Maria obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from the Department of Pharmacy of University of Patras in 2017 where she carried out her diploma thesis in the laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunology of the aforementioned Department. Afterwards, Maria pursued her Master’s degree in the postgraduate study programme “Biomedical Sciences” of the Medical School of the same University specializing in the field of “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine”. She conducted her thesis regarding the regulation of DNA replication licensing of neural stem cells during early and mid corticogenesisin the lab of Prof. Stavros Taraviras. Currently, she is studying the role of inflammation signaling triggered by genomic instability in colon cancer progression in the context of her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Stavros Taraviras.

Giorgos is a PhD student that joined the laboratory in 2023. He has completed his Bachelor of Science in General Biology in the University of Ioannina, Greece and his Master of Science in Medical genetics and genomics, in the University of Glasgow. His current project in our laboratory is focused on the molecular mechanisms through which GemC1 mediates reprogramming towards the ependymal lineage. Depending on our team’s latest results the project aims to identify the gene network and the cofactors that GemC1 interacts with to successfully reprogram cells into fully differentiated ependymal cells.

Despoina graduated with Honors in Biological Sciences from the University of Surrey in 2020. Her focus was on restoring peroxisomal biogenesis in genetically rescued Zellweger cell lines. During that time, she also undertook an Erasmus internship at Utrecht University studying the neurobiology of social play behavior in adolescent mice. She then completed a Master’s degree in Molecular Biomedicine at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School in 2022, investigating RNA Pol II fate upon UV lesion recognition in normal and Cockayne syndrome cells for her MSc thesis under Dr. Maria Fousteri’s supervision. After a year as a Clinical Research Associate, Despoina is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Stem Cell Laboratory, University of Patras. Her research, supervised by Dr. Stavros Taraviras, delves into elucidating the role of Geminin family proteins’ interactions for efficient cellular reprogramming to ependymal lineage.

Anna obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Sheffield in 2022. She continued her studies at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, where she conducted her Master’s thesis on ESC-derived midbrain dopaminergic neurons and their potential as therapy for Parkinson’s disease. In 2023, she joined Stem Cell Laboratory at the University of Patras as Research Assistant under the supervision of Prof. Stavros Taraviras, and a year later started her PhD at the lab. She works on unraveling the role of Geminin family proteins in the generation of rare cell populations in the subventricular zone of the hydrocephalic murine brain.

Lydia obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Patras in 2023. Her thesis involved the study of resistance mechanisms exploited by cancer cells against chemotherapeutic drugs. She then pursued post-graduate studies in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras and earned a master’s degree in Drug Discovery & Development in 2025. Her research aimed to elucidate angiogenic pathways in order to establish novel anti-angiogenic approaches in cancer treatment. She joined the Stem Cells Laboratory in 2025 as a PhD Candidate under the supervision of Prof. Stavros Taraviras. Her work focuses on the genetic interactions of Cdt1 that lead to cancer cell survival and the identification of targets for the development of novel anti-cancer therapeutic approaches against tumors overexpressing Cdt1.