Ιωάννης Παπαντωνίου

2003-2008 Doctor of Philosophy (MPhil and PhD), Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London (UCL), London, UK
2002-2003 Thesis project. Universita degli studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Department of Chemical Engineering, Rome, Italy
1997-2003 Diploma in Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Cell therapy bioprocessing: My activities to date aim to address bioprocessing/translational challenges allowing scalable and robust manufacturing of adult progenitor/stem cells, required for moving ATMPs into the clinic cost efficiently. In addition i am seeking to integrate in the bioprocess pipeline high precision analytics such as Raman Spectroscopy and metabolomics, through internal collaborations, in order to extract more precise molecular signatures of the cultured cells and the quality attributes of the final ATMP.

Skeletal living implant engineering: Design and engineer progressively complex yet autonomous skeletal 3D living implants adopting guiding self-assemblies of organoid structures (Tissue engineered ATMPs). Develop a panel of metrics to enable quantitative definition of biologic events ensuring activation and maintenance of mechanism of action. Link therapeutic functionality upon implantation to the patient to in vitro quality attributes of skeletal ATMPs.

2015- 2019 ATMP (Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products) Bioprocess Research Coordinator
2015- 2018 FWO Fellow, Prometheus Division of Skeletal Tissue Engineering, Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Centre, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
2011-2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Prometheus Division of Skeletal Tissue Engineering, Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Centre, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
2009-2010 Mandatory Military Service, Land Forces, Greek Army
2008-2009 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London (UCL), London, UK

National Institute of Research of Flanders (FWO, 15% success rate) Research Fellowship. Topic: A two-step bioreactor-based strategy for the manufacturing of patterned tissue structures-designing living implants (12O7916N), Belgium, 2015.

IKY (National Greek Scholarship Foundation) scholarship for doctoral studies abroad. In environmental technologies and biochemical engineering, awarded after success in nation-wide exams (10% success rate), Greece, 2003.

Recognised as a ”rising star” in the field of Regenerative medicine manufacturing at the reference EU commercial conference with more than 1000 participants. World Advanced Therapies & Regenerative Medicine Congress, London, UK, May 15-17, 2019.

Has participated in several national and international projects in the UK and Belgium funded by the Innovative Manufacturing Council (IMRC,UK), Several projects from the National Institute of Research of Flanders (FWO), Internal KU Leuven university projects. Currently participant in the INTERREG (NWE): BONE – Biofabrication of orthopaedics in a new era.
Also active member of the running RegMedXB project, a cross-border collaboration between Flanders and Netherlands.

37 peer reviewed publications in peer reviewed international research journals, 3 book chapters, 2 special issue editorials and 1 granted patent. Active member of the editorial board of the journal Cell & Gene Therapy Insights.

Has provided more than 40 oral presentations at international conferences and symposia. Has acted as session chairs and invited speaker in several conferences as well as panelist at interfaces with industrial stakeholders. Has organised and co-organised the two initial conferences of the Belgian Society of Tissue Engineering (BSTE).

2004 – now Technical Chamber of Greece. Chartered Engineer (2004-)
2014 – now European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences, (ESBES)
2014 – now Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)
2017 – now International Society of Biofabrication (ISBF)

Invited lectures for topics such as bioreactors for cell therapy and regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and biomaterials, at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Liege, Belgium; Department of Materials Engineering KU Leuven, Belgium; Keck Institute for Bioprocessing, USA.

• Geris, L., Papantoniou, I. (2019). The third era of Tissue Engineering: Reversing the Innovation drivers, Tissue Engineering Part A. (IF:3.616)
• Gupta, P., Nilsson-Hall, G., Geris, L., Luyten, F.P., Papantoniou, I. (2019)., “Human Platelet Lysate Improves Bone Forming Potential of Human Progenitor Cells Expanded in Microcarrier-Based Dynamic Culture“, Stem Cells Translational Medicine (IF:5.962)
• Geris, L., Lambrechts, T., Carlier, A., Papantoniou, I. (2018). The future is digital: in silico regenerative medicine. Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering, 6:92-98.
• Gupta, P., Geris, L., Luyten, F.P., Papantoniou, I. (2018). An integrated bioprocess for the expansion and chondrogenic priming of human periosteum derived progenitor cells in suspension bioreactors. Biotechnology Journal. (IF: 3.507)
• Guyot, Y, Smeets, B., Odenthal, T., Subramani, R., Luyten, F.P., Ramon, H., Papantoniou, I*., Geris, L*. (2016). Using Immersed boundary models for stress distribution mapping on stem cells seeded on 3D scaffolds in perfusion bioreactors. PLoS Computational Biology, *Shared senior authorship. (IF: 4.428).
• Lambrechts, T., Sonnaert, M., Schrooten, J., Luyten, F.P., Aerts, J-M., Papantoniou, I. (2016). Large-scale mesenchymal stem/stromal cell expansion: a visual tool for bioprocess comparison. Tissue Engineering Part B, 22(6):485-498. (IF: 6.512)
• Papantoniou, I., Guyot, Y., Sonnaert, M., Kerckhofs, G., Luyten, F., Geris, L., Schrooten, J. (2014). Spatial optimization in perfusion bioreactors improves bone tissue-engineered construct quality attributes. Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 11(12):2560-2570. (IF: 4.26).