The National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), founded in 1958, is a non-profit organization in Greece conducting interdisciplinary research in humanities and natural sciences. With approximately 320 staff, it manages around 170 research projects, excelling in fields like archaeology, chemistry, and physics. NHRF collaborates internationally and focuses on scientific excellence, education, and partnerships with the economy and society.
The NHRF's Institute of Chemical Biology (ICB) employs an interdisciplinary approach, serving as a central hub of excellence in Chemical Biology with a focus on health, drug development, and biotechnology. Positioned to be a key player on both national and international fronts, the ICB aims to lead research in the development of anti-cancer drugs and the identification of prognostic, diagnostic, and predictive biomarkers. Collaborating with clinical teams in Athens and beyond, the ICB boasts one of the most recently refurbished animal facilities in the city.
In the ELMUMY project, NHRF is the lead beneficiary of WP2 Functional studies in biological fluids, cells and animals, working along with the consortium partners UKW, UNAV, CNRS and focusing on functional studies to enhance the understanding of multiple myeloma (MM). In WP2 diverse methodologies are employed, utilizing immunocompetent syngeneic MM mouse models and creating a humanized MM mouse model. Human myeloma cell lines are evaluated for responses to genotoxic drugs, while comparative analyses involve samples from individuals at different disease stages.
We introduce the members of the NHRF team involved in the ELMUMY project.
Upper left: Ms Elisavet Deligianni, PhD candidate, is studying the induction of immunogenic cell death in vitro, after treatment with several therapeutic agents and the interplay of the sting pathway.
Upper middle: Mr. Panagiotis Malamos MSc, PhD candidate, is working on deciphering the mechanisms of DNA Damage-Response using a variety of different multiple myeloma cell lines and primary cells at different stages of the disease.
Lower left: Dr. Vassiliki Stravokefalou is analyzing the therapeutic outcomes and immune profiles of the in house generated mouse models of multiple myeloma, at different stages of disease, using different therapeutic interventions.
Middle: Dr. Dimitris Stellas, Associate Researcher, Group Leader at NHRF, is focusing on the interplay between the lymphoid and myeloid cells in the in vivo models of multiple myeloma after different therapeutic interventions and the generation of humanized patient derived models.
Right: Dr. Vassilis Souliotis, Research Director, Group Leader at NHRF, is focusing on the endogenous DNA damage, involved in the malignant progression of multiple myeloma and the outcome of anti-myeloma therapy at different stages of myelomagenesis from patients at different degrees of the therapeutic response.