I come from Volos, a coastal city in Greece and the homeland of the hero Jason (“Jason and the Argonauts”). I undertook my undergraduate (BSc Biological Sciences) and postgraduate studies (MSc Medical Genetics) in the UK. I undertook my Ph.D. training at the University ofGlasgow, where I worked on the genetic basis of obesity susceptibility in a large Greek cohortof pre-schoolers. I then undertook my first post-doctoral position in the Netherlands (University Medical Centre of Groningen) conducting gene association studies on adiposity-related phenotypes. During the same period, I was employed as a project manager for the European Union project entitled GENECURE. After two years, I went back to the UK to start a post-doctoral position at the University of Oxford carrying out statistical analysis of large-scale genetic data on glycemic and other metabolic-related traits. After this position, a research vacancy at KU Leuven in Belgium was brought to my attention. I was excited at the opportunity to enhance the immunological and genetic expertise available through the collaboration of the two research groups and bring my statistical genetics knowledge to analyze a large pre-existing dataset of immunophenotypes. I was also thrilled to write research projects and successfully apply for fellowships (F+ and FWO fellowships). My Google Scholar profile gives more information about my work and contribution. In my current position at Sanger Institute, I am looking into the identification of effector IBD genes by integrating information from different data sources and I am aiming at exploring their effects on other diseases or traits.
