I obtained my first degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). I then did a one-year MSc in Biochemical Engineering at University College London (UCL), followed by two years research under the supervision of Prof Peter Dunnill (OBE). I won a Marie Curie Research Training Grant and moved to the Center for Process Biotechnology (CPB) at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where I obtained my PhD degree in Biotechnology. In 2002 I took up the position of Senior R&D scientist and Purification team leader at the Pharmaceutical company ALPHARMA (now Xellia Pharmaceuticals), before returning back to the UK as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and then Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University. I joined Aston in November 2015.

• Materials and devices for efficient separation and purification of high value biotherapeutics and human cells
• Edible scaffolds for cultivated meat production

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• PhD in Biotechnology
• MSc in Biochemical Engineering
• MEng in Chemical Engineering

Current students:

Alice Johnson - Project title: 'Optimisation of scaffolds for the bioprocessing of lab-grown meat'.

Louis Hutchings - Project title: '3D printing of edible biomimetic scaffolds for the engineering of animal muscle tissue'.

Benjamin Dages - Project title: 'Novel microcarriers for scalable clean meat production'.

Sophie Caprioli - Project title: 'Engineering degradable, ‘tuneable’ microcarriers for the bulk culture of therapeutically active mesenchymal stem cells'.

Rajan Vraitch - Project title: 'Modelling of the spinal cord for the greater understanding of the aetiology and management of compressive spinal cord pathology'.

Past students:

W. Joseph A. Homer - Project title: 'Thermally stabilised, crosslinker-free poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers produced by electrospinning: Applications in cell processing and tissue engineering'. Awarded 2024 by Aston University.

Kinana Aliko - Project title: 'Towards a green route for the synthesis of renewable poly(butylene succinate) antimicrobial fibrous mats'. Awarded 2020 by Aston University.

Tina Šutar - Project title: ‘New formats for affinity selection of human cells’. Awarded 2015 by Loughborough University.

William S. C. Bowen - Project title:  ‘Development and characterisation of affinity devices for cell detection and separation’. Awarded 2015 by Loughborough University.

• EPSRC IAA Impact Builder Award. Value: £25,000 (Completed 2023)
• The Birmingham Orthopaedic Charity. Value: £15,000 (Completed 2023)
• The Royal Society International Exchanges Award. Value: £11,712 (2019-2023)
• The Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professors Scheme (Academic Champion) (2019-2022)
• EPSRC AMR4AMR seedcorn fund - 'Novel poly(butylene succinate) fibre dressing with naturally sourced antimicrobial agents for burn wound treatment'. Value: £33,150 (Completed 2018)
• EPSRC AMR4AMR seedcorn fund - 'Critical points in the pathway of antibiotic prescribing in the hospital setting; the antibiotic mapping of prescribing (ABMAP) study'. Value: £23,149 (Completed 2018)
• Bioprocessing Research Industry Club/BBSRC Grant (BB/I017143/1) - ‘Developing generic scalable selection methods for human therapeutic cells’. Value: £189,000 (Completed 2015)

Mass Tansfer (CE2MAT) - Module Leader

Advanced Process Design Project (CE3APD) - Module contributor

Research Project (CE4PRJ) - Module Leader

Downstream Processing for Biotechnology Products (CE4DPB) - Module Leader

CEAC Student Experience Lead

• Cellular Agriculture Greece - Advisory Board Member
• Institution of Chemical Engineers Biochemical Engineering Special Interest Group (IChemE BESIG) - Committee Member & Webinar coordinator
• UK Society for Cell Culture Biotechnology (ESACT-UK) - Committee Member & Deputy Secretary
• Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology - Editorial Board Member
• Biotechnology Letters - Editorial Board Member
• Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology ‘Bioprocess Engineering’ - Review Editor

• Senior Research Fellow honorary appointment at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK (since October 2020)

Phone number: 0121 204 4702 
Email: [email protected] 
Room number: MB134