Elena Kromidas studied Technical Biology at the University of Stuttgart and specialized in protein degradation by the proteasome during her master’s thesis at Harvard Medical School. She then deepened her expertise in CRISPR-Cas9 technology at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG in the field of Target Discovery Research.
Her doctoral research focused on women’s health and organ-on-chip technology. In her work at the µOrganoLab with Prof. Loskill, she developed a microfluidic platform and created tissue models for the cervix, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (a precancerous condition), and cervical cancer.

Since August 2024, Elena Kromidas has been leading the 3R Center for In Vitro Models and Animal Testing Alternatives. She is particularly focused on establishing a core facility for microphysiological systems, providing scientists with accessible, advanced, human-based in vitro models.

Monika obtained her BSc in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University. In the final year of her studies, she worked on her bachelor’s thesis within the group of Prof. Pilar Martinez at the School of Mental Health and Neuroscience. In this project she evaluated the efficiency of adeno-associated virus-mediated ceramide transport protein expression in wild type mouse brain. Thereafter, she continued working as a research in the group of Prof. P. Martinez, where she was predominantly involved in the investigation of the sphingosine 1-phosphate analogue effect on the amyloid β pathology and neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease.

She received her M. Sc. in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University (Netherlands). During the first year of her studies, she worked on a project developing an organ-on-a chip cellular models to study the interaction between cancer and thrombosis within the group of Prof. Henri Versteeg at the Department of Internal Medicine (Leiden University). For her master’s thesis, she joined the group of Prof. Anna Herland (KTH Royal Institute of Technoloy and Karolinska Institute, Sweden), where she gained insights into the differentiation and characterization of hiPSC-derived vascular cells. Afterwards, she continued working as a research engineer in the group of Prof. A. Herland on the development of an innovative human neurovascular unit-on-a chip model utilizing human induced pluripotent stem cells to study metabolic activities across the neurovasculature and brain vascularization.

Since October 2024, Monika is supporting scientists in conducting their research using microphysiological systems in the MPS Core Facility.