Lab members

Argyris (Akis) Papantonis (Principal Investigator) studied Biology at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he also undertook his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Rena Lecanidou. In 2008 he moved to Oxford for his postdoctoral work with Prof. Peter Cook at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. In 2013 he was appointed as a Junior Research Group Leader for Chromatin Systems Biology at the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, and in 2018 he was recruited to the Medical Faculty of the Georg-August University of Göttingen where he currently is a W2-Professor for Translational Epigenetics. When not doing research he reads, writes, and translates literature or plays basketball with his two sons.

Dr. Athanasia Mizi (Senior postdoc) studied Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where she also undertook her PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. George Rodakis on the molecular evolution of mtDNA. Before joining our lab, Athanasia did her first post-doctoral work with Dr. Paul Brinkkoetter on the role of the key mitochondrial factor, TFAM, in kidney function. Currently, Athanasia is working on senescence-centered 3D chromatin networks; she is funded by the UMG.

Dr. Ting Xie (computational postdoc) studied Bioinformatics in the Huazhong Agricultural University, China, where she also undertook her MSc studies. Before joining our lab, Ting worked as an Assistant Professor in Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences studying plant 3D genome architwcture and evolution. Currently, Ting is applying Hi-C to map and functionally dissect structural variation in cancer patient-derived specimens. She is funded by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Dr. Mariano Barbieri (postdoc) graduated in Theoretical Physics from "Federico II" University of Napoli, Italy, where he also did his PhD in statistical models of chromatin architecture with Prof. Mario Nicodemi. Later he spent time as a postdoc in Prof. Ana Pombo's lab in Berlin. He is interested in complex systems behavior and machine learning techniques and joined our laboratory in 2021 after a stint in the private sector (quantitative finance at Morgan Stanley; optics simulations at Italian Space Agency) to develop in silico models of 3D nuclear organization and phase separation. Mariano is supported by the DFG-funded SPP2191 Priority Program on "Molecular Mechanisms of Functional Phase Separation".

Nadine Übelmesser (PhD candidate) studied Biology in Erlangen, where she also undertook her MSc studies inCellular and Molecular Biology. Her PhD work started in 2019, and focuses on cell cycle progression, chromatin bookmarking, and the link to 3D chromosome folding; she is funded via the TRR81/SFB program "Chromatin Changes in Differentiation and Malignancies".

Spyros Palikyras (PhD candidate) studied Biology in Greece and received his MSc degree from the University of Heidelberg. He started his PhD work in 2019, and has been studying the formation of phase-separated CTCF clusters in senescent genomes; he is funded via the TRR81/SFB program "Chromatin Changes in Differentiation and Malignancies".

Shu Zhang (PhD candidate) studied Agricultural Sciences in China, where she also did an MSc specialized in bioinformatics. She started her work on the role of RNA polymerase II in 3D genome folding started in late 2018. Shu is supported by a full PhD fellowship awarded by the China Scholarship Council.

Adi Mackay-Danieli (PhD candidate) studied Applied Biology at the University of Applied Sciences of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, and received her MSc in Molecular Medicine from the University Medical Center Göttingen. Adi did her MSc thesis in our lab and is now pursuing a PhD by investigating pancreatic cancer genome regulation in patient-derived organoids. She is funded by the KFO5002 Clinical Research Unit "Deciphering Genome Dynamics for Subtype-Specific Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer".

Yajie Zhu (PhD candidate) has been a student of the IMPRS Molecular Biology MSc/PhD program of Göttingen since 2018. After completing her MSc thesis in our lab, she started her PhD work in late 2020, co-supervised by Prof. Johannes Soeding. She is working on machine learning approaches to integrate and analyse 3D genomics datasets. Yajie is currently supported by the DFG-funded SPP2202 Priority Program on "Spatial Genome Organization in Development and Disease".

Ioanna Papadionysiou (PhD candidate) studied Biology at the University of Patras, Greece, and received her MSc degree in Cancer, Stem Cells and Developmental Biology from Utrecht University. Her placement as a PhD student started in 2023, and she is working on deciphering the role of dual-function transcription factors in cellular senescence using genome-wide screens. Ioanna is funded via the SFB1565 "Molecular Mechanisms and Interplay of Gene Expression Processes" consortium.

Vasiliki Varamogianni Mamatsi (PhD candiate) holds a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine from the University of Crete. Her PhD work focuses on understanding higher-order 3D chromatin architecture using genomics and chromatin simulations. Ilia is funded via the SFB1565 "Molecular Mechanisms and Interplay of Gene Expression Processes" consortium.

Chong Xie (PhD candidate) studied Biotechnology in Hunan University, China, where he also obtained his MSc for Biomedical Engineering. He worked as a research assistant with Dr. Haoyue Zhang at the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory before joining our lab in 2023. His PhD will focus on the connection between 3D genome architecture and phase separation propensity of the transcriptional machinery. Chong is supported by a full PhD fellowship awarded by the China Scholarship Council.