors, advisors, co-PI Alexandros Kyparrisides, and our PI contributed to this work. Their help and advice were of inherent value. The wiki was created by our team member, Ioanna Choustoulaki.

Our team members conducted the fundraising activity, but the help and guidance from our PI were essential. For human practices, we had the support of our PI and people from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as well as local media.

Principal Investigator

Aivaliotis Michail

Our PI, Aivaliotis Michail, has been an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Medicine at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) since December 2017. He established in September the research group in Functional Proteomics and Systems Biology at AUTh (FunPATh), based in the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIRI-AUTH) and the Laboratory of Biological Chemistry in the Department of Medicine at AUTh. Mr. Aivaliotis is the chair of the steering committee of the Joint Postgraduate Studies Program “Precision Medicine: Translational Research and Therapeutics”. He is a member of eleven scientific societies and is the author or co-author of more than 50 peer-reviewed research articles, while also reviewing for several scientific journals He is the most supportive PI anyone could ask for, and our mentor on this journey. He contributed to project development, guided the team in the organisation of bibliography and methodology, checked the team’s progress while paying attention to every member separately, and even more! Always pointing out that “It is a marathon, not a sprint. We need to maintain a stable and rising rate. It is not an easy process, but we can do it!”.

Co PI

Nikolakaki Eleni

Nikolakaki Eleni is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). In our team, her contribution was really important since she guided and at the same time reviewed our work. Her contribution to our cancer cell cultures and their transfection was very valuable.

Alexandros D. Kiparissides

Alexandros D. Κiparissides is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). His guidance on modelling, as well as on the design part of our project, was really helpful. He reviewed our work in the dry lab and helped us with problems that we had to face.

Instructors

Dorothea Evmorfidou

Our beloved instructor, Dorothea Evmorfidou, has a master's in translational research and she is a biologist very passionate about microorganisms. Dora was always by our side while conducting experiments. With her experience, we felt safe and confident in the laboratory, and we knew that if something went wrong, we would have a long conversation about troubleshooting, making the learning process interactive. She gracefully reviewed and corrected our protocols. Her insights into microorganisms were the key elements in shaping our amazing board games, while her beloving character has accompanied us in many of our human practices. Her childish vibe transformed our workshops and presentations to schools into an interactive and memorable experience!

Konstantina Psatha

Konstantina Psatha is a biology major and postdoctoral researcher in the group of Functional Proteomics & Systems Biology. Her interests are in systems biology approaches, combining biochemistry, molecular biology, and omics strategies, investigating the molecular basis of haematologic malignancies and human diseases. She trained us for the lab and helped us understand thoroughly every experiment we conducted. Her calmness and joy made the wet lab a lot easier.

Advisors

Stelios Kokkas, Researcher at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Artificial Intelligence

Konstantinos Kozalakis, Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Physics, A.U.Th.

Anna Nikolaidou, MD, MSc student, Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Experimental Ophthalmology, Medical School A.U.Th.

	Anna Nikolaidou	Stelios Kokkas	Konstantinos Kozalakis
Literature Review
Implementation
Dry Experiments
Design
Software
Hardware
Human Practices

		Anna	Ioanna	Aikaterini Sofia	Markos	Despoina	Ellie	Ilias	Stelios
Project	Literature Review
	Safety
	Implementation
Wet Lab	Protocols Design
	Experimental Process
	Nanocarrier
	Interlab Experiments
Dry Lab	Research
	Design
	Model
	Software
	Hardware
	Wiki Development
	Human Practices
	Education
	Communication
	Sponsorship
	Graphic Design
	Wiki Content
	Project Video

Contributors

Anastasios Alexandridis, undergraduate student at the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, D.U.Th

George Nousias, Ph.D. candidate at the Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics Department, University of Thessaly

Former members of the 2022 team

We thank the former members of our 2022 team for their contribution and all their work. These former members started as members at the beginning of our team, but due to personal reasons, they left the team.

Lydia Despoina Angelou, undergraduate student at the Dept. of Medicine, A.U.Th.

Athanasios Thomopoulos , undergraduate student at the Dept. of Agriculture, A.U.Th., helped with fundraising and brainstorming

Styliani Kioutsiki, undergraduate student at the Dept. of Physics, A.U.Th.

Panagiota Papadopoulou, undergraduate student at the Dept. of Pharmacology, A.U.Th.

	Lydia Despoina Angelou	Panagiota Papadopoulou	Styliani Kioutsiki	George Nousias	Anastasios Alexandridis
Literature Review
Safety
Protocols Design
Design
Software
Wiki Development
Human Practices

Dry Lab

Dr. Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Computational Clinical Imaging Group Lead, Champalimaud, PT, Machine Learning Imaging Lead, Royal Marsden Hospital, UK and Honorary Reader at The Institute of Cancer Research, UK

George Malliaras, Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge

Vasiliki Fadouloglou, Associate Professor, Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Wet Lab

For the help and the advice during our brainstorming sessions, we would like to thank:

Nikolaos Foroglou, Professor of the Department of Medicine at AUTh, Neurosurgeon

FOK Kin Lam Ellis, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

George Komis, Associate Professor, Dept. of Biology, A.U.Th.

George Mosialos, Professor in the Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, A.U.Th.

Mavroeidis Angelakeris, Professor, Department of Solid State Physics, School of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, A.U.Th.

Dimitra Dafou, Associate Professor, Department of Genetics Development and Molecular Biology, A.U.Th.

Theodora Choli-Papadopoulou, Dept. of Chemistry, A.U.Th.

Ioannis Lykakis, Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemistry, A.U.Th.

For helping in some experiments:

Alexandra Tsakalidou, BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics. She contributed to some Interlab experiments and helped with protocol design and training.

Ioanna Sigala, Postdoc, Biochemistry Laboratory, School of Chemistry, A.U.Th.

iGEM Guidance

Konstantinos Ragios, iGEM Mentor, iGEM alumni, Biomedical engineer at Roche, for the guidance in all this journey of preparation for iGEM competition as a mentor from the iGEM 2022 Mentorship Program

All the alumni members of iGEM Thessaloniki teams for their generous help and guidance in a lot of sections of our project.

Asteris Arampatzis, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2017, for helping with brainstorming guidance

Aliki Athanasiadou, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2019, for helping with the fundraising strategy

Charalampos Malathounis, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2019, for helping with the design code

Platon Megagiannis, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2019, for helping with the brainstorming guidance and the hardware

Anastasia Theodosiadou, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2021, for helping with the lab training

Anna Varvari, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2021, for helping with the brainstorming guidance

Danai Eleni Vergini, member of iGEM Thessaloniki 2021, for helping with brainstorming guidance