Dr. Panagiotis Stamatiadis

Panagiotis Stamatiadis is an embryologist/developmental biologist and his specialty is the application of novel genome editing techniques (e.g CRISPR-Cas9) for the functional characterization of genes expressed during  pre- and post-implantation embryo development in mammalian species and especially in humans. The deeper understanding of the molecular pathways regulating early embryo development Panagiotis aims to achieve has implications in stem cell derivation and in the identification of causes of early pregnancy failure.

Panagiotis obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology with great distinction from the University of Athens (Athens, Greece). He then completed his 2-year master's by research (MRes) program at the University of Dundee (Dundee, Scotland) also with great distinction, under the supervision of Christopher Barratt. During his master's program, Panagiotis conducted research investigating the role of post-translational modifications on human sperm capacitation.

After completing his master's program, Panagiotis began his career as a full-time research assistant at Cardiff University (Cardiff, Wales), under the supervision of Anthony Lai and Karl Swann. He worked on a project funded by "Cook Medical Technologies LLC." with the aim to biochemically characterize the properties of the Phospholipase Cζ (PLCζ - the sperm factor), develop a diagnostic tool for the quantification of the expression of PLCζ in human sperm and produce recombinant variants of the protein aiming to be used as a method of assisted-oocyte-activation (AOA) and treate cases of male infertility.

Panagiotis then pursued his PhD at Gent University (Gent, Belgium), focusing on applying novel genome editing technologies to characterize the role of genes important for lineage segregation in mice and especially human embryos. Panagiotis for the first time characterized the role of TEAD4 in humans, one of the most important regulators of trophectoderm differentiation in mammalian species (doi:10.1093/humrep/deac138). Panagiotis is currently pursuing his post-doc career in an FWO funded project obtained by Hilde Van de Velde and Karen Sermon, which aims to characterize the role of key trophectoderm lineage specifier genes. Throughout his academic and professional career, Panagiotis has demonstrated a deep passion for biology and a dedication to advancing scientific knowledge in the field of reproductive biology.