Dr. Maria Ikonomopoulou is the Head of the Translational Venomics Group at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Food in Spain. She is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Co-ordinator of the Stakeholder Engagement Committee and in the Core Management of the COST Action CA19144 EUVEN – European Venom Network as well as supporter of STEMM WOMEN in Australia. Dr. Ikonomopoulou is a former TALENT Fellow (Program of excellence in research by the Madrid Government) and Marie Curie “AMAROUT” Fellow. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Technology from the Technological Educational Institute in Western Macedonia in Greece and part of her degree was conducted in the Biotechnology Department at the Teagasc-Moorepark Research Centre in Ireland (Leonardo Da Vinci EU Program). She has a MSc in Zoology from the University of Tasmania and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Queensland (UQ & APAI Fellowships) in Australia. She has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Queensland and QIMR Berghofer.

Group page at the institute: Home page | Translational Venomics Lab Social media: Maria Ikonomopoulou | LinkedIn Biosketch and research interest: Dr. Maria Ikonomopoulou is the Head of the Translational Venomics Group at IMDEA-Food Institute in Madrid. Her research is focused on the biodiscovery, pharmacological characterisation, and optimisation of animal venom compounds as tools or agent candidates (anticancer: melanoma or anti-aging: senolytics). She utilizes interdisciplinary approaches, including molecular, cell biology, state-of-the-art venomics, animal models of cancer and metabolic disorders as well as medicinal chemistry and structure-activity relationship. Her broad research goal is to understand the biology of senescence and cancer by the study of animal venoms and to discover new & safe venom-based anti-aging therapies.