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Brief Bio

Dr. Avgeris studied Biology and received his MSc from the Faculty of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Dr. Avgeris holds a PhD degree in Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Diagnostics from the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Biology of NKUA. Following his PhD, he worked as PostDoc research fellow in the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as Academic Scholar of the Faculty of Biology of NKUA. During his Ph.D and PostDoc he has worked in 5 research grants from Greek-EU funded programs in the NKUA and the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA). Among others, his works have been awarded by the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry of USA (NACB) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). 

In 2019, Dr. Avgeris was elected Associate Professor at the School of Medicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. 

His current research is focusing on applied molecular biology and modern molecular diagnostics towards personalized and precision medicine in oncology, focusing on:
  • Cancer Research - RNA biology
  • Molecular Diagnostics - Molecular cancer biomarkers
  • non-coding RNAs - miRNAs, lncRNAs, tRFs
  • Epigenetics (DNA methylation)
  • Epitranscriptomics (RNA epigenetics)
  • cell-free DNA (cfDNA) - Liquid biopsies
  • Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Links
PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Avgeris+M&sort=date
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v6yBiJ4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Margaritis-Avgeris-2
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2135-9886
Publons: https://publons.com/researcher/253544/margaritis-avgeris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaritis-avgeris-a4659b8b/?originalSubdoma...

Selected Publications
  • Pilala KM, Koroneou S, Papadimitriou MA, Panoutsopoulou K, Soureas K, Giagkos GC, Levis P, Linardoutsos D, Stravodimos K, Avgeris M*, Scorilas A. Loss of METTL3 m6A methyltransferase results in short-term progression and poor treatment outcome of bladder cancer patients. International Journal of Cancer 2026; 158:763-774. DOI: 10.1002/ijc.70147 (*Corresponding author)
  • Xagorari M, Marmarinos A, Doganis D, Nikita M, Magkou E, Sfetsiori AE, Baka M, Kossiva L, Pasparaki S, Soldatou A, Tsolia M, Scorilas A, Gourgiotis D, Avgeris M. NEAT1 lncRNA overexpression results in short-term progression and poor treatment outcome in childhood B-ALL. British Journal of Haematology 2025; 207:2475-2485. DOI: 10.1111/bjh.70127
  • Rampias T, Goutas A, Karagiannis D, Kanaki Z, Makri A, Hoxhallari L, Koukouzeli FE, Paraskevopoulou V, Tsouraki D, Paschalidis N, Avgeris M, Scorilas A, Klinakis A. KMT2C inactivation leads to PTEN downregulation and tolerance to DNA damage during cell cycle progression. npj Precision Oncology 2025; 9:336. DOI: 10.1038/s41698-025-01101-6
  • PilalaKM,  PanoutsopoulouK, Papadimitriou MA, Soureas K, Scorilas A, Avgeris M. Exploring methyl-verse: dynamic interplay of epigenome and m6A epitranscriptome. Molecular Therapy 2025; 33(2):447-464. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.12.003
  • Soureas K, Malandrakis P, Papadimitriou MA, Minopoulos C, Ntanasis-Stathopoulos I, Liacos CI, Gavriatopoulou M, Kastritis E, Dimopoulos MA, Scorilas A, Avgeris M*, Terpos E*. Refining precision prognostics in multiple myeloma: loss of miR-221/222 cluster in CD138+ plasma cells results in short-term progression and worse treatment outcome. Blood Cancer Journal 2025; 15(1):41. DOI: 10.1038/s41408-025-01248-2 (*Equal last authors)
  • PapadimitriouMA, PilalaKM, PanoutsopoulouK, LevisP, KotronopoulosG, KanakiZ, LoulesG, ZamanakouM, LinardoutsosD, SiderisDC, StravodimosK, KlinakisA, ScorilasA, AvgerisM. CDKN2A copy number alteration in bladder cancer: integrative analysis in patient-derived xenografts and cancer patients. Molecular Therapy Oncology 2024; 32(2):200818. DOI: 10.1016/j.omton.2024.200818
  • Soureas K, Papadimitriou MA, Malandrakis P, Papanota AM, Adamopoulos PG, Ntanasis-Stathopoulos I, Liacos CI, Gavriatopoulou M, Sideris DC, Kastritis E, Dimopoulos MA, Scorilas A, Terpos E, Avgeris M. Small RNA-seq and clinical evaluation of tRNA-derived fragments in multiple myeloma: Loss of mitochondrial i-tRFHisGTG results in patients' poor treatment outcome. British Journal of Haematology 2024; 204(5):1790-1800. DOI: 10.1111/bjh.19332
  • Pilala KM, Kotronopoulos G, Levis P, Giagkos GC, Stravodimos K, Vassilacopoulou D, Scorilas A, Avgeris M. MIR145 core promoter methylation in pre-treatment cell-free DNA: a liquid biopsy tool for muscle-invasive bladder cancer treatment outcome. JCO Precision Oncology 2024; 8:e2300414. DOI: 10.1200/PO.23.00414.
  • Soureas K, Papadimitriou MA, Panoutsopoulou K, Pilala KM, Scorilas A, Avgeris M. Cancer Quiescence: non-coding RNAs in the spotlight. Trends in Molecular Medicine 2023, 29(10):843-858. DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2023.07.003
  • Papadimitriou MA, Levis P, Kotronopoulos G, Stravodimos K, Avgeris M*, Scorilas A*. Pre-operative cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer treatment outcome. Clinical Chemistry 2023, 69(4):399-410. DOI: 10.1093/clinchem/hvac218 (*Equal last authors)
  • Panoutsopoulou K, Magkou P, Dreyer T, Dorn J, Obermayr E, Mahner S, Gorp VT, Braicu I, Magdolen V, Zeillinger R, Avgeris M*, Scorilas A*. tRNA-derived small RNA 3’U-tRFValCAC promotes tumor migration and early-progression in ovarian cancer. European Journal of Cancer 2023, 180:134-145. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.11.033 (*Equal last authors)
  • Pilala KM, Papadimitriou MA, Panoutsopoulou K, Barbarigos P, Levis P, Kotronopoulos G, Stravodimos K, Scorilas A, Avgeris M. Epigenetic regulation of MIR145 core promoter controls miR-143/145 cluster in bladder cancer progression and treatment outcome. Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids 2022, 30:311-322. DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2022.10.001
  • Papadimitriou MA, Panoutsopoulou K, Pilala KM, Scorilas A, Avgeris M. Epi-miRNAs: Modern mediators of methylation status in human cancers. WIREs RNA 2022; e1735. DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1735.
  • Galani A, Aalizadeh R, Kostakis M, Markou A, Alygizakis N, Lytras T, Adamopoulos PG, Peccia J, Thompson DC, Kontou A, Karagiannidis A, Lianidou ES, Avgeris M, Paraskevis D, Tsiodras S, Scorilas A, Vasiliou V, Dimopoulos MA, Thomaidis NS. SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance data can predict hospitalizations and ICU admissions. Sci Total Environ. 2022, 804:150151. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150151
  • Panoutsopoulou K, Dreyer T, Dorn J, Obermayr E, Mahner S, Gorp TV, Braicu I, Zeillinger R, Magdolen V, Avgeris M, Scorilas A. tRNAGlyGCC-Derived Internal Fragment (i-tRF-GlyGCC) in Ovarian Cancer Treatment Outcome and Progression. Cancers 2021, 14(1):24. DOI: 10.3390/cancers14010024
  • Avgeris M, Adamopoulos PG, Galani A, Xagorari M, Gourgiotis D, Trougakos IP, Voulgaris N, Dimopoulos MA, Thomaidis NS, Scorilas A. Novel Nested-Seq Approach for SARS-CoV-2 Real-Time Epidemiology and In-Depth Mutational Profiling in Wastewater. Int J Mol Sci. 2021, 22(16):8498. DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168498
  • Panoutsopoulou K, Avgeris M, Magkou P, Mavridis K, Dreyer T, Dorn J, Obermayr E, Reinthaller A, Michaelidou K, Mahner S, Vergote I, Loverix L, Braicu I, Sehouli J, Zeillinger R, Magdolen V, Scorilas A. miR-181a overexpression predicts the poor treatment response and early-progression of serous ovarian cancer patients. International Journal of Cancer 2020, 147(12):3560-3573. DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33182
  • Avgeris M, Kokkinopoulou I, Maratou E, Mitrou P, Boutati E, Scorilas A, Fragoulis EG, Christodoulou MI. Blood-based analysis of 84 microRNAs identifies specific molecules with deregulated expression in patients and individuals at risk for type-2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2020, 164:108187. DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108187
  • Avgeris M, Tsilimantou A, Levis PK, Tokas T, Sideris DC, Stravodimos K, Ardavanis A, Scorilas A. Loss of GAS5 tumour suppressor lncRNA: an independent molecular cancer biomarker for short-term relapse and progression in bladder cancer patients. British Journal of Cancer 2018; 119(12):1477-1486. DOI: 10.1038/s41416-018-0320-6.
  • Avgeris M, Tsilimantou A, Levis PK, Rampias T, Papadimitriou MA, Panoutsopoulou K, Stravodimos K, Scorilas A. Unravelling UCA1 lncRNA prognostic utility in urothelial bladder carcinoma. Carcinogenesis 2019; 40(8):965-974. DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgz045.
  • Rampias T, Karagiannis D, Avgeris M, Polyzos A, Kokkalis A, Kanaki Z, Kousidou E , Tzetis M, Kanavakis E, Stravodimos K, Manola KN, Pantelias GE, Scorilas A, Klinakis A. The lysine-specific methyltransferase KMT2C/MLL3 regulates DNA repair components in cancer. EMBO Reports 2019, 20(3):e46821. DOI: 10.15252/embr.201846821
  • Piatopoulou D, Avgeris M, Marmarinos A, Xagorari M, Baka M, Doganis D, Kossiva L, Scorilas A, Gourgiotis D. miR-125b predicts childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia poor response to BFM chemotherapy treatment. British Journal of Cancer 2017, 117(6):801-812. DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2017.256
  • Psyrri A, Fortpied C, Koutsodontis G, Avgeris M, Kroupis C, Goutas N, Menis J, Herman L, Giurgea L, Remenar E, Degardin M, Pateras IS, Langendijk JA, van Herpen C, Awada A, Germà-Lluch JR, Kienzer HR, Licitra L, Vermorken JB. Evaluation of the impact of tumor HPV status on outcome in patients with locally advanced unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) receiving cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil with or without docetaxel: A subset analysis of EORTC 24971 study. Annals of Oncology 2017, 28(9):2213-2218. DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdx320
  • Vassilakopoulou M*, Avgeris M*, Velcheti V, Kotoula V, Rampias T, Chatzopoulos K, Perisanidis C, Kontos CK, Giotakis AI, Scorilas A, Rimm D, Sasaki C, Fountzilas G, Psyrri A. Evaluation of PD-L1 expression and Associated Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Clinical Cancer Research 2016; 22(3):704-13. *Equal contribution DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-1543.
  • Avgeris M, Mavridis K, Tokas T, Stravodimos K, Fragoulis EG, Scorilas A. Uncovering the clinical utility of miR-143, miR-145 and miR-224 for predicting the survival of bladder cancer patients following treatment. Carcinogenesis 2015; 36(5):528-37. DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgv024.
  • Rampias T, Vgenopoulou P, Avgeris M, Polyzos A, Stravodimos K, Valavanis C, Scorilas A, Klinakis A. A new tumor suppressor role for the Notch pathway in bladder cancer. Nature Medicine 2014; 20(10):1199-205. DOI: 10.1038/nm.3678.
  • Avgeris M, Stravodimos K, Fragoulis EG, Scorilas A. The loss of the tumour-suppressor miR-145 results in shorter disease-free survival of prostate cancer patients. British Journal Cancer 2013;108(12):2573-81. DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2013.250.