Dr Christos Papaneophytou

Dr Christos Papaneophytou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Life and Health Sciences of the University of Nicosia. He received his BSc (2000) in Chemical Engineering, MSc (2004) and PhD (2008) in Biochemistry from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in Greece. His PhD studies were funded by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). After completing his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of biochemistry in AUTH for the next two years. In 2011 he joined, as a postdoctoral researcher, the Centre of Research and Technology of Thessaly (CERTH, Greece). His research at CERTH focused on the identification of small molecule inhibitors of proteins involved in the pathogenesis autoimmune disorders. His research experience in the field of autoimmune disorders was extended when he moved to the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics in April 2014. In September 2015, he joined the Department of Life and Health Sciences at the University of Nicosia as a full-time Teaching and Research Faculty. Prior to his return to Cyprus, he was a Visiting Lecturer at the Technological Education Institute (T.E.I) of Thessaly in Greece and at the Vocational Training Institute (Ι.Ε.Κ.) of Karditsa (Greece) as well as a Teaching Assistant in the University of Thessaly (Greece). Dr Papaneophytou has a strong background in diverse fields such as drug discovery, biophysical characterization of protein-ligand interaction, cellular biochemistry, optimization of recombinant protein production, biochemistry of proteins, structural biology, and in vivo mouse models for pharmacogenetic studies. His research interests include the development of drugs targeted to cancer as well as drugs for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, the optimization of small molecule compounds to inhibit lesser-studied kinases that have been implicated in disease processes, and the discovery of plant-derived antimicrobial compounds in order to replace antibiotics. His scientific work has been published in 22 original research articles in international peer-reviewed journals and in several international conference proceedings. He has a long-term participation in research projects funded from both international and national funding bodies, while has recently received a major H2020 funding award to identify novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis of osteoarthritis. In addition, he has a long experience in supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as PhD candidates. He is a reviewer in four scientific journals (Microbial Cells Factory, Combinatorial Chemistry and High Throughput Screening, Biochemical Engineering Journal, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences) while he has recently joined the Editorial Board of the Archives of Industrial Biotechnology journal.