Electra Gizeli, Professor at the Dep. of Biology, University of Crete, and collaborating faculty member of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), was elected as a new member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). This international distinction is awarded based on outstanding contribution to science and advancement of life sciences, through high-level innovative research and achievements. It is also a recognition of the scientific excellence and the high level of research carried out at IMBB-FORTH and the University of Crete.

The European Organization for Molecular Biology aims to promote scientific excellence in the field of Molecular Biology. Today, there are more than 2,000 EMBO members, internationally renowned scientists. It is noteworthy that 91 of them are Nobel Prize winners. Recently, 69 new members were elected from all around the world.

It is worth noting that 8 scientists of FORTH have been elected EMBO Members, in a total of 16 for Greece.

The official welcoming ceremony of Prof. Gizeli, as a New Member of the European Organization for Molecular Biology, will take place in Heidelberg, Germany, October 25-27, 2023.

Short CV in English

Electra Gizeli is a Professor in the Dept. of Biology at the University of Crete and Affiliated Researcher and deputy Director at IMBB-FORTH. She received her BSc in Chemistry from the Univ. of Athens, MSc from UCL and PhD from the Univ. of Cambridge, UK. She received two post-doc visiting fellowships, one at the EPFL, Lausanne and the other at the Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, USA. Following the above, as the recipient of the BBSRC Fellowship she established the “Acoustic Biosensors” group at the Inst. of Biotechnology at the Univ. of Cambridge for six years. Her scientific interests include biosensor/biophysics, nanobiotechnology, molecular diagnostics and micro-engineering; work from her group has produced >90 peer reviewed publications in top journals in the above fields. The transfer of innovative concepts from the lab to the end-user has been a main focus of her work; research from her lab on mobile molecular diagnostics has received several Innovation awards (Nokia, Finland; Innovate Greece, etc.) leading to the co-founding of two spin-out companies. Her work has been supported by international (HFSP), European (EU) and national (BBSRC, GSRI, DAAD) organizations as well as the industry. She has coordinated >20 multidisciplinary projects, raising a total budget of >20M€. During her career, she has trained 25 post-doc, 15 PhD and many MSc and undergraduate students. She has been the recipient of the BBSRC Junior Fellowship, the Leviner Distinguished Visiting Fellowship and an Adjunct Professorship from Marquette Univ, USA. Currently, she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Joint Undertaking EDCP3 and evaluator of numerous funding bodies (Welcome-Trust; the EU; HFSP). In 2016 she was elected a Fellow οf the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK.

The EMBO official announcement: https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-announces-election-of-new-members/