We are pleased to announce that Dr. Elena Kromidas has taken over as Head of the Business Unit of the 3R Center for In Vitro Models and Alternatives to Animal Testing as of August 15, 2024. She succeeds Dr. Silke Riegger, who has now assumed the role of Head of the Baden-Württemberg 3R Network Business Unit. With her extensive scientific expertise in microphysiological systems and international research experience, Dr. Kromidas will further drive development and progress in the field of alternative and complementary methods to animal testing in Tuebingen.
Dr. Kromidas studied Technical Biology at the University of Stuttgart, and during her master’s thesis at Harvard Medical School, she specialized in the degradation of proteins by the proteasome—a process that plays a significant role in both neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. She also brings valuable experience from her work at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG in Target Discovery Research, where she worked extensively with CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
Her doctoral research at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen focused on women’s health and organ-on-chip technology. She developed a microfluidic platform along with human tissue models of the cervix, a precancerous cervical stage, and cervical cancer. By integrating immune components into the cancer model, this system enables detailed research into the interaction between immune cells and cancer tissue within the tumor microenvironment, potentially supporting new approaches to immunotherapies.
At the 3R Center Tübingen, Dr. Kromidas will now focus on establishing the Core Facility for Microphysiological Systems to provide scientists with easy access to cutting-edge human in vitro models. This includes both the necessary infrastructure and the required expertise.
We warmly welcome Dr. Kromidas to our team and look forward to the numerous new perspectives and contributions she will bring!
