Dr Venizelos  Papayannopoulos

I did my undergraduate studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey working with Ken Irvine on the mechanisms that establish tissue barriers during D. melanogaster development. This work defined the role of fringe genes as modulators of the Notch signaling pathway. Subsequently, I moved to San Francisco to pursue a PhD at UCSF with Wendell Lim, studying the mechanisms that allow small fluctuations in phopsholipid signals to promote switch-like regulation of actin dynamics. Intrigued by the discovery of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), I headed to Berlin for post-doctoral work with Arturo Zychlinsky at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology to investigate the molecular mechanisms of NET formation and their role in cystic fibrosis. In 2012, I started a research team at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London, now part of the Crick Institute. Our lab studies the role and regulation of neutrophils in infection and disease.