Scientific Personnel

Brief Bio

Irini Skaliora obtained a BSc in Biology (University of Patras) and a PhD in Neuroscience (University of California, Davis). From 1993 to 2004 she worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and a lecturer at Balliol College. She then moved back to Greece to set up her own lab at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. As of 2019 she is also Professor of Cognitive Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Director of the MSc Program in Cognitive Science, and Director of the Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Educational Technology.

Her research focuses on the development, plasticity, and aging of the brain, with a specific focus on the function of cortical networks in health and disease. A major goal of her group is to develop novel methods for assessing the functional state of the cerebral cortex ex vivo, which can be used to evaluate the intrinsic connectivity in physiological and pathological conditions, using animal models of neurological and mental disorders. The team’s expertise includes neurophysiological recordings, computational methodologies, image analysis and behavioural studies, and their work is funded from national and international organisations. Professor Skaliora has contributed substantially to the education of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Athens. She has published original articles in international journals, chapters in books, university textbooks and articles on the history and philosophy of science. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Neuroscience Society and the Hellenic Society for Cognitive Science and has contributed significantly to public awareness of neuroscience through public speaking, book reviews, and article writing.

Selected Publications

Vasilopoulos N, Kaplanian A, Vinos M, Katsaiti Y, Christodoulou O, Denaxa M, Skaliora I (2023) The role of selective Satb1 deletion in somatostatin expressing interneurons on endogenous network activity and the transition to epilepsy, J Neurosci Research,101(4):424-447. doi: 10.1002/jnr.25156. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

Kaplanian A, Vinos M, Skaliora I (2022) GABAb‐and GABAa‐mediated regulation of Up and Down states across development. J Physiol 660(10): 2401.

Tsakanikas P, Sigalas C, Rigas P and Skaliora I (2017) High-Throughput Analysis of in-vitro LFP Electrophysiological Signals: A validated workflow/software package. Scientific Reports Journal 7:3055.

Konsolaki E, Tsakanikas P, Polissidis AV, Stamatakis A and Skaliora I (2016) Early signs of pathological cognitive aging in mice lacking high-affinity nicotinic receptors. Frontiers in Aging Neurosci 8:91.

Rigas P, Adamos DA, Sigalas C, Tsakanikas P, Laskaris NA and Skaliora I (2015) Spontaneous Up states in vitro: a single-metric index of the functional maturation and regional differentiation of the cerebral cortex. Frontiers in Neural Circuits 9:59.

Sigalas C, Rigas P, Tsakanikas P and Skaliora I (2015) High-affinity nicotinic receptors modulate spontaneous cortical up states in vitro. J Neurosci 35:11196-11208.

Konsolaki E and Skaliora I (2015) Motor vs. cognitive elements of apparent “hyperlocomotion”: a conceptual and experimental clarification. PNAS 112, E3-4.

Konsolaki E and Skaliora I (2015) Premature aging phenotype in mice lacking high affinity nicotinic receptors: region specific changes in layer V pyramidal cell morphology. Cerebral Cortex 25(8): 2138-48.

Skaliora I, Doubell TP, Holmes NP, Nodal FR and King AJ (2004) Functional topography of converging visual and auditory inputs to neurons in the rat superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 92: 2933-2946.

Doubell TP, Skaliora I, Baron J and King AJ (2003) Functional connectivity between the superficial and deeper layers of the superior colliculus: an anatomical substrate for sensorimotor integration. J Neurosci 23(16): 6596-6607.

Skaliora I, Adams R and Blakemore C (2000) Morphology and growth patterns of developing thalamocortical axons. J Neurosci 20: 3650-3662.

Skaliora I, Singer W, Betz H and Püschel AW (1998) Differential patterns of semaphorin expression in the developing rat brain. Eur J Neurosci 10: 1215-1229.

Skaliora I, Scobey RP and Chalupa LM (1993) Prenatal development of excitability in cat retinal ganglion cells: Action potentials and sodium currents. J Neurosci 13: 313-323.

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