Congratulations to Sofia Chatzianagnosti on her graduation (BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics)
Welcome to DarkMatters Group
The DarkMatters Research Group (head: Associate Professor Antonios Giannakakis) is part of the Gene Expression, Molecular Diagnosis and Modern Therapeutics Lab, which was founded in 2002.
The laboratory belongs to and operates within the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics (MBG) of the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), which was founded in 2000 in Alexandroupolis with the vision of becoming a state-of-the-art research and educational center in the Southern Balkan region.
Announcements
26 JUL 2022
26 JUL 2022
Congratulations to Tobias Kedziersk on his graduation (BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics)
26 JUL 2022
Congratulations to Orfeas Kalamenios on his graduation (BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics)
14 OCT 2021
Our work on lncRNAs in breastmilk exosomes has now appeared online at the International Journal of Molecular Medicine
24 Sep 2021
Congratulations to Efthymia Vasilina Katsika on her graduation (BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics)
19 Mar 2021
Congratulations to Androniki Tasiopoulou on her graduation (BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics)
Research Objectives
Genomic-level, organism-level understanding of the molecular stress responses
The role of the non-coding RNAs (long non-coding RNAs, double–stranded RNAs) in homeostasis and disease
Clinical studies and Biobanking on Autoimmune diseases and Perinatal Conditions
Discovery of sEV-associated Biomarkers in biological fluids
Tools, Datasets and Biobanks
Tools & Pipelines
We are developing pipelines for high-throughput genomic/transcriptomic NGS data analysis in order to demonstrate them as public available web tools.
Databases
Our first database, ASTRA (Atlas of STress Response Activity) , is available. Read article here.
In-house Datasets
Untargeted proteomics & metabolomics, total RNA-seq, datasets of sEV from human breast milk - Total RNA-seq/dsRNA-seq dataset from MS patients - Molecular stress-related -omic datasets.
Biological Samples
MS Biobank in Paster Institute - Human milk Biobank in DUTH - Biobank of biological fluids from pregnant women/mothers/infants in DUTH
Academic-Research Collaborators
Artemis Hatzigeorgiou
Professor of Bioinformatics
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Thessaly, Greece
Vladimir Kuznetsov
Professor of Urology/Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Upstate Medical University, USA
Lesley Probert
Researcher (Professor level)
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Greece
Michalis Aivaliotis
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Μedicine Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Industry-Research Collaborators
Paschalis C. Papazilakis
President/CEO
EVROFARMA SA, Greece
-
A novel pipeline to enrich formula milk using omics technologies
We aim to perform an extensive comparative analysis of human breastmilk with three locally traded animal milks (domestic sheep, goats and cattle from different regions of Greece). In particular, a high-quality, quantitative and qualitative study will be conducted for the analysis of the membrane and intracellular composition of the major classes of secreted extracellular vesicles and other transported microparticles.
-Develop research infrastructures in academia and the private sector for fingerprinting human breastmilk.
-Discover epigenetic mechanisms of signal transfer through exosome analysis
-Discover novel lncRNAs in breast milk exosomesProject Role: Work-Package Leader
Dr. Giannakis's WP: €120,000
