Dr. Electra Gizeli is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Crete and Affiliated Researcher & Deputy Director at IMBB-FORTH. She studied in Greece (B.Sc. in Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and the UK (M.Sc. at University College London and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge). After receiving a competitive 5-year BBSRC Fellowship, she established her group at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, until 2003 when she joined the University of Crete as a faculty member. In Greece, she was one of the first to establish a highly multidisciplinary lab covering both basic and applied research. Her scientific interests include biosensor/biophysics, molecular diagnostics, nanobiotechnology and biomedical engineering; she has published >90 scientific articles and has 6 patents. The transfer of innovative concepts from the lab to the society has been a constant inspiration in her group, with emphasis on molecular diagnostic tools for healthcare applications. She has co-organized several validation studies in hospitals in Europe and Africa, applying novel methods to infectious diseases-testing. Her group has received 4 Innovation awards including the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge in Finland in 2015. She is the co-founder of two spin-off companies of FORTH, dedicated to diagnostic platforms at the point-of-care. During her research career, she has coordinated 33 multidisciplinary research projects after securing competitive funding, most notably from the HFSP and EU, raising in total 32M€ (10M€ for her group). Until today, in her lab she has trained 25 post-docs, 15 Ph.D., and >70 M.Sc. and undergraduate students. She has established and leads the IMBB Mentoring Scheme to assist young researchers towards their future careers. She is particularly active in the dissemination of science to the wide audience through participation in open science events. As a recognition to her contribution to science and training, Prof. Gizeli has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) (2016), member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2023) and member of the Academia Europaea (2024).

During her Fulbright Scholarship, she will spend four months at the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, hosted by Prof. Michael Springer. Together with Prof. Springer’s group, she will conduct research on the development of a pipeline for the rapid and efficient production of diagnostic tools at the point-of-care. The work will focus on improving sample collection and transport methods, developing a novel in silico tool for the design of an isothermal molecular assay and, finally, lab-optimization and validation of the assay in a relevant clinical environment. Prof. Gizeli will also participate in the diagnostic accelerator at the Wyss Institute, exploring translational-research opportunities on pandemic preparedness and the development of cost-effective, high throughput point-of-care diagnostics. Her exposure to a simulating and diverse ecosystem of academics, clinicians and technology transfer officers working on diagnostics will serve as a rich environment for her sabbatical, leading potentially to new scientific and technological solutions and strengthening innovation and funding prospects between the University of Crete and Harvard Medical School.