Speaker

Nektarios Tavernarakis is Professor of Systems Molecular Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete. He is also a Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), where he leads the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Ageing. He currently serves as Chair of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC).

He has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of FORTH, Chairman of the Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), Vice-Chair of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), and Director of IMBB. He is also the founder and inaugural Director of the Graduate Program in Bioinformatics at the University of Crete. He is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc), and the Academy of Athens. He studied Biology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, earned his PhD from the University of Crete, and conducted postdoctoral research in the United States.

His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the function and pathophysiology of the nervous system. His scientific contributions have significantly advanced the understanding of neurodegeneration, learning and memory, as well as ageing. He has also contributed to the development of innovative experimental tools and methods for studying the nervous system and cellular biology.

He has authored hundreds of publications in leading international scientific journals and books, along with numerous science communication articles in Greek and international media. He has received major national and international distinctions, including two European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grants and an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. He is among the first researchers in Europe—and the first in Greece—to be awarded three ERC grants from these highly competitive programs.

He has been honored with the EMBO Young Investigator Award, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Helmholtz International Fellow Award. In Greece, he has received the Bodossaki Foundation Awards for Medical and Biological Sciences, the Academy of Athens Aretaieion Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Galien Scientific Research Award, the Empirikion Foundation Scientific Award, the FORTH Research Excellence Award, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO). He is the only Greek scientist to have received both major Bodossaki Foundation awards for biomedical research.