Lab Head

Full CV

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Dr Nikolas Dietis,  MRes, Ph.D
​​Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, UCY Medical School

Dr Dietis is a molecular neuropharmacologist with expertise in drug discovery & drug repurposing research and the Head of the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory at the UCY Medical School. Dr Dietis has completed all his basic training in the UK (BSc Pharmacology at University of Portsmouth, BSc Neuropharmacology and MRes Applied Biosciences & Neuropharmacology at Nottingham Trent University) and earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Leicester after working on the pharmacology of novel bifunctional opioids as potential analgesic drugs against cancer pain. Before joining UCY in 2015, he worked as a Lecturer in Pharmacological Sciences at the University of Tasmania (Australia), researching the links between opioid pharmacology in rodent models of chronic pain and depression..​His current research interests revolve around drug discovery & repurposing pharmacological profiling using target-based and disease-oriented screenings against various in vitro and in vivo assays for chronic diseases, especially cancer, with a special focus on brain cancers such as glioblastoma.
Dr Dietis is a Registered Expert by the European Commission in the field of Pharmacology  (Reg:  EX2022D543045)   and  Science  Communication  (Reg:  D 306517),   an

appointed Examiner of the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation (ID: I.K.Y.K.1.1.04.1/V), a member of the Experts Committee of the Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agricuture of Cyprus for consultation on drug licence applications for veterinary use, an appointed Independent Evaluator at the Council of Recognition of Higher Qualifications in Cyprus (KYSATS; ID: 7.9.05.14), a certified Research Evaluator of the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation in Greece (Reg: 17609, ID: 68268), a member of the European Commission's multi-stakeholder group European AI Alliance (member ID: 53803),  and a registered Speaker at the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) alliance.

Dr Dietis has been engaged in basic & translational research in molecular pharmacology for more than a decade. He has received four research awards, during his professional career and training, including a Best Paper Award at the prestigious GLOBECOM 2020 Congress for his contributory work on the role of growing bio-nanomachine networks in glioblastoma evolution and progression.  Since 2012, he has supervised 18 postgraduate & doctorate students who have been awarded with 6 research excellence awards.
In 2016, Dr Dietis founded the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory at the UCY Medical School University of Cyprus; the first molecular pharmacology lab in Cyprus, focusing on translational drug discovery and repurposing, toxicology and molecular pharmacology profiling. 

In 2018 Dr Dietis founded the first zebrafish lab in Cyprus, under the umbrella of the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory, with the aim to introduce a powerful, high-throughput in vivo model, with real-time observational capabilities, and establish a translational workflow that can bridge the bench to the bedside. The zebrafish lab is the first research facility in Cyprus that provides high/medium-throughput in vivo drug screening expertise using various molecular, toxicological, behavioural and translational assays.

Current Lab Members (2025-2026)

agathangelou.kyriacos[at]ucy.ac.cy

Dr Kyriacos Agathangelou, PhD
​Senior Post-Doctoral Scientist

Dr Agathangelou has a BSc in Biochemistry & Biotechnology (University of Thessaly) and an MSc in Molecular Biology (University of Cyprus). He has completed laboratory training at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology & Genetics and King's College London and completed his PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Crete (Greece) with a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow scholarship at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB-FORTH). Kyriacos has also worked as a post-doctoral scientist at EPOS-Iasis Research & Development Ltd and has been teaching molecular & cellular biology, biochemistry and nutrition & metabolism at the European University of Cyprus. Kyriakos' research interests aligns with the development & exploration of patient-derived zebrafish cancer xenografts as translational models of cancer. 

agathangelou.kyriacos[at]ucy.ac.cy

Efstathios Andreas Elia, PhD
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postodctoral Fellow & Visiting Scientist at the Medical School, University of Cyprus

Efstathios completed his BSc in Molecular Biology with Forensic Science at Queen's Mary University of London, and his MSc in Analytical Toxicology at King's College London. He later completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Southampton where he grew expertise in mass spectrometry. Efstathios is a current Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cyprus, working at the Department of Chemistry on developing mass spectrometry-based methods for metabolic profiling of autism spectrum disorders in children's breath. Efstathios has recently received funding by the Cyprus Research & Innovation Foundation on the VISION ERC PATH program, as a Project Coordinator, for his proposed research project SCI-MAP ("Single-Cell Imaging Mass Spectrometry with Plasma Post-Ionization Platform for Investigating Immunometabolism"). SCI-MAP will run at the Experimental Pharmacology Laboratory using zebrafish larvae as source of cell imaging and the brand new SCIEX 7500+ LCMS/MS of the Medical School.

flourou.christina[at]auth.gr

Christina Flourou, MD, MSc
PhD student, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece

Dr Flourou is a Special Pathologist (Internal Medicine) at the Nicosia General Hospital. She graduated with an MD (Aristotle University Medical School, Greece) and completed her Internal Medicine specialization in 2022. She holds an MSc at Clinical & Industrial Pharmacology - Clinical Toxicology (Aristotle University Medical School, Greece)  Christina has been trained in lipidology by the Greek Society of Lipidology, Atherosclerosis and Vascular Disease. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Athens working in our lab for her research project, as part   of   a  research collaboration. She is working on zebrafish models of liver steatosis and its relationship with the neuronal-liver axis.

 ekonstantinou[at]auth.gr

Elena Constantinou, MSc, BSc
Erasmus+ PhD student - Medical School, Aristotle University, Greece

Elena is a PhD student at the Laboratory of Biological Chemistry of the University of Aristotle Medical School in Greece, where she has been working on cancer organoids. Elena has joined our lab for a 6-month Erasmus+ internship where she is working on the toxicology of custom-made nanoparticles that pass through the blood brain barrier, using in vitro and in vivo screenings in cell lines and zebrafish.

 apostolou.styliani[at]ucy.ac.cy

Styliana Apostolou, BSc
​MSc student, Medical School, University of Cyprus

Styliana has graduated with a BSc in Psychology (University of Cyprus) and is currently a post-graduate student at the MSc Precision Medicine in Clinical Practice program of the UCY Medical School. Styliana has joined our lab for her Masters' research project and is working on glioblastoma drug repurposing by performing screening of neuroactive drugs that pass through the blood brain barrier.

Evaggelia Vryonidi, BSc 
MSc student, Medical School, Aristotle University, Greece

Evaggelia is a postgraduate student of the MSc Clinical & Industrial Pharmacology (Toxicology) program of the University of Aristotle Medical School in Greece, and she is currently working in our lab for her Master's research project. Evaggelia is working on glioblastoma drug repurposing by performing a screening of neuroactive drugs that pass through the blood brain barrier.

 zembashi.stefani[at]ucy.ac.cy

Stefani Zembasi, MD
MSc student, Medical School, University of Cyprus

Stefani is a recent MD graduate from the UCY Medical School. She is currently studying at the MSc in Precision Medicine program of the UCY Medical School and is working in our lab for her research thesis project. Stefani is working on establishing a zebrafish model for investigating the allergic & cardiovascular effects of alpha-gal.

 veleaora.evelina[at]ucy.ac.cy

Evelina Velaora
BSc student, Department of Biology, University of Cyprus

Evelina is an undergraduate student at BSc in Molecular Biology program of the Department of Biology, University of Cyprus. She is currently working in our lab for her final year research thesis project on immuno-oncology, investigating the effect of certain clinical drugs that pass the blood brain barrier on the viability of glioblastoma cell lines, as well as their effect on their interaction with immune cells, like the NK cells.

kyriacou.elena[at]ucy.ac.cy

Elena Kyriacou
BSc student, Department of Biology, University of Cyprus

Elena is an undergraduate student at the BSc in Molecular Biology program of the Department of Biology, University of Cyprus. She is currently working in our lab for her final year research thesis project, investigating the anticancer efficacy of bacterial endophyte extracts from endemic Cypriot plants against certain glioblastoma cell lines, with a high-throughput viability screening assay using our robotic dispensing platform.

koupepia.ioanna[at]ucy.ac.cy

Ioanna Koupepia, BSc
​​Research Assistant

Ioanna is a Research Assistant in our lab, working on the zBRAIN project. Ioanna has completed her BSc in Molecular Biology at the Department of Biology at UCY and she joined our Lab in 2024 for her final-year thesis, where she was fully trained in the development of zebrafish xenograft models for glioblastoma and she is now engaged in a variety of activities under the developed zBRAIN platform.

panagiotou.savvas[at]ucy.ac.cy

Savvas Panagiotou, MBA
Lab Manager - Technical Engineer

Savvas is a Technical Engineer specialized in Medical Devices and joined the UCY Medical School as a Laboratory Manager. He has a degree in Biomedical Engineering (Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Greece). Savvas also holds an MSc in Business Administration (Open University of Cyprus) and is a registered member of the Medical Representative Council.

TEAM ZLIVER: Ms Katerina Chortarea, Ms Andrea Christodoulou, Mr Giorgos Christoforou, Mr Spyros Shikis
MD Students Year 2, UCY Medical School

Katerina, Andrea, Giorgos and Spyros are Medical undergraduate students that are completing their Year Research Project in our lab. They work on the screening liver-acting drugs against an in vivo model of Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) using the zebrafish "overfeeding" model.

TEAM TECHNION: Mr Giorgos Andreou, Mr Chrysovalantis Constantinou, Ms Corina Constantinou, Mr Nikolas Miltiadous
MD Students Year 2, UCY Medical School

Giorgos, Chrysovalantis, Corina and Nikolas are Medical undergraduate students that are completing their Year Research Project in our lab. They work on the toxicological screening of custom-made nanoparticles, made by our collaborators at Technion University, that pass through the blood brain barrier and that can carry anticancer drugs that can target brain cancer.

TEAM PC3: Ms Ivi-Maria Antoniou and Ms Anastasia Nearchou
MD Students Year 2, UCY Medical School

Ivi-Maria and Anastasia are Medical undergraduate students that are completing their Year Research Project in our lab. They work on investigating the anticancer effect of prior identified clinical drugs by our lab against prostate cancer cell lines. 

TEAM BRC: Ms Daniela Christou and Ms Stella Sergiou
MD Students Year 2, UCY Medical School

Daniela and Stella are Medical undergraduate students that are completing their Year Research Project in our lab. They work on investigating the anticancer effect of various clinical drugs against triple-negative vs HER+ breast cancer cell lines. 

Lab Alumni

Ms Clara Alban (MSc research intern 2025 - Polytech Clermont, France)
Ms Mellanie Booij (Erasmus+ intern 2025 - Noorderpoort, Netherlands)
Ms Sofia Challouma (MSc Toxicology graduate 2025)
Ms Maria Glytsi (BSc Biology graduate 2024)
Ms Nefeli Kourouna (BSc Biology graduate 2024)
​Ms Maria Kouma (MSc graduate 2024)
Ms Charalambia Lazarou (BSc Biology graduate 2022)
Ms Maria Panayiotou (BSc Biology graduate 2022)
Ms Despoina Vangeli (MSc graduate 2021)​
Dr Marios Markoulides (Visiting Scientist - Post Doc 2019-2021)
Ms Chrystalla Pavlou (Lab Manager - Research Assistant 2019-2020)
Dr Marina Demetriades (Research Associate 2018-2019)

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Michael Spyrou (MD Intern 2022-2024)
Konstantinos Michaelides (MD Intern 2023-2024)
Maria Roussia (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Giannis Agrimanakis (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Xeni Kosofidou (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Natalia Anastasiou (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Marianna Vitali (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Jumana El Bakri​ (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Adamos Theodorou (MD Intern 2021-2023)
Andriana Hadjigianni (MD Intern 2022-2023)
Michael Temvriotis (MD Intern 2022-2023)
Christos Mastis​ (MD Intern 2022-2023)
​Vasiliki Tzalili (MD Intern 2022-2023)
Stella Gkountinaki (MD Intern 2022-2023)
Konstantinos Mihaelides​ (MD Intern 2022-2023)
​Effrosyni Lambrou​ (MD Intern 2022-2023)
Orestis Germanos (MD Intern 2020-2022)
Irene Filippou (MD Intern 2020-2022)
Mikaella Chrysostomou (MD Intern 2020-2022)
Mikaella Kitiri (MD Intern 2020-2022)

Christina Pasiouli (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Vasiliki Vasileiou (MD Intern 2019-2021)
​Marina Evangellou (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Sofia Philippou (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Charalambos Apostolopoulos (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Stephani Hadjievagorou (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Petros Pieri  (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Stephanos Hilides (MD Intern 2019-2021)
Konstantinos Sykallos (MD Intern 2019-2021)
​Nikos Ververides (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Antonis Pilavas (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Egli Kosti (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Melani Theodoridou​ (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Argyris Konstantinou (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Andreas Menoikou (MD Intern 2018-2020)
​Persefoni Panayi (MD Intern 2018-2020)
Eleni Xenophontos (MD Intern 2019-2020)
Chrystalla Souroupi (MD Intern 2016-2017)
Alexandros Georgiou (MD Intern 2016-2017)
Athina Fouli (MD Intern 2016-2017)
Irene Tsappa (MD Intern 2016-2017)