Cancer Mechanobiology & Applied Biophysics
Short Bio
Dr. Andreas Stylianou is an Assistant Professor of Research Methods and Applied Biophysics of the School of Sciences at European University Cyprus. He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece in 2014. He has also received a Bachelor of Science/Master of Science in Applied Physics from the School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Science of the NTUA in 2007 and a Master of Science in Medical Physics (2011) from the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics of the Open University, United Kingdom. Finally, he holds a PhD in Social Aspects of Health (2018) from the graduate program of Health Care Management of the Faculty of Economies and Management of the Open University of Cyprus. In 2015 his postdoctoral project proposal was funded by the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowships and in 2019 he received the University of Cyprus Advanced Post-doctoral Research Fellowship. He is also the recipient of the prestigious “Young Researcher Award” for 2019 from the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation. Dr. Stylianou is leading the Cancer Mechanobiology and Applied Biophysics group, part of the Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC) at European University Cyprus. His primary academic interests include the investigation of tumor microenvironment mechanical and biophysical properties, the understanding of cancer and stromal cells mechanosensing and the cell-substrate interactions. Additionally, the study of tumor fibrosis, the role of collagen in cancer progression and the identification of collagen-based biomarkers lie within his research interests. Dr Stylianou has published more than 38 peer-reviews articles (h-index: 15-Scopus, 18-GoogleScholar), 4 book chapters, 12 articles in referred conference proceeding and has presented his work in more than 38 conference presentation in national and international conferences.
Research focus:
The Cancer Mechanobiology and Applied Biophysics group focuses on the investigation of tumor microenvironment mechanical and biophysical properties, the understanding of cancer and stromal cells mechanosensing and the cell-substrate interactions. Additionally, the study of tumor fibrosis, the role of collagen in cancer progression and the identification of collagen-based biomarkers lie within the group’s research interests. Although an important research goal is the identification of novel mechanical biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring, the group’s research interests also expand to other pathological conditions and unique biophysical research areas. The approaches used cover a wide spectrum of research techniques starting from assessment of cellular properties in vitro, experiments in whole animals, and finally validation in humans. Thus, cutting edge biophysical, bionengineering and biology techniques are employed, including advanced Atomic Force Microscopy techniques, which are among the research group’s expertise.
Current Group Members
Katerina
Polemidiotou
Andreas
Mattheou
Koufopantelis Georgios
Tamara Buludova
Past Group Members
Charalambia
Antoniou
Agisilaos Georgakoloupos
Stephania Papaconstanti
Troumbounia Chara
Panteli Rafaella
Lazarou Vasiliki
Nikos Procopiou
Andreas, Ioannou
Alexis Kyprianou
Andreas Nathanael
Giorgos Potamitis
Research Grants
Ongoing
“EXCELLENCE HUBS”, Research & Innovation Foundation’s Program, (EXCELLENCE 0421/0263, 01/03/2021 – 28/02/2023). Role: Project Coordinator Title: “Nanomechanical FingerPrints of Pulmonary Fibrosis”.
Cost European Cooperation in Science & Technology, (COMULIS, CA17121, 12/10/2018-11/10/2022). Role: Cyprus Management Committee (MC) member, Title: “Correlated Multimodal Imaging in Life Sciences”.
European Research Council, (ERC-2019-CoG-863955, 01/04/2020 – 31/03/2025). Role: Researcher. Title: “Mechanical Biomarkers for Cancer Immunotherapy Prediction“.
Research Promotion Foundation’s Program (INTERNATIONAL/USA/0118/0057, 2019 -2021). Role: Researcher, Title: “COROSIS: Is there a link between metal ion release and in-stent restenosis?”.
Completed
University of Cyprus, (“PACA-FingerPrints”, 01/01/2019-31/8/2020). Role: Project Coordinator/Fellow. Title: “NanoMechanical FingerPrints of Pancreatic Cancer”.
Horizon 2020, (MSCA-IF-2014-658769, 01/06/2015-31/05/2017). Role: Project Coordinator/Fellow. Title: “Modulating the behaviour of cancer myofibroblasts to control tumour desmoplasia”.
European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), (68/1054, 01/09/2010 –30/04/2014). Role: Fellow. Title: “Optical Radiation Effects on Collagen Topology Studied by AFM and SEM”.
Selected Publications
- C. Voutouri, M. Panagi, F. Mpekris, A. Stylianou, C. Michael, M.A. Averkiou, J.D. Martin, and T. Stylianopoulos: Endothelin inhibition potentiates cancer immunotherapy revealing mechanical biomarkers predictive of response, Advanced Therapeutics, 2000289 (2021)
- A. Miranda, A. Gómez-Varela, A. Stylianou, L. Hirvonen, H. Sánchez and P. De Beule: How did Correlative Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-Resolution Microscopy evolve in the quest for unravelling enigmas in biology? Nanoscale , 13, 2082-2099 (2021)
- M. Panagi, C. Voutouri, F. Mpekris, P. Papageorgis, M. Martin, J. Martin, P. Demetriou, C. Pierides, P. Costeas, C. Polydorou, A. Stylianou, M. Louca, K. Kataoka, H. Cabral and T. Stylianopoulos: TGF-β inhibition combined with cytotoxic nanomedicine normalizes triple negative breast cancer microenvironment towards anti-tumor immunity. Theranostics, 10(4), 1910-1922 (2020)
- V. Gkretsi, M. Louca, A. Stylianou, G. Minadakis, M.G. Spyrou and T. Stylianopoulos: Inhibition of Breast Cancer Cell Invasion by Ras Suppressor-1 (RSU-1) Silencing Is Reversed by Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(1): 163 (2020)
- S.V. Kontomaris, A. Stylianou, K.S. Nikita, A. Malamou: Determination of the linear elastic regime in AFM nanoindentation experiments on cells. Materials Research Express, 6(11) 115410 (2019)
- A. Stylianou, A, S.V. Kontomaris, E. Alexandratou and C. Grant: Atomic Force Microscopy on biological materials related to pathological conditions. Scanning, 19 8452851 (2019)
- S.V. Kontomaris, A. Stylianou, K.S. Nikita, A. Malamou and T. Stylianopoulos: A simplified approach for the determination of fitting constants in Oliver – Pharrmethod regarding biological samples. Physical Biology, 16(5):056003 (2019)
- A. Stylianou, V. Gkretsi, M. Louca, L.C. Zacharia and T. Stylianopoulos: Collagen content and extracellular matrix cause cytoskeletal remodelling in pancreatic fibroblasts. Journal of the Royal Society of Interface, 16(154):20190226 (2019)
- M. Louca, A. Stylianou, A. Minia, V. Pliaka, G.L. Alexopoulos, V. Gkretsi and T. Stylianopoulos: Ras suppressor-1 (RSU-1) promotes cell invasion in aggressive glioma cells and inhibits it in non-aggressive cells through STAT6 phospho-regulation. Scientific Reports, 9(7782) (2019)
- A. Stylianou A., M. Lekka and Stylianopoulos: AFM Assessing of Nanomechanical FingerPrints for Cancer Early Diagnosis and Classification: from single cell to tissue level. Nanoscale, 10(45):20930-20945 (2018)
- S.V. Kontomaris, A. Stylianou, A. Malamou and K.S. Nikita: An alternative approach for the Young’s modulus determination of biological samples regarding AFM indentation experiments. Materials Research Express, 6(2):025407 (2018)
- A. Stylianou, V. Gkretsi and T. Stylianopoulos: Transforming Growth Factor-β modulates Pancreatic Cancer Associated Fibroblasts cell shape, stiffness and invasion. Biophysica and Biochemica Acta-General Subjects, 1862(7) 1537-1546 (2018)
- A. Stylianou, V. Gkretsi and T. Stylianopoulos: Atomic Force Microscopy Nano-Characterization of 3D Collagen Gels with Tunable Stiffness. MethodsX, 5(503-513) (2018)
- A. Stylianou: Atomic Force Microscopy for Collagen-Based Nanobiomaterials. Journal of Nanomaterials, 9234627 (2017)
- V. Gkretsi, A. Stylianou and T. Stylianopoulos: Vasodilator-Stimulated Phosphoprotein (VASP) depletion from breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells inhibits tumor spheroid invasion through downregulation of Migfilin, β-catenin and urokinase-plasminogen activator (uPA). Experimental Cell Research, 352(2):281-292 (2017)
- V. Gkretsi, A. Stylianou, M. Louca and T. Stylianopoulos: Identification of Ras Suppressor-1 (RSU-1) as a potential breast cancer metastasis biomarker using a three-dimensional in vitro approach. Oncotarget, 8(16):27364-27379 (2017)
- A. Stylianou and T. Stylianopoulos: Atomic Force Microscopy Probing of Cancer Cells and Tumor Microenvironment Components. BioNanoScience, 6(1):33-46 (2016)
- V. Gkretsi, A. Stylianou, P. Papageorgis, C. Polydorou and T. Stylianopoulos: Remodeling components of the tumor microenvironment to enhance cancer therapy. Frontiers in Oncology, 5(214) (2015)
- A. Stylianou, D. Yova: Atomic Force Microscopy Investigation of the Interaction of Low-Level Laser Irradiation of Collagen Thin Films in Correlation with Fibroblast Response. Lasers in Medical Science, 30(9) (2015)
- A. Stylianou, D. Yova and E. Alexandratou: Investigation of the Influence of UV Irradiation on Collagen Thin Films by AFM Imaging Microscopy. Materials Science and Engineering: C, Materials for Biological Applications, 45(455–468) (2014)
- A. Stylianou, D. Yova and E. Alexandratou: Nanotopography of collagen thin films in correlation with fibroblast response. Journal of Nanophotonics, Special Section: Nanostructured Thin Films: Fundamentals and Applications, 7(1) 073590 (2013)
- A. Stylianou and D. Yova: Surface Nanoscale Imaging of Collagen Thin by Atomic Force Microscopy. Materials Science and Engineering: C, Materials for Biological Applications, 33(5) 2947-2957 (2013)
- A. Stylianou, K. Politopoulos, M. Kyriazi and D. Yova: Combined information from AFM imaging and SHG signal analysis of collagen thin films, Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 6(3) 307-313 (2011)
Book chapters
- A. Stylianou, V. Gkretsi, A. Walter. "Part I: Ex-vivo Imaging, I.1 - Light and fluorescence microscopy", In: Walter, A., Mannheim, J., Caruana, C.J. (eds) Imaging Modalities for Biological and Preclinical Research: A Compendium, Volume 1, IOP-IPEM ebook Series in Physics and Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Hardback ISBN: 9780750330572, Ebook ISBN: 9780750330596, 2021
- M. Lekka, A. Stylianou, A. and B. Plochberger, B. Part I: Ex-vivo Imaging, I.6 - Atomic force microscopy and spectroscopy", In: Walter, A., Mannheim, J., Caruana, C.J. (eds) Imaging Modalities for Biological and Preclinical Research: A Compendium, Volume 1, IOP-IPEM ebook Series in Physics and Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Hardback ISBN: 9780750330572, Ebook ISBN: 9780750330596, 2021
- Miranda, A., Dykas, M., Gómez, A., De Beule, P., Moura, K. and Stylianou, A., (2020) " Part III: Correlative multimodal imaging and image data fusion, III.1.b Correlative atomic force microscopy", In: Walter, A., Mannheim, J., Caruana, C.J. (eds) Imaging Modalities for Biological and Preclinical Research: A Compendium, Volume 2, IOP-IPEM ebook Series in Physics and Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Hardback ISBN: 9780750337458, Ebook ISBN: 9780750337472, 2021
- A. Stylianou, V. Gkretsi, CS. Patrickios, T. Stylianopoulos. Exploring the Nanosurface of Collagenous and Other Fibrotic Tissues with AFM. Methods Molecular Biology. 2017 Vol. 1627, 453-489, Laure Rittié (Eds): Fibrosis, 978-1-4939-7112-1, 416076_1_En, (29) In: Fibrosis: Methods and Protocols (Rittié L, ed), Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York
Full list of publications
Collaborators
- Dr. Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos, Associate Professor, University of Cyprus
- Dr. Anastasia Constantinidou, Assistant Professor, University of Cyprus / Bank of Cyprus Oncology Center
- Dr. Costas Patrickios, Professor, University of Cyprus
- Dr. Malgorzata Lekka, Professor, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Science
- Dr. Konstantinos Politopoulos, Associate Professor, National Technical University of Athens
- Dr. George Filippidis, Principal application Scientist, Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas
- Dr. Konstantinos Kapnisis, Special Teaching Staff, Cyprus University of Technology
- Dr. Stylianos-Vasileios Kontomaris, Lecturer, Athens Metropolitan College