Zoe Cournia, PhD
Investigator - Associate Professor Level
Center for Clinical, Research, Experimental Surgery
and Translational Research
Telephone :+30 210 6597 195
Fax :+30 210 6597 545
e-mail : zcournia bioacademy.gr
Brief Bio
Dr. Cournia is Director of Research at the Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, where she works on anticancer drug and materials design using High Performance Computing. She graduated from the Chemistry Department, University of Athens in 2001 and received her PhD at the University of Heidelberg in Germany in 2006. She then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chemistry Department, Yale University, USA, on computer-aided drug design and in 2009 she became a Lecturer at Yale College. She has been awarded with the American Association for Cancer Research Angiogenesis Fellowship (2008), the "Woman of Innovation 2009" Award from the Connecticut Technology Council, USA, the Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union (2010), the "Outstanding Junior Faculty Award" from the American Chemical Society (2014) and the first "Ada Lovelace Award" from the "Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe" (2016). She was a member of the Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG) of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking in 2018-2021, Treasurer of the Division of Computational and Theoretical Chemistry in the European Chemical Society (2022-2023) and the President of the International Society of Quantum Biology and Pharmacology (2022-2024). In 2022 she was appointed as the Greek representative in the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking. She is an Executive Editor at the Journal of Chemical information and Modeling, American Chemical Society. She is currently teaching at the Master’s program “Data Science and Information Technologies” at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National University of Athens. She is the Founder of the SME Ingredio, a mobile phone app that informs consumers on the potential hazards of chemical ingredients in food and cosmetics products using open, peer-reviewed data (http://www.ingred.io/android).
Selected Publications
Unravelling the effect of the E545K mutation on PI3Kα kinase
Galdadas I, Gervasio, FL, Cournia Z
Chem Sci, 2020, 11, 3511-3515
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05903B
Compounds for use in treating or preventing cancerous diseases
Stellas D, Tamvakopoulos C, Klinakis A, Efstratiadis A, Cournia Z
US Patent 2019 10,287,294B2
Insights into the mechanism of the PIK3CA E545K activating mutation using MD simulations.
Leontiadou H, Galdadas I, Athanasiou C, Cournia Z*
Sci Rep, 2018, 8(1):15544.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27044-6
Membrane Partitioning of Anionic, Ligand-Coated Nanoparticles Is Accompanied by Ligand Snorkeling, Local Disordering, and Cholesterol Depletion
Gkeka, P, Angelikopoulos P, Sarkisov L, Cournia Z.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2014, 10 (10):e1003917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003917
Investigating the Structure and Dynamics of the PIK3CA Wild-Type and H1047R Oncogenic Mutant.
Gkeka P, Evangelidis T, Pavlaki M, Lazani V, Christoforidis S, Agianian B, Cournia Z.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2014, 10 (10):e1003895.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003895
ChemBioServer: a web-based pipeline for filtering, clustering and visualization of chemical compounds used in drug discovery.Athanasiadis E, Cournia Z, Spyrou G.
Bioinformatics. 2012, 28(22), pp. 3002-3.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bts551
Structural characterization and computer-aided optimization of a small-molecule inhibitor of the Arp2/3 complex, a key regulator of the actin cytoskeleton.
Baggett AW, Cournia Z, Han MS, Patargias G, Glass AC, Liu SY, Nolen BJ.
ChemMedChem. 2012, 7(7):1286-94.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201200104
Discovery of human macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)-CD74 antagonists via virtual screening.
Cournia Z, Leng L, Gandavadi S, Du X, Bucala R, Jorgensen WL.
J Med Chem. 2009, 52(2):416-24.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jm801100v
Differential effects of cholesterol, ergosterol and lanosterol on a dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine membrane: a molecular dynamics simulation study.
Cournia Z, Ullmann GM, Smith JC.
J Phys Chem B. 2007, 111(7):1786-801.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp065172i
A molecular mechanics force field for biologically important sterols.
Cournia Z, Smith JC, Ullmann GM
J Comput Chem. 2005, (13):1383-99.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcc.20277
AFMM: A molecular mechanics force-field vibrational parametrization program.
Vaiana AC, Cournia Z, Costescu IB, Smith JC
Comput Phys Commun 2005, 167:34-42.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2004.12.005
Derivation of a Molecular Mechanics Force-Field for Cholesterol.
Cournia Z, Vaiana AC, Smith JC, Ullmann GM
Pure Appl Chem. 2004, 76:189-196.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/pac200476010189
