Lab Members
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Mrs Chrystalla Pavlou, BSc(Hons), MSc
Lab Manager - Research Assistant Mrs Chrystalla Pavlou obtained her BSc(Hons) from the University of Surrey in Biomedical Sciences working on the effects of broad-spectrum light on interstitial glucose responses. She graduated with a Masters of Science in Neuroscience from The Cyprus School of Molecular Medicine (Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics), working on the molecular pathways implicated in autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias. She then moved back to England where she worked as a research assistant at St’ Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College London, at the Department of Surgery and Cancer, where she worked on method development for the identification and discovery of possible cancer biomarkers via breath analysis with the team of Professor George Hanna.
Mrs Pavlou joined the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory in 2019 at the role of Laboratory Manager and Postgraduate Researcher. She is working with Dr. Dietis on the START project (“University of CypruS acTion Against antimicRobial resisTance”) aiming to establish the first Antimicrobial Screening Library and the first Bacterial Bank for antibacterial in vitro research in Cyprus, which will be used for drug screening studies in the area of antimicrobial efficacy and antimicrobial resistance. |
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Dr Marina Demetriades, BSc(Hons), Ph.D
Post-Doctoral Researcher Dr Demetriades obtained her BSc(Hons) from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cyprus in 2009, working in synthetic organic chemistry with Prof Koutentis. She then received a scholarship at the University of Oxford (UK) where she worked on Dynamic Combinational Mass Spectrometry at Prof Schofield lab, for which she was awarded with a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2013. Marina worked at the University of Oxford in various roles (Junior Laboratory Demonstrator, Exams Invigilator, Teaching Assistant and Post-Doctoral Research Assistant) gaining valuable teaching and research experience. She then joined the laboratory of Prof Barr at the University of Oxford, Department of Biochemistry, where she worked for three years on phosphoprotein phosphatases as potential cancer targets. Dr Demetriades joined UCY and the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory in Sep 2017 after being successful in a competitive internal post-doctoral funding program.
At Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory, Dr Demetriades aims to set-up the "University of Cyprus Drug Library" and develop a number of in vitro assays for cancer target screening. Marina's multidisciplinary laboratory experience (e.g. organic synthesis, spectroscopy, SAR studies, in vitro assay development) provides a solid base for the Lab's development towards achieving its ambitious aims. |
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Dr Marios Markoulides, BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD
Visiting Researcher - Research Associate Dr Marios Markoulides is currently contracted by the European Commission (Research Executive Agency) and works in our lab as a visiting research fellow. He obtained his BSc(Hons) in Chemistry at the University of Manchester (UK) where he also obtained his MPhil, working on M3-receptor antagonists with Prof Jim Thomas and his PhD, working on anti-cancer phospholipids with Dr Andrew C. Regan. After a period at the University of Cyprus woriking as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof Nikos Chronakis in the field of supramolecular and fullerene chemistry, he joined CNRS (France) as a postdoc with Prof Andre Gourdon in the field of nanosciences (Planar Atomic and Molecular Scale devices; European FP7). Marios has also been awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, working with Professor Chris Schofield (FRS) in the field of Antimicrobial Resistance at the University of Oxford. He has also participated in the TIMSS-2019 project (in collaboration with the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute) He has established ongoing research collaborations with world leading institutions including the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Harvard Medical School, University of Cyprus, CNRS (France), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His current research activities include investigations in the fields of antimicrobial resistance, anti-cancer agents, nanoscience, synthetic methodology, and natural products. He is a member of the Marie Curie Association and the Royal Society of Chemistry. As an academic, he worked at the Department of Pharmacy of Frederick University as a Visiting Lecturer, at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cyprus as a Special Scientist and at the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Nicosia as adjunct teaching faculty member.
At the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory, he is working with Dr Dietis in the pharmacologial screening of chemically synthetic compounds for antimicrobial and anticancer efficacy. |
Lab Interns
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Mr Antonis Pylavas
(Med student, MD Year 3) 
Antonis is working on toxicity screenings of various drugs, using zebrafish larvae as a model. He records parameters that describe the grade of lethality of these drugs, as part of a characterization of their toxicological profile. "Zebrafish are a very useful organism in toxicity testing, but not many compounds have been screened in this organism in order to correlate accuratey its toxicity profile with rodents and humans." |
Mrs Melani Theodoridou
(Med student, MD Year 3) 
Melani is working on toxicity screenings of various drugs, using zebrafish larvae as a model. She records the kinetic lethality of drugs after intermittent administration of increasing dosing. "The toxicity profile of drugs in zebrafish larvae can vary greatly based on a number of parameters. It is important that these parameters be determined accurately and their impact on toxicity profiling evaluated". |
Mr Nikos Ververides
(Med student, MD Year 3) 
Nikos is interested in drug repurposing for anticancer activity. He screens clinical drugs against various types of cancer cells using the NIH-standardised SRB assay that evaluates cell survival and cell death. "Although many anticancer drugs are used in the clinic today, there are still a number of cancers that are resistant to treatment. New drugs are needed to develop new treatments and improve the survival of cancer patients." |
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Mr Argyris Constantinou
(Med student, MD Year 3) 
Argyris is interested in drug repurposing for antibacterial activity. He uses the standardised method of disc diffusion to test clinical drugs, alone and in combination, for potential antibacterial effect against certain pathogenic bacteria. "The disc diffusion assay is a very useful assay to screen for synergy of drug combinations. Synergy is key in modern anti-infection strategies in the clinic." [START project group member] |
Mr Charalambos Anagnostopoulos
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Charalambos is interested in the synergistic effect of novel compounds when in combination with antibiotics, against certain types of pathogenic bacteria. He screens drugs using the microdilution growth inhibition assay as a HTS method for multiscreening. "The microdilution growth inhibition assay offers an efficient and quick method for screening synergies against growing bacteria." [START project group member] |
Mrs Christina Pasiouli
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Christina is interested in the exploration of the bacteriostatic properties of clinical drugs as part of a drug repurposing screenings. She tests drugs using an assay that monitors bacterial colony formation. "The bacteriostatic activity of drugs is equally important to bacteriocidal actions, since it can help our search for new antibacterial targets that can help in our fight against infections." [START project group member] |
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Mr Petros Pieri
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Petros is interested in the potential antibacterial effect of novel compounds against certain types of pathogenic bacteria. He screens drugs using the microdilution growth inhibition assay as a HTS method for multiscreening. "The microdilution growth inhibition assay is one of the best assays for fast and high-throughput screening of compounds for antibacterial activity". [START project group member] |
Mrs Marina Evaggelou
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Marina works on the characterisation of basic cellular toxicity of clinical compounds against certain types of cancer cells. She screens these drugs as part of drug repurposing studies for anticancer efficacy. "Inducing cancer cell death using drugs that are currently in the clinic for other diseases, is an important step to drug or target discovery that will lead to new cancer therapies." |
Mrs Sofia Filipou
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Sofia works on the characterisation of basic cellular toxicity of clinical compounds against certain types of cancer cells. She screens drug combinations for anticancer synergy, as part of drug repurposing studies. "Some drugs may not have an toxic activity against cancer, but they may create conditions that will favour current anticancer drugs to work better." |
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Mr Stephanos Hilides
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Stephanos tests the ability of drugs to inhibit the formation (or stability) of bacterial static biofilms. He uses standardised assays to test novel and clinical drugs against various pathogenic bacteria. "Testing drugs for their ability to eradicate biofilms, i.e. densely packed bacterial communities formed on inert surfaces, will help us discover new drugs with this important property." [START project group member] Mr Konstantinos Sykallos
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
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Mrs Stephani Hadjievagorou
(Med student, MD Year 2) 
Stephani is interested in the discovery of compounds that can affect cancer cell proliferation and propagation. She uses colony forming assays to study the cytostatic properties of various drugs. "Efficient cell proliferation is an important element of cancer cell biology. Some drugs can disrupt this process in various ways and halt cancer cell propagation, without killing them." [START project group member] |
Mrs Vasiliki Vasileiou
(Med student, MD Year 2)
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