Biomedical Sciences

The CGTUP department participates actively in educational activities, including delivery of lectures as well as providing student supervision. More specifically, we deliver a course as part of the curriculum of the MSc programs in Molecular Medicine, Medical Genetics and Biomedical Research: 

MM102: Molecular Basis of Complex Diseases  
Course Coordinator:    Prof Mpekris
Department Co-instructors:    
1. Prof Mpekris
2. Prof Hadjisavvas
3. Dr Anestopoulos
4. Dr Kyriakou
5. Ms Potamiti
Other Co-instructors:    
6. Dr Michailidou (Biostatistics Unit, CING)
7. Dr Bashiardes (Molecular Virology Department, CING)
Invited Lecturers:    
8. Prof Pappa (Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece)
Topics Covered: pathogenesis  of human disease, complex disease epidemiology, identification of disease risk alleles, nutrition and complex disease, nutria-genetics / nutria-epigenomics and complex disease, environmental exposure and complex disease, systems biology, the microbiome of human disease, molecular basis of cancer, breast cancer, gastrointestinal tract diseases, skin diseases, cardiovascular disease, prostate disease, lung diseases, cancer stem cells and implications for cancer therapy, pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, molecular diagnosis of human disease, biomarker discovery, opportunities, challenges and public health issues as well as demonstration classes on analytical chemistry, electron microscopy, mutation analysis and molecular diagnostics

In addition, there are currently a number of PhD candidates who are supervised by academic staff within the department either directly (Principal Supervisors) or as part of the supervisory team (Co-Supervisors). More specifically:

1.    Sergei Gorbunov
Principal Supervisor: Prof Panagiotidis (CGTUP Department)
Co-Supervisor(s): Dr Kyriakou, Dr Anestopoulos (CGTUP Department)
Thesis title: Exploring the therapeutic potential of current and experimental epigenetic drug compounds in human malignant melanoma
Funding source: Scholarship by Leventis Foundation (2023-2026)

2.    Chara Lazarou
Principal Supervisor: Prof Mpekris (CGTUP Department)
Co-Supervisor(s): Dr Kyriacou (CGTUP), Dr Spyrou (Bioinformatics Department)
Thesis title: The use of multi-omics for understanding pathological commonalities between sarcomas and skin related carcinomas towards discovery and development of drug targets and therapeutic agents respectively
Funding source:  Graduate scholarship administered by TELETHON-CYPRUS (2025-2028)

Finally, the department supervises 3-4 MSc student projects, every academic year, as part of the MSc programs’ curriculum in Molecular Medicine, Medical Genetics and Biomedical Research in a number of areas based on staff expertise. 
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