Dr Ilias Kazanis

I joined the University of Westmisnter's School of Life Sciences in January 2024 and I am currently senior Lecturer in Cell Pathology. 

After graduating from the Depratment of Biology (University of Patras, Greece, in 1997) I obtained my PhD thesis from the Medical school of the University of Athens (Greece), in the field of Neurobiology, in 2003.

I moved to the UK for my first post-doc, on the field of brain development, to join the Mammalian Neurogenesis lab at the Clinical Sciences Centre of Imperial College, London and then joined the University of Cambridge. There, I spent 9 years working on the theme of postnatal brain neurogenesis, becoming an independent senior researcher, and I still hold a visiting senior Research Associate role at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

I went back to Greece in 2014, at the University of Patras, where I set up my research group and taught Developmental Biology and Neurosciences, reaching the level of Assisatnt Professor. I kept working on postnatal neurogenesis, with a focus on the regulation of the brains's neural stem cells and of the structure and function of their niches, as well as on neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. 

After my return to the UK I maintain my resaech interest on postnatal brain neurogenesis and I engage in teaching about Neurosciences, Stem Cells and Cell Pathology.

I am currently active in research on the field of Neural Stem Cell biology, focusing on their niches in the postantal brain, on their response after injury/ degeneration and on identifying ways to use these cells in regerenative startegies.

Specific projects that I am currenty working on have to do with:

1) the effects of platelets on the regulation of Neural Stem Cells and on the health of the brain tissue.

2) the differences in the function of Neural Stem Cells between lab and wild mice, or other wild rodent species.

3) the capacity to activate local neural progenitors in the midbrain of animal models of Parkinson's disease.

I have led and participated in multiple research projects:

• PI: “From blood to brain: Platelets as novel regulators of brain stem cells in their niches, in neurodegeneration and in remyelinaton”. Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (March 2020- March 2023) [€180000]

• PI: “Investigation of the beneficial effects of the microneurotrophin BNN-20 in neurons derived from induced Pluripotent Stem Cells of patients with Parkinson’s disease and in the success of neural stem cell transplantations in an animal model of the disease”, ΕΣΠΑ (March 2020- December 2021) [€48000]

• PI:“Cellular senescence in populations of postnatal brain Neural Stem Cells (pbNSCs). Controlled by the microenvironment and controlling neurogenesis versus oligodendrogenesis”, Fondation Sante (Feb 2019- April 2021) [€50000]

• Co-PI(PI: Prof. Robin Franklin): “Demyelinating disorders – neural stem cell therapy for leukodystrophies”, Action Medical Research (Dec. 2014- May 2018) [£199751]

http://www.action.org.uk/our_research/demyelinating_disorders_%E2%80%93_neural_stem_cell_therapy_leukodystrophies

• Named researcher (PI: Prof. Robin Franklin): “Do all brain neural stem cells age at the same rate?” from BBSRC (Aug. 2011- July 2014) [£355220].

http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/pa/grants/AwardDetails.aspx?FundingReference=BB/I013210/1

• Collaborator(PI: Prof. T. Fotsis): “The role and mechanisms of asymmetric cell divisions in the differentiation of stem cells” (ADiSC). Θαλής, (2012- 2015) [€600000].

http://excellence.minedu.gov.gr/thales/en/thalesprojects/380249

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.