Nationality Greek | Name Eleni Antoniadou | |
Born 1988 Thessaloniki, Greece Occupation Researcher in regenerative medicine, artificial organ transplantation and space medicine | ||
Fighting organ trafficking with science - Interview with Eleni Antoniadou
Eleni Antoniadou (born 1988) is a Greek scientist and a women's rights activist, with degrees in multiple disciplines. She is also a co-founder in a start-up initiative entitled "Transplants Without Donors," a medical firm to popularize artificial organ transplantation with research, with the long-term vision of creating organs in the laboratory and transplanting them on sick patients in need. She has won several awards from many institutions.
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Eleni antoniadou for greek economic forum a modern greece 15 05 2015
Biography
Antoniadou was born in Greece in 1988. Right from her school days when she was interested in astronomy and aerospace clubs she hoped to pursue science studies. Her initial college education was at the University of Thessaly in Greece from where she graduated with a BSc degree in Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics in 2009. She continued her studies at University College London, earning a master's degree in nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. Thereafter, she studied at the University of Illinois and was awarded another master's degree in bioengineering and tissue engineering with a scholarship from the Fulbright Program and the Institute of International Education in 2010. Concurrently she has been working as a researcher to study the effects of changes in atmospheric pressure on the nervous systems of astronauts in the NASA Ames Academy for Space Exploration since 2013. For this research work she was chosen from among the 1,200 candidates who had competed for this position.
While pursuing her studies in London, Antoniadou also experimented on neural generation testing biomaterials which could be adopted as artificial nerves.
Awards
In the course of her young career Antoniadou has received several awards, including: NASA - ESA Award for 2012; the 50 Future Award'; in September selected for the 2013 Woman of the Year at the annual British FDM Every-woman in Technology Awards, the 2015 Young Business Woman of the Year in the UK, BBC 100 Most Powerful Women, "11 Great Greeks of the Past, Present and Future" by the EPP party of the European Parliament, Libertine 100, Greek America Fortyunder40. In 2014 she became the USA Laureate for Cartier for her research in bioengineering. Eleni was included in the List of 21st-century women scientists that was sponsored by The New York Academy of Sciences.
Appreciation
Forbes, awarding Antoniadou third place in the "30 Under 30" list of the leading young people in the field of healthcare, observed: