Dr Panagiota Filippou is a Senior Lecturer of Biomedical Sciences and a Course Leader of the MSc Cancer and Molecular Diagnostics in the School of Health & Life Sciences at Teesside University.

Dr Filippou completed her postgraduate studies (MSc and PhD in Biochemistry) under the supervision of Prof. D.A Kyriakidis, at the Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Her PhD thesis focused on the polyamine regulation and study of the AtoS/AtoC two-component signal transduction system.

Following the completion of her PhD in Biochemistry, Dr. Filippou undertook several postdoctoral research positions in Europe and in Canada. In 2010, she joined the Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus) (Dr V. Fotopoulos’ group) as a postdoctoral researcher, where she focused on the elucidation of plant response under stress conditions and antioxidant mechanisms, using systems biology approaches. In 2013, she was awarded the prestigious EMBO-funded fellowship and joined the VIB-UGent Center (Prof D. Inzé group), Belgium, as a visiting researcher.

In 2014, Dr Filippou joined the group of Prof. Eleftherios Diamandis in the Advanced Center for Detection of Cancer, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto and the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Her main research interests focused on cancer biomarker discovery using mass spectrometry-based proteomics and other bioanalytical tools, the recombinant protein and monoclonal antibodies production for the development of highly sensitive and specific ELISA immunoassays and the enzyme inhibition studies for therapeutics.

As a Senior lecturer at Teesside University, Dr. Filippou is responsible of delivering and developing a multitude of modules that span main disciplines of human metabolism, clinical biochemistry and diagnostic techniques as well as establishing her current area of interest in cancer research at TU with internal and external collaborators. Currently, her research interests include the cancer biomarker discovery for early diagnosis and monitoring, identification of new bioactive molecules in cancer therapeutics and the host’s response to cancer therapy.

Dr Filippou has published in several highly-esteemed, peer-reviewed journals and received several awards and scholarships of excellence. She is a member of the American Association for cancer research (AACR),  European Association of Cancer Research (EACR), the Metastasis Research Society (MRS), the Biochemical Society UK, the International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS) and the Hellenic Association of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.

Nowadays, personalised medicine represents the future for individual diagnostics and cancer therapeutics. Consequently, there is an urgent need for further understanding the molecular basis of cancer and developing better diagnostics and therapeutic interventions. Dr Filippou`s laboratory focuses on the identification and elucidation of the role of proteins implicated in cancer progression and the tumor- and metastasis-promoting microenvironment, their clinical applications as diagnostic markers, predictors of prognosis and therapeutic response and the development of novel therapeutic targets.

Our translational research laboratory combines a variety of molecular, biochemical and analytical techniques along with established in vitro cell culture models (mammalian cancer cell lines) and patient`s specimens (tissues and biological fluids) to study relevant cancer-related pathways. We anticipate that our research will have future impact in cancer patient`s life and reinforce fruitful collaborations with the oncology scientific community. Briefly, our research interests include (but not limited to) the following areas:

1) Cancer biomarker discovery- Identification of novel proteins as cancer biomarkers in diagnostics and therapeutics.

We seek to identify novel proteins using proteomics and other analytical techniques (i.e mass spectrometry, ELISA immunoassays, IHC) that alone and/or in combination will serve as cancer biomarkers in diagnosis and therapeutic response.

2) Delineation of the biochemical pathways and mechanisms of carcinogenesis and metastatic progression, and deciphering the opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

We search to investigate the pathophysiological pathways involved in carcinogenesis and players in the metastatic cascade. Our ultimate goal is to identify novel therapeutic molecules (from natural products and newly synthesized organic compounds), which could act either alone, or in a synergistic way as therapeutic cancer agents.

Current supervision of 1 PhD student (Director of studies), 1 PhD student (second supervisor), several MRes/MSc students and undergradulate students for their final year research projects.

Students who are interested to join our research group are welcome to contact Dr Filippou (e-mail: P.Philippou@tees.ac.uk).

PhD, Postdoctoral fellows or research associate positions will be advertised according to the availability.

Dr Filippou is the module leader of the following modules:

1)  Human Μetabolism and Clinical Biochemistry (FPL2023-N-CF1) 

2)  Clinical Biochemistry (PCI3031-N)

3)  Clinical Biochemistry and Diagnostic techniques (SCI4009-N-GJ1)

4)  Pathobiology of Cancer (SCI4054-N-FJ1-2022)

5)  Cancer Diagnostics & Therapeutics (SCI4055-N-FJ1-2022)

She is also a module tutor in several other modules:

• Human Ageing and Disease
• General Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Medical Laboratory Science
• Biochemistry and Chemical Science (Intensive Block Delivery)
• Clinical Pharmacology
• Clinical Correlations of Food and Nutrition
• Advanced Biological Aspects of Disease
• Life Scence Research project

Professional Bodies

• The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
  
• The European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
• The Biochemical Society, UK
• The Metastasis Research Society (MRS)
• International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS)
• Fellow-Institute of Biomedical Science (FIBMS)
• Hellenic Association of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology