Plenary Speakers

Leonidas G. Bachas

University of Miami - www.as.miami.edu/chemistry

Leonidas G. Bachas is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Miami and the Dean of its College of Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining the University of Miami, he was a member of the University of Kentucky faculty from 1986-2010, where he served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and the Frank J. Derbyshire Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Bachas earned his undergraduate degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1981), his M.S. in Chemistry and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Michigan (1983, 1985), and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan (1986). His research lies at the interface of analytical, biological, and materials chemistry. In particular, his research team explores novel sensing architectures and nanosized material for biomedical analysis and environmental remediation. He has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Emmanuel A. Theodorakis

University of California, San Diego - profiles.ucsd.edu/emmanuel.theodorakis

Dr. Theodorakis received his B.Sc. Degree in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece in 1987 and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees from Paris XI University in France. His M.Sc. studies (1987-1989) were performed at the Institute of Chemistry of Natural Products under the supervision of Professor H. P. Husson and his Ph.D. studies (1989-1993) at Texas A&M University under the supervision of Professor Sir Derek H. R. Barton. Following a postdoctoral appointment (1993-1995) at The Scripps Research Institute in the laboratory of Professor K. C. Nicolaou, in 1995 he joined the faculty at the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, where he is currently a Professor and the T. G. Traylor Scholar. His research activities include synthetic chemistry, biological studies and drug discovery based on natural products and designed small molecules.

Zoe Pikramenou

University of Birmingham, UK - www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/chemistry/people/navigation.aspx?ReferenceId=11289&Name=professor

Zoe Pikramenou is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Photophysics at the University of Birmingham and recently also appointed as Director of Internationalisation for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. She is a graduate of the University of Athens in Chemistry (1987). A year later she embarked for a PhD at Michigan State University, supported with a scholarship fro Academy of Athens and worked with Professor Daniel G Nocera (currently at Harvard) completing her PhD in physical inorganic chemistry in 1993. She then moved to France with a Marie Curie Fellowship to work with Nobel prize winner Professor Jean Marie Lehn. She continued her research in supramolecular organic chemistry as a College de France fellow and in 1995 took a position as a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. She moved to University of Birmingham in 2000. Her research involves the design of luminescent molecular and nanosized towards the development of new materials for sensing, detection and energy conversion. Most of the research projects in the group are interdisciplinary involving medics, biologists, engineers and physicists.

Nikos Hadjichristidis

Distinguished Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia - polymer.kaust.edu.sa

Nikos Hadjichristidis is Professor Emeritus at the University of Athens, Greece (since 2010) and Distinguished Professor of Chemical Sciences at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia (since 2011). He was the Director of the Industrial Chemistry Laboratory (1994-2010) and for many years Chairman of the Chemistry Department at the University of Athens. His research focuses mainly on the synthesis of novel homopolymers, and copolymers with well-defined complex macromolecular architectures by using anionic polymerization (AP) high vacuum techniques, as well as combinations of AP with other polymerization methodologies (C1 and C3 polymerizations, ROP, ROMP, ATRP, etc). These polymers are ideal models for checking the theory, understanding and improving the performance of industrial polymers and are potential candidates for high-tech applications. He has received several awards including: The Macro Group United Kingdom - Royal Society of Chemistry Medal for Outstanding Achievements (2016); the ACS National Award for Polymer Chemistry (2015); the ACS, Rubber Division Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award (2011); The ACS, Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division Cooperative Research Award (2010); The International Award of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (SPSJ, 2007). He has published more than 500 scientific papers in refereed scientific journals, 25 patents, is the editor of four books and author of one book on "Block Copolymers" (Wiley 2003).

Nancy Makri

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - www.scs.uiuc.edu/~makri

Nancy Makri obtained a B.S. from the University of Athens in 1985 and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. After spending two years as a Junior Fellow at Harvard, she joined the University of Illinois, where she is currently the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor and holds faculty appointments in Chemistry and Physics. Makri's research focuses on the development of theoretical methods for simulating the quantum dynamics of condensed phase processes. She has pioneered the development of rigorous real-time path integral methods, which have helped quantify quantum mechanical effects in chemical kinetics. Makri is the recipient of Packard, Beckman and Sloan research awards, Cottrell and Dreyfus scholar awards, and the Bodossaki Academic Prize in Physical Sciences. She is also a Medalist and a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

Emmanouil Gkikas

University of Massachusetts Lowell, U.S.A. - faculty.uml.edu/Manos_Gkikas/Publications/Publications.aspx

Emmanouil Gkikas obtained a B.S. (2006), a MSc (2008) and a PhD (2012) from the University of Athens. After spending four years as a Postdoctoral Scholar at M.I.T., USA, he joined the University of Massachusetts Lowell, U.S.A. in 2016 where he holds faculty appointments in Chemistry. His research areas are: Metallic Nanocrystals as Contrast Agents for Medical Imaging, Hemostatic Materials, Synthetic Collagen Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications, Biomaterial-based Tissue Sealants, Injectable Drug Delivery Carriers for Alzheimer's Disease, Moisture/Oxygen Barrier Films for Flexible Electronics, Therapeutic/Diagnostic Materials for Clinical Applications. For his research he has received grants as DoD (UML/NSRDEC/FLEXcon), UML Endowed Fund for Advanced Research, NSF ICorps, UMass CORMI Development Fund, MicroChem (Industry)

Keynote Speakers

Spyros P. Perlepes

Chemistry Department, University of Patras, Greece - http://www.chem.upatras.gr/el/people-el/division-b-el/50-perlepes-spyridon-en

Spyros P. Perlepes, born in Athens, Greece, in 1953, is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the Chemistry Department of the University of Patras (Patras, Greece). He has taught Inorganic Chemistry for 35 years in the Chemistry Departments of the Universities of Ioannina and Patras. His research interests cover: a) The chemistry of 3d-, 4f- and mixed 3d/4f- metal coordination clusters with emphasis on their magnetic and optical properties; and b) The reactivity of coordinated ligands, with emphasis on the metal ion-assisted/promoted transformations of carbonyl and oxime functional groups. He has been the advisor of more than 35 PhD students (15 of them currently occupy senior academic and research positions) and ~60 MSc students. He is co-author of ~370 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, including 2 book chapters and 6 reviews/perspectives/accounts. He is co-organizer of the popular series of meetings "North America-Greece-Cyprus Workshops on Paramagnetic Materials" and "Current Trends in Nanoscopic and Mesoscopic Magnetism". He is the Editorial Board of 5 Inorganic Chemistry journals and Associate Editor in "Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications".

George Fytas

Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research - http://www.mpip-mainz.mpg.de/4844692/smartphon

George Fytas is professor of Physical Chemistry in the Department of Materials Science & Technology of the University of Crete, affiliated member of IESL/FORTH and External Member of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. George Fytas has received the BS in Chemistry Department of the University of Athens and the PhD with from the Technical University of Hannover in Germany. He performed his postdoc research in SUNY at Stony Brook in USA and received his habilitation from the University of Bielefeld in Germany. George Fytas trained 31 PhD students and 14 postdocs who all have successful carriers worldwide. He published over 275 peer reviewed scientific articles (Science, Nature (Materials,-Nanotechnology,-Chemistry,-Communications), Nanoletters, Angewandte Chemie JACS, ACS Nano, Adv. Mater, PRL), one edited book and 11 reviews in books. His published work has received more than 9200 citations (HI: 49).
He has received honor professorship offer from the University of Patras and the first FO.R.T.H Award for Basic Research (1999). He was nominated as external member of Max Planck Society (1998), received a Humboldt Senior Research Award (2002), became a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2004), received an invited professorship in the University of Lille (2009, 2012) is Member of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems ICMS (TU/e), Eindhoven, Adjunct Professor at the University of Akron (2013), and distinguished Fellow of Tongji University in Shanghai, and awarded with ERC 2015 Advanced Grant. He served as Regional Editor of Colloid & Polymer Science and member of the Editorial Advisory Board in four international journals. His mission is the basic understanding and prediction of the behavior and tunability of unconventional physical properties of structured soft materials with spatiotemporal complexity.

Efstratios Stratikos

INRASTES - Protein Chemistry, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos - sites.google.com

Dr. Efstratios Stratikos studied chemistry at the University of Athens from 1989 to 1994 and received a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 1999. After postdoctoral training in Structural and Molecular biology at Harvard University, in 2005 he returned to Greece where he established the Protein Chemistry laboratory at the National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos, where he is currently employed at the rank of research director. His main research interests revolve around understanding complex biological systems at the molecular and atomic level as well as applying this understanding to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for human disease. A main project in his lab has been the elucidation of the mechanisms of intracellular antigen processing as well as the role of this biochemical pathway in regulating immune responses.

Christina Zeri

Lab. of Environmental Chemistry, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - www.hcmr.gr/

Christina Zeri, Chemist Oceanographer, Senior Researcher, Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). Christina Zeri has received the BS in Chemistry and PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Athens. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Institute of Oceanography/HCMR (2015-today). During the period 2008- 2011 she lectured at the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her main research interests include: marine pollution by microplastics; heavy metals; dissolved organic matter cycling and its optical properties; interactions between trace metals and organic matter. She has participated in numerous European and National research projects and has coordinated 4 scientific projects. She is the author of 45 scientific papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals - books -special editions, more than 100 conference proceedings.

Manolis Stratakis

Department of Chemistry, University of Crete - www.chemistry.uoc.gr/

Manolis Stratakis studied chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. After obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Crete in 1991 and performing postdoctoral research at the Universities of California at Berkeley and UCLA, he joined the faculty at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus. In 1999 he moved to the Department of Chemistry, University of Crete where he is a full professor since 2009. His research interests focus on the catalytic applications of supported metal nanoparticles in organic transformations, in synthetic methodology and in biomimetic natural product synthesis.

Maria Kapsokefalou

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens - fst.aua.gr

Maria Kapsokefalou is Professor in Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. She is also a member of the National Council for Research and Innovation, of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Ministry of Education, of the Hellenic Food Safety Authority at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food and of the National Committee on Nutrition Policy of the Ministry of Health. She is also the Vice President of the Hellenic Pasteur Institute.
Following a BSc in Chemistry at the University of Athens, Maria Kapsokefalou pursued her graduate and postdoctoral studies in Food Science and in Nutrition at Cornell University. Her research activities aim to the promotion of Public Health though better nutrition. She investigates health benefits of bioactive compounds and novel and functional foods, linking Nutritional Sciences and Food Science.

Panagiotis Argitis

Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (INN) of NCSR Demokritos - inn.demokritos.gr

Panagiotis Argitis is Director of Research at the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (INN) of NCSR Demokritos. He received his BS in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1981 and his PhD in Photocatalysis from the same University in 1987. In the period 1988-1991 was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Chem. Engineering of the Univ. of Texas at Austin and in 1991-92 had a teaching position at the Department of Chemistry of Univ. of Crete. In 1992 joined the Inst. of Microelectronics (now part of INN) of NCSR Demokritos. His research interests are in the areas of Photochemistry and Materials Chemistry. In particular, he is currently working on lithographic materials and processes for fabrication of nanodevices and microsystems, and on organic electronics and photonics.