Lab Group

The Lab Group of the World Olive Center for Health

Prof. Prokopios Magiatis

Prokopios Magiatis, PhD, MSc, is Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Athens. He worked as a visiting professor at the University of California, Davis and at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2009, he was awarded the Egon-Stahl silver medal as the top scientist under 40 years old in the field of natural products chemistry and pharmacology. He is an author of more than 130 publications and 10 patents. He was awarded as the Inventor of the Year 2016 in Greece for his invention ARISTOLEO. He was the scientific coordinator of the Interreg MED project ARISTOIL.

Dr. Eleni Melliou

Dr. Eleni Melliou is a laboratory teaching staff member at the University of Athens, in the Faculty of Pharmacy, laboratory of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry. In 2011 she worked as a visiting professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California (UC), Davis. She has more than 50 publications and two patents. Since 2012, she has been collaborating with the UC Davis Olive Center. In 2014-2016 she held an affiliate professor position at Virginia Commonwealth University. She was awarded as the Inventor of the Year 2016 in Greece for her invention ARISTOLEO. She worked with Prof. Magiatis to create the first university lab to offer analyses of olive oil’s health protecting ingredients using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and will be responsible for the analytical laboratory.

Christos Papanikolaou

Dr. Christos Papanikolaou holds a graduate degree in Biochemistry-Biotechnology from the University of Thessaly. He specialized in clinical chemistry techniques, working on the development of HPLC detection of retinoids in serum with UV-Electrochemical detection. He earned a PhD at the School of Medicine in the University of Thessaly, in the field of Hematology, specializing in molecular techniques for human DNA and RNA analysis, SNPs identification in genes related to diseases, bacterial transformation, and cell cultures. His post-doctoral research in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens focused on olive oil research associated with clinical studies of olive oil phenols in human diseases. Trained in analytical methods and NMR analysis of olive oil, he participated in the Interreg MED ARISTOIL program “Reinforcement of Mediterranean olive oil sector competitiveness through development and application of innovative production and quality control methodologies related to olive oil health protecting properties.”

Panagiotis Diamantakos

Panagiotis Diamantakos earned a graduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Patras, Greece, focused on membrane technology. He also earned an MSc in Production and Quality Control of Bioactive Natural Products in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His diploma thesis was titled “Oleokoronal and Oleomissional: New phenolic compounds of extra virgin olive oil.” He is a PhD candidate in the same Faculty of Pharmacy, focused on olive oil research. He participated in the Interreg MED ARISTOIL program.

Annia Tsolakou

Annia Tsolakou graduated from the Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Biotechnology, with a specialization in techniques regarding the molecular analysis of olive tree samples. She worked with genetic markers for  discrimination among different olive varieties at IBBA-CNR, Italy. She also acquired a Postgraduate Degree of Specialization in Production and Quality Control of Bioactive Natural Products, researching the stability of oleocanthal and related phenolic compounds in EVOO. She has been trained in olive oil analytic methods, including the use of NMR spectroscopy. A PhD candidate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Pharmacy, she participated in the Interreg MED ARISTOIL program.

Aimilia Rigakou

Aimilia Rigakou earned a graduate degree from the Chemistry Department at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She did postgraduate studies in the Production and Quality Control of Bioactive Natural Products program at the University of Athens. Her Master’s diploma thesis was “Elenolide – Oleomissional: Isolation and their quantification in olive oil.” She is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since November 2015, her main focus has been NMR analysis of olive oil, an activity taking place in the laboratory of Prof. Magiatis. During her thesis, she gained insight into several related topics, including the natural products’ isolation and identification, particularly in the constituents of olive oil and olive fruit using chromatography (LC, GC, HPLC) and spectroscopy (NMR).

Aikaterini Papakonstantinou

Aikaterini Papakonstantinou holds a graduate degree in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with a specialization in Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products. She also earned a postgraduate degree in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Athens with the MSc thesis “Study of the chemical composition and bioactivity of the secretion of the Helix aspersa.” During her studies at the University of Athens, she gained experience in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and very good knowledge of analytical techniques such as Thin Liquid Chromatography (TLC), Column Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). She is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Pharmacy with research interests related to olive oil. Starting in March 2017, she participated in the ARISTOIL Research Program.