Scientific Personnel

Brief Bio

Dr. Apostolos Klinakis studied Biology at the University of Crete. He earned his Ph.D. from the same Department in 2002. He then moved to the United States for his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. Argiris Efstratiadis at Columbia University. During his tenure at Columbia Dr. Klinakis got training in mouse genetics and mouse transgenesis using knock-in/knockout technologies in ES cells. He developed mouse models of conditional mutagenesis to study the collaborative action of signaling pathways which leads to mammary tumorigenesis. In 2009, Dr. Klinakis joined the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) as an Assistant Professor level Investigator. Since 2019, he has been serving as Full Professor level Investigator and is leading the Cancer Biology group at BRFAA.

The Cancer Biology group is studying basic aspects of tumorigenesis using mouse models as the primary research tool. We generate genetically engineered mouse models of cancer using gene targeting and advanced gene editing techniques such as CRISP/Cas9. Moreover, in collaboration with surgeons, we obtain surgical tumor samples from cancer patients and use them for the generation of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) in mice. PDX tumors grown in mice closely resemble the human disease and are considered powerful tools for preclinical studies. Moreover, we employ ex vivo cultures of organoids and tissue explants from normal and tumor tissue as a high throughput tool to address normal stem and cancer stem cell properties. More recently, we have started gaining experience in Organ-on-chip tools, in an attempt to approach more complex biological questions without the need for in vivo mouse studies.

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Selected Publications

Kanaki Z. Voutsina A., Markou A., Pateras I.S., Potaris K., Avgeris M., Makrythanasis P., Athanasiadis E.I., Vamvakaris I., Patsea E., Vachlas K., Lianidou E., Georgoulias V., Kotsakis A. and A. Klinakis. Generation of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts to Study Intratumor Heterogeneity. Cancers 2021, In press.

Ditsiou A, Cilibrasi C, Simigdala N, Papakyriakou A, Milton-Harris L, Vella V, Nettleship JE, Lo JH, Soni S, Smbatyan G, Ntavelou P, Gagliano T, Iachini MC, Khurshid S, Simon T, Zhou L, Hassell-Hart S, Carter P, Pearl LH, Owen RL, Owens RJ, Roe SM, Chayen NE, Lenz HJ, Spencer J, Prodromou C, Klinakis A, Stebbing J, Giamas G. The structure-function relationship of oncogenic LMTK3. Sci Adv. 2020 Nov 13;6(46):eabc3099. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abc3099.

Klinakis A and Rampias T. TP53 mutational landscape of metastatic head and neck cancer reveals patterns of mutation selection. EBioMedicine. 2020 Aug; 58: 102905. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102905

Paraskevopoulou V, Bonis V, Dionellis VS, Paschalidis N, Melissa P, Chavdoula E, Vasilaki E, Pateras IS, Klinakis A. Notch Controls Urothelial Integrity in the Mouse Bladder. JCI Insight. 2020 Feb 13;5(3):e133232. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.133232.

Klinakis A, Karagiannis D, Rampias T. Targeting DNA repair in cancer: current state and novel approaches. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2020 Feb;77(4):677-703. doi: 10.1007/s00018-019-03299-8.

Rampias T, Karagiannis D, Avgeris M, Polyzos A, Kokkalis A, Kanaki Z, Kousidou E, Tzetis M, Kanavakis E, Stravodimos K, Manola KN, Pantelias GE, Scorilas A, and Klinakis A. The lysine-specific methyltransferase KMT2C/MLL3 regulates DNA repair components in cancer, EMBO Rep. 2019 Mar;20(3). pii: e46821. doi: 10.15252/embr.201846821.

Vasilaki E, Kanaki Z, Stravopodis DJ, Klinakis A. Dll1 Marks Cells of Origin of Ras-Induced Cancer in Mouse Squamous Epithelia Transl Oncol. 2018 Oct;11(5):1213-1219. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2018.07.011.

Patitsa M, Karathanou K, Kanaki Z, Tzioga L, Pippa N, Demetzos C, Verganelakis DA, Cournia Z, Klinakis A. Magnetic nanoparticles coated with polyarabic acid demonstrate enhanced drug delivery and imaging properties for cancer theranostic applications. Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 10;7(1):775.

Papafotiou G, Paraskevopoulou V, Vasilaki E, Kanaki Z, Paschalidis N and Klinakis A (2016) Krt14 expression marks a subpopulation of bladder basal cells with pivotal role in regeneration and tumorigenesis. Nat Commun. Jun 20;7:11914.

Stellas D, Szabolcs M, Koul S, Li Z, Polyzos A, Anagnostopoulos C, Cournia Z, Tamvakopoulos C, Klinakis A & Efstratiadis A. (2014) Therapeutic Effects of an anti-Myc Drug on Mouse Pancreatic Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014 Oct 11;106.

Rampias T, Vgenopoulou V, Avgeris M, Polyzos A, Stravodimos K, Valavanis C, Scorilas A and Klinakis A. A new tumor suppressor role for the Notch pathway in bladder cancer. Nat Med. 2014 Oct;20(10):1199-205

Klinakis, A.*, Lobry, L., Abdel-Wahab, O., Oh, P., Haeno, H., Buonamici, S., van De Walle, I., Cathelin, S., Trimarchi, T., Araldi, E., Liu, C., Ibrahim, S., Beran, M., Zavadil, J. Efstratiadis, A., Taghon, T., Michor, F., Levine, RL., and Aifantis, I.* (2011) A novel tumor suppressor function for the Notch pathway in myeloid leukemia. Nature. 473:230-3.

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