Biography

Kostas moved to the UK in 1998 to study for a BSc in Genetics at the University of Leicester, having completed his high school education in his native Greece. After graduation he went on to the University of York to undertake a Masters in Bioinformatics, which included a three-month industrial placement writing software to process mass spectrometric data. Having gained an interest in mass spectrometry, Kostas then went to the University of Warwick in order to pursue a PhD that combined experimental and computational studies in mass spectrometry-based proteomics. After being awarded his PhD in 2006, Kostas was the successful recipient of a one year Wellcome Trust Value in People Fellowship. Post doctoral training followed and two years later he was awarded a Science City fellowship jointly hosted by the Universities of Warwick and Birmingham. In 2010 Kostas moved to the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology at University College London / Birkbeck to take up a lectureship in biophysical mass spectrometry. 

His research interests span the development of mass spectrometry and computational analysis methods to understand the structure and dynamics of proteins and protein complexes. A particular focus is in applying these methods to study disordered proteins and proteins involved in misfolding and aggregation, both of which are challenging to study using other biophysical and structural biology methods.

A major contribution from his lab has been the development of methods in travelling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMS) with his lab leading the development of software for the processing of these data. Recently, he has been at the forefront of investigating the applications of cyclic ion mobility mass spectrometry (cIMMS), alone and in combination with top-down fragmentation methods, for studying protein structure and probing protein unfolding pathways in finer detail. In addition to developments in ion mobility, his lab has also developed novel scoring schemes that enable the utilisation of crosslinking mass spectrometry data for the modelling of proteins and protein complexes.

As the Academic Lead for the UCL MS-STP, which he started in 2019, he has established a world-class mass spectrometry facility to support life science research at UCL.