Postdoc
Joined the lab: January 2025
Background and Current Projects:
I was trained in Molecular Biology and Genetics during my undergraduate studies at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, graduating as valedictorian in 2019. I then pursued an MPhil in Biological Sciences (2020) at the University of Cambridge, within the Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience. During this time, I joined the Boroviak lab and the Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research, where I developed a strong interest in stem cell biology and worked on novel gel-based systems to study early primate embryogenesis, using marmoset stem cells and microfluidic culture approaches.
During my PhD studies (2020-2023) at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health Research, I continued to specialise in early mammalian development working between at the Galea and de Coppi labs. My research focused on the role of planar cell polarity (PCP) and tissue-specific extracellular matrix cues required for neuroepithelial sheet formation, using human pluripotent stem cell models from individuals affected with spina bifida. Following my PhD, I held a postdoctoral position in the Elvassore lab at the University of Padova, within the Department of Industrial Engineering. There I combined 3D bioprinting with cardiac tissue engineering to generate heart-tube-like structures in tunable biomaterials.
I returned to Cambridge in 2025 to join the Hollfelder lab, where I am combining directed evolution strategies, microfluidic cell encapsulation platforms to study human stem cell self-organisation to investigate PCP pathway components during early stages of mammalian embryogenesis, when the body axis first emerges.
Interests: I enjoy science (in any shape and colour), travelling with friends in far-away places, and channelling my inner Greek by reading books under the sun by the sea.
Publications
- Ampartzidis I, Thompson M E, Gupta Y, Krstevski A, Elvassore N, Maniou E, de Coppi P, Galea L G. Patient-specific iPSC models of neural tube defects identify underlying deficiencies in neuroepithelial cell shape regulation and differentiation, biorXiv, 2025. Link
- Ampartzidis I, Efstathiou C, Paonessa F, Thompson M T, Wilson T, McCann J C, Greene D E N, Copp J A, Livesey F J, Elvassore N, Giobbe G G, de Coppi P, Maniou E, Galea L G. Synchronisation of apical constriction and cell cycle progression is a conserved behaviour of pseudostratified neuroepithelia informed by their tissue geometry, Developmental Biology, 2023. Link
- Maniou E, Todros S, Urciolo A, Moulding D, Magnussen M, Ampartzidis I, Brandolino L, Bellet P, Giomo M, Pavan P G, Galea G L, Elvassore N. Quantifying mechanical forces during vertebrate morphogenesis, Nature Materials, 2024. Link
- Galea G L, Maniou E, Edwards T J, Marshall A R, Ampartzidis I, Greene N D E, Copp A J. Cell non-autonomy amplifies disruption of neurulation by mosaic Vangl2 deletion in mice, Nature Communications, 2021. Link
- Munger C, Kohler N T, Slatery E, Ellermann L A, Bergmann S, Penfold C, Ampartzidis I, Chen Y, Hollfelder F, Boroviak E T. Epiblast- and amnion-spheroid culture reveals that ACTIVIN/NODAL signalling controls embryonic lineage identity in primates., Development, 2022. Link
