Associate Professor,  Section of Pharmacognosy and Natural Product Chemistry

FULL CV  

Education

• Postdoctoral studies at the US Department of Agriculture National Laboratory of Natural Product Research
• PhD in Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products (Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) Degree: Excellent
• Postgraduate Diploma in "Pharmacognosy of Bioactive Natural Products" (Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). Grade: Excellent
• Degree in Pharmacy (School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). Grade: Very good

Teaching

• Undergraduate courses/labs: Lab of Pharmacognosy I, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. 
• Graduate courses: Phytochemical analysis, Biological Evaluations & Biotechnology, Seminars. 

Research topics

• Natural Product Chemistry, isolation and identification of small molecules derived from plants, micro-organisms and marine organisms.
• Study of the biological role of natural products and their derivatives.
• Use of biotechnology to produce bioactive molecules from microorganisms
• Discovery of new natural products with anti-aging activity.
• Exploitation of bioactive natural products as pharmaceuticals, functional foods, cosmetics and bio-pesticides.

Distinctions

• 2011-2019 Elected member of the board of directors of the international scientific society “Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research”
• 2015-2018 Member of the Research Evaluation Committee of the National Research Organization (ANR) of France.
• 2010 Arthur Neish Award from the Phytochemical Society of North America (PSNA)
• 2006 American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) Award
• 2005-2006: OECD Scholarship (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development)
• 2001-2004: Fellowship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece
• 1999 Postgraduate Award, IKY

Recent publications

• Terrestrial microorganisms - a source of bioactive compounds with skin protective effects. L.A. Peyrat, N. Tsafantakis, K. Georgousaki, J. Ouazzani, O. Genilloud, I.P. Trougakos and N. Fokialakis, Molecules, 2019, 24 (9), 1836. doi.org/10.3390/molecules24091836
• Comparative UHPLC-HRMS Profiling, Toxicological Assessment, and Protection Against H2O2-Induced Genotoxicity of Different Parts of Opuntia ficus indica. N.Tsafantakis, E.S Katsanou, K.Kyriakopoulou, E.C. Psarou, I. Raptaki, A.L Skaltsounis, M. Audebert, K.A Machera, N. Fokialakis, Journal of Medicinal food, 2019, doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2019.0032
• Biological evaluation of isoflavonoids from Genista halacsyi using estrogen-target cells: Activities of glucosides compared to aglycones.  Fokialakis N, Alexi X, Aligiannis N, Boulaka A, Meligova AK, et al. PLOS ONE 2019, 14(1): e0210247. doi:10.371/journal.pone.0210247  
• Triterpenes from Echinops spinosissimus Turra subsp. Spinosissimus. N.Tsafantakis, K.Zelianeos, A.Termentzi, A.Vontzalidou, N.Aligiannis, N.Fokialakis, Phytochemistry Letters, 2019, 30, 273-277 doi.org/10.1016/j.phytol.2019.02.005
• Unraveling the Detoxification Mechanism of 2, 4-Dichlorophenol by Marine-Derived Mesophotic Symbiotic Fungi Isolated from Marine Invertebrates E Nikolaivits, A Agrafiotis, A Termentzi, K Machera, G Le Goff, P Álvarez, .S.Chavanich, Y. Benayahu, J. Ouazzani, N. Fokialakis, E.Topakas, Marine Drugs 2019, 17 (10), 564. doi.org/10.3390/md17100564
• Cercospora sp. as a source of anti-aging polyketides targeting 26S proteasome and scale-up production in submerged bioreactor. K Georgousaki, N Tsafantakis, S Gumeni, V González-Menéndez, J.Rubén Tormo, C. Almeida, C. Lambert, O. Genilloud, I. P Trougakos, N. Fokialakis, Journal of biotechnology, 2019, 301, 88-96. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2019.05.015
• Leaf structure and phytochemical analysis of Aristolochia baetica, a traditionally used pharmaceutical plant. NS Christodoulakis, K Kotsironi, N Tsafantakis, AL Stefi, N Fokialakis. Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants 2019, 25 (2), 88-103. doi.org/10.1080/10496475.2019.1572685
• Bioactive Metabolites of the Stem Bark of Strychnos aff. darienensis and Evaluation of their Antioxidant and UV Protection Activity in Human Skin Cell Cultures. A Travasarou, MT Angelopoulou, K Vougogiannopoulou, A. Papadopoulou, N.Aligiannis, C. L Cantrell, D. Kletsas, N. Fokialakis, H.Pratsinis. Cosmetics 2019, 6 (7), 1-10. doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics6010007
• Osmanicin, a Polyketide Alkaloid Isolated from Streptomyces osmaniensis CA-244599 Inhibits Elastase in Human Fibroblasts. MN Samy, G Le Goff, P Lopes, K Georgousaki, S Gumeni, C Almeida, I.González, O. Genilloud, I.Trougakos, N. Fokialakis, J.Ouazzani. Molecules 2019, 24 (12), 2239. doi.org/10.3390/molecules24122239
• Supercritical CO2 extraction of mastic gum and chemical characterization of bioactive fractions using LC-HRMS/MS and GC-MS. N. Xynos, A. Termentzia,, N. Fokialakis, L.A. Skaltsounis , N. Aligiannis. Journal of supercritical fluids, 2018, 133, 349-356. doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2017.10.011
• A two-season impact study on Globularia alypum: adaptive leaf structures and secondary metabolite variations. S. Mamoucha, N. Tsafantakis, N. Fokialakis, N. S. Christodoulakis. Plant Biosystems, 2018.  doi: 10.1080/11263504.2017.1418449   
• Innovative Approach to Sustainable Marine Invertebrate Chemistry and a Scale-Up Technology for Open Marine Ecosystems. P. Vlachou, G. Le Goff, C. Alonso, P. A. Álvarez, J.F. Gallard , N. Fokialakis, J. Ouazzani, Marine Drugs, 2018, 16, 0152; doi:10.3390/md16050152  
• Cancer chemoprevention via activation of proteostatic modules. A. Sklirou a, E.-D. Papanagnou a, N. Fokialakis, I. P. Trougakos, Cancer Letters, 2018, 413, 110-121. doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2017.10.034

Contact

Postal address: Section of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products,
Department of Pharmacy, 
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Panepistimiopolis, 157 71
Athens, Greece
Athens, Greece
Tel.: +30(210) 7274727
e-mail: fokialakis@pharm.uoa.gr