Dr. Paraskevi Papadopoulou, Professor, Head of the Department of Science and Mathematics & Director, Biomedical Sciences Program (BMS), Deree-ACG and Dr. Alexia Polissidis, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, BMS, Deree-ACG & Collaborating Researcher, Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens, and CEO, Anacalypsis Therapeutics, were invited by the organizing committee to present a workshop on November 2, 2022, at the 18th Assembly of the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA). EPSA is an umbrella organization of all European pharmaceutical students’ associations, representing more than 100,000 students in 36 European countries.
Dr. P. Papadopoulou and Dr. Alexia Polissidis were delighted to support the conference on behalf of the Biomedical Sciences Program. Their workshop focused on the importance of collaborations between Academia and Industry in promoting and producing innovation in Greece. Dr. P. Papadopoulou talked about “The Synergistic Effect between Academia and Industry in Pharma Innovation: A Case from Greece,” and Dr. A. Polissidis discussed “The Synergistic Effect between Academia and Industry in Pharma Innovation: A Researcher’s Perspective.” Experiences were shared from both the academic and industry setting regarding the challenging yet highly rewarding path to innovation, and demonstrated, as an example, the budding collaboration between the BMS program at Deree-ACG, and ELPEN Pharmaceuticals.
ELPEN was represented by Professor Constantine Stratakis, who filled in for Dr. Kyriaki Bakirzi, Scientific Director, Experimental, Educational & Research Center, ELPEN Pharmaceuticals. Professor Stratakis, Chief Scientific Officer, ELPEN, Athens, Greece & Director (Res. A’), Human Genetics & Precision Medicine at Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) gave an inspirational presentation. Best practices, plans, and strategies were discussed, as well as ways of communicating and disseminating recent advances in biomedical research. How universities, research centers, biotech companies, pharma companies, and other stakeholders can effectively prepare their faculty, students and workforce to achieve “synergistic” excellence in innovation were presented. Ms Effrosyni Koronaiou, a PhD candidate student at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) co-supervised by Dr. A. Polissidis, presented how young researchers benefit from capstone projects and internship training and discussed the student experience and perspective in Biomedical Sciences research. The audience was fully engaged and a lively Q&A session followed. The following BMS students attended the conference: Christina Bita, Marika Megarioti, Angeliki Kokkali and Anna Lazaridi as well as Spyros Vasilopoulos (MSc Biology, Deree- Lab Technician). Both Deree-ACG and ELPEN Pharmaceuticals were Bronze Sponsors of the Conference.
Our goal is to contribute positively to the advancement of research and drug development in Greece, as reflected in the following workshop goals:
- Communicate and disseminate recent advances in biomedical research through quality collaborations between the pharma industry and academia.
- Showcase examples of best practices and types of collaboration between the pharma industry and academia.
- Explore future synergies and cooperation
From left to right: Prof. Constantine Stratakis, Prof. Paraskevi Papadopoulou, Assistant Prof. Alexia Polissidis and Ms. Effrosini Koronaiou, PhD candidate student
Prof. Paraskevi Papadopoulou with Deree students Christina Bita, Marika Megarioti and Spyros Vasilopoulos (MSc Biology, Deree- Lab Technician)