Dr. Tolis Panayi is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of
Nicosia. He attended the University of Hull, from where he graduated with a B.Sc.
in Human Biology in 2010. After that, he continued his postgraduate studies at
the University of Leicester where he received an MSc in Infection and Immunity
in 2012 and a Ph.D. from the same university in 2016. Dr. Panayi joined the
University of Nicosia in 2018 as an Adjunct Lecturer where he has taught
Microbiology, Cell Biology, and Immunology. He worked from 2021 to 2022 as a
research associate with the UNRF Seed Grand. Dr. Panayi’s research interests
include the investigation of novel antimicrobials to address the ever-expanding
issue of bacterial antibiotic resistance, particularly the use of plant
extracts, antimicrobial peptides, and bacteriophages.
Dr. Vicky Nicolaidou is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Life Sciences of the University of Nicosia. She holds
a BSc in Biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Greece (2005); an MRes in Biomedical Science (2007); and a PhD (2011) from
Imperial College London, UK. After completing her Ph.D., she worked as a
postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London, UK; University of Oxford,
UK; and The Center for the Study of Haematological Malignancies, Karaiskakio Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus. In 2014, she joined the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Nicosia as a full-time Teaching and Research
Faculty member. Dr. Nicolaidou’s research interests focus on osteoimmunology,
autoimmunity, hematological malignancies, immune system function and
regulation, and cell metabolism.
Dr. Christos Petrou is an Associate Professor at the
University of Nicosia. He holds a B.Sc. Degree in Pharmacy (Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki), an MSc in “Pharmacochemistry, Natural Products, Design,
Synthesis and Analysis of Bioactive Compounds”, and a Ph.D. from the Department
of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Greece. He joined the University of Nicosia
in 2011, being appointed as the Link Tutor of the University of Hertfordshire’s
Pharmacy Programme, and since 2013, he has acted as the Coordinator of the
Pharmacy Programme of the University of Nicosia. Before joining the University
of Nicosia, from 2006 to 2013, Dr. Petrou was the Head of the Pharmacovigilance
Department at the Cyprus Ministry of Health, and from 2010 to 2013, he served as
Registrar of the Pharmacy Board (appointed by the Ministerial Board of the
Government of Cyprus). He was a member of the Pharmacovigilance and Risk
Assessment Committee of the European Medicines Agency from 2007 to 2014. He has
also been serving as a member of other scientific committees (Cyprus
Anti-Doping Authority, National Bioethics Committee for the Evaluation of
Clinical Trials on Drugs for Human Use). His research interests are focused on
the design, isolation synthesis, and biological evaluation of peptides and
other bioactive compounds. He is also interested in the study of the endemic
species of Cyprus plants.
Dr. Yiannis Sarigiannis is currently an Associate Professor
in the Pharmacy Program of the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus. He obtained his Diploma in Chemistry (1998) and his PhD in
Medicinal Chemistry (2006) from the University of Patras, Patras, Greece. Then,
he performed postdoctoral research in the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacy
at the University of Patras (Patras, Greece), whereas he was a Visitor Scientist
at the ISPA—Bari (Bari, Italy). Later, he worked as a Senior Post-Doctoral
Researcher in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the
Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
USA (August 2014–August 2016), in Complement Therapeutics under the
supervision of Professor Lambris. He has developed broad research activities covering mostly
synthetic and analytical aspects of chemistry. He mainly works with bioinspired
peptides with multiple applications as therapeutics, biomaterials, and/or
diagnostics. His research results have been published in 29 international referenced
journals and 6 book chapters, and he has contributed to more than 70 abstracts in International
Conferences and 3 invited lectures, while he serves as a reviewer for several
journals. He is also a member of the European Venom Network working on the venoms of
endemic species of Cyprus (Mesobuthus Cyprius and Macrovipera
Lebetina Lebetina).
