Greek human genetics researcher
Emmanouil Theophilos Dermitzakis (born April 3, 1972) is a Greek human geneticist and professor in the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development at the
University of Geneva , where he is also Director of the Health 2030 Genome Center. He is an
ISI Highly Cited Researcher and an elected member of the
European Molecular Biology Organization .
[1]
[2] He is a member of the
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics , where his research group is focused on the
genetics and
genomics of
complex traits in humans.
[3] He has joined
GlaxoSmithKline as Vice President, Computational Biology in R&D.
[4]
Early years
Dermitzakis graduated from High School in
Pagrati , Athens. His dream of becoming a geneticist was spurred by two pages on
genetic engineering in a Biology book in the school curriculum.
[5] His father was a physician and former classmate of professor
Fotis Kafatos , who inspired him to later enter the field of research.
[6]
Education
Dermitzakis completed his graduate degree in
Biology at the
University of Crete in 1995 and then earned a
Master of Science at the same University in 1997.
[7] During an interview he confessed that he did not achieve a high score in his first degree, nevertheless his drive for research helped him pursue
doctoral studies in the USA.
[6] He completed his doctoral thesis in the evolution of components of
gene regulation in
Drosophila and mammals at
Penn State University in 2001.
[7] He then completed
postdoctoral studies at the
Medical School of the
University of Geneva in 2004 with his research on comparative
genome analysis and the functional characterization of conserved non-genic elements.
[8]
Career
After completing his studies Dermitzakis moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a group leader and member of the academic council at the
Wellcome Sanger Institute from 2004 to 2009.
[9] He continued his research career in Switzerland, as Professor of Genetics in the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development at the University of Geneva and in research centres including
Frontiers in Genetics and the
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in Geneva.
[10] He has served as Director of the Health 2030 Genome Center and is a member of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the
Academy of Athens in Greece.
[6] In November 2019 he was appointed chairman of the Greek National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation, however a few months later he resigned, having said that his role on the council was merely decorative.
[11] In October 2020 he was appointed Director of the
Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva (known also as iGE3).
[12]
Distinctions
Dermitzakis has published over 160 papers in
peer-reviewed
scientific journals such as
Nature and
Science with over 89,000
citations .
[13] Before the age of 40 he was already on the
Thomson Reuters
Highly Cited Researchers list in the field of
Molecular Biology and Genetics.
[14] His research has been funded by the
European Research Council (ERC), the
European Union , the
Swiss National Science Foundation , the American
National Institutes of Health (NIH), the
Wellcome Trust , the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the
Louis-Jeantet Foundation .
[15] Dermitzakis has earned numerous awards and continues to appear on the ISI Highly Cited Researchers List every year from 2014 onward.
[16]
Scientific contributions
Dermitzakis has been one of the first scientists to reveal the importance of
non-coding DNA in
evolution and disease susceptibility. His papers on the evolution of regulatory elements showed the dynamic nature of
regulatory sequences .
[17] His group has pioneered the analysis of non-coding regulatory variants in the
human genome and their effect on
gene expression regulation ,
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
chromatin patterns and regulatory interactions
[23]
[24] and 3D genome interactions in cis and trans regulatory variants
[25] and how they are impacting cellular function as well as disease susceptibility
[26]
[27] and cancer.
[28]
He has participated in international genetics projects such as
ENCODE ,
[29]
HapMap ,
[30] GTEx
[31] and more recently in the International Common Disease Alliance (ICDA).
[32]
Personal life
Manolis Dermitzakis is married to attorney Ria Kechagia and the couple have three children.
[33]
References
^
"Emmanouil T. Dermitzakis Curriculum Vitae" (PDF) . July 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2019 . [
permanent dead link ]
^
"Professor Emmanouil (Manolis) Dermitzakis" . UNIGE School of Medicine FunPopGen . Retrieved June 7, 2019 .
^ Flegel, Sylvie.
"Dermitzakis Emmanouil (Manolis)" . SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics . Archived from
the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2019 .
^
"ASHG Honors Emmanouil Dermitzakis, PhD with the 2021 Curt Stern Award" . American Society of Human Genetics . 12 July 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021 .
^ Θεοδώρα, Τσώλη (2019-11-18).
"Μανώλης Δερμιτζάκης : Ηρθε να "νοικοκυρέψει" την έρευνα στην Ελλάδα" . Ειδήσεις - νέα - Το Βήμα Online (in Greek). Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
a
b
c
"GoodNews.gr - Μανώλης Δερμιτζάκης: Αυτός είναι ο επιστήμονας που συντονίζει την εμβληματική δράση COVID-19-GR" . goodnews.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
a
b IEFIMERIDA.GR, NEWSROOM (2014-11-05).
"Ενας Κρητικός στους σπουδαιότερους επιστήμονες του κόσμου -Εκείνοι που θα επηρεάσουν δραστικά τις ζωές μας | STORIES" . iefimerida.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Professor Emmanouil (Manolis) Dermitzakis |" . funpopgen.unige.ch . Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Μανώλης Δερμιτζάκης "What's that in your genes and are you happy to see it?" " . The HUB Events (in Greek). Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Ο Μ. Δερμιτζάκης πρόεδρος στο Εθνικό Συμβούλιο Έρευνας, Τεχνολογίας και Καινοτομίας | naftemporiki.gr" . www.naftemporiki.gr (in Greek). 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^ Ιωάννα, Σουφλέρη (2020-08-26).
"Δερμιτζάκης: Οι απόψεις μου για την έρευνα δεν ταυτίζονταν με της κυβέρνησης" . Ειδήσεις - νέα - Το Βήμα Online (in Greek). Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"New director for iGE3 - Emmanouil Dermitzakis" . iGE3 (Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva) . 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Emmanouil Dermitzakis" . scholar.google.ch . Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Ένας σημαντικός Έλληνας γενετιστής μιλά για το μοντέλο της Σουηδίας, τη νέα κανονικότητα και την έρευνα στη χώρα μας" . LiFO (in Greek). 24 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Δερμιτζάκης Μανώλης" . www.blod.gr . Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Emmanouil Dermitzakis" . AGBT . Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^ Dermitzakis, Emmanouil T.; Clark, Andrew G. (July 2002).
"Evolution of transcription factor binding sites in Mammalian gene regulatory regions: conservation and turnover" . Molecular Biology and Evolution . 19 (7): 1114–1121.
doi :
10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004169 .
ISSN
0737-4038 .
PMID
12082130 .
^ Stranger, Barbara E.; Forrest, Matthew S.; Clark, Andrew G.; Minichiello, Mark J.; Deutsch, Samuel; Lyle, Robert; Hunt, Sarah; Kahl, Brenda; Antonarakis, Stylianos E.; Tavaré, Simon; Deloukas, Panagiotis (December 2005).
"Genome-wide associations of gene expression variation in humans" . PLOS Genetics . 1 (6): e78.
doi :
10.1371/journal.pgen.0010078 .
ISSN
1553-7404 .
PMC
1315281 .
PMID
16362079 .
^ Stranger, Barbara E.; Nica, Alexandra C.; Forrest, Matthew S.; Dimas, Antigone; Bird, Christine P.; Beazley, Claude; Ingle, Catherine E.; Dunning, Mark; Flicek, Paul; Koller, Daphne; Montgomery, Stephen (October 2007).
"Population genomics of human gene expression" . Nature Genetics . 39 (10): 1217–1224.
doi :
10.1038/ng2142 .
ISSN
1546-1718 .
PMC
2683249 .
PMID
17873874 .
^ Stranger, Barbara E.; Forrest, Matthew S.; Dunning, Mark; Ingle, Catherine E.; Beazley, Claude; Thorne, Natalie; Redon, Richard; Bird, Christine P.; de Grassi, Anna; Lee, Charles; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2007-02-09).
"Relative impact of nucleotide and copy number variation on gene expression phenotypes" . Science . 315 (5813): 848–853.
Bibcode :
2007Sci...315..848S .
doi :
10.1126/science.1136678 .
ISSN
1095-9203 .
PMC
2665772 .
PMID
17289997 .
^ Montgomery, Stephen B.; Sammeth, Micha; Gutierrez-Arcelus, Maria; Lach, Radoslaw P.; Ingle, Catherine; Nisbett, James; Guigo, Roderic; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil T. (2010-04-01).
"Transcriptome genetics using second generation sequencing in a Caucasian population" . Nature . 464 (7289): 773–777.
Bibcode :
2010Natur.464..773M .
doi :
10.1038/nature08903 .
ISSN
1476-4687 .
PMC
3836232 .
PMID
20220756 .
^ Lappalainen, Tuuli; Sammeth, Michael; Friedländer, Marc R.; 't Hoen, Peter A. C.; Monlong, Jean; Rivas, Manuel A.; Gonzàlez-Porta, Mar; Kurbatova, Natalja; Griebel, Thasso; Ferreira, Pedro G.; Barann, Matthias (2013-09-26).
"Transcriptome and genome sequencing uncovers functional variation in humans" . Nature . 501 (7468): 506–511.
Bibcode :
2013Natur.501..506L .
doi :
10.1038/nature12531 .
ISSN
1476-4687 .
PMC
3918453 .
PMID
24037378 .
^ Kilpinen, Helena; Waszak, Sebastian M.; Gschwind, Andreas R.; Raghav, Sunil K.; Witwicki, Robert M.; Orioli, Andrea; Migliavacca, Eugenia; Wiederkehr, Michaël; Gutierrez-Arcelus, Maria; Panousis, Nikolaos I.; Yurovsky, Alisa (2013-11-08).
"Coordinated effects of sequence variation on DNA binding, chromatin structure, and transcription" . Science . 342 (6159): 744–747.
Bibcode :
2013Sci...342..744K .
doi :
10.1126/science.1242463 .
ISSN
1095-9203 .
PMC
5502466 .
PMID
24136355 .
^ Waszak, Sebastian M.; Delaneau, Olivier; Gschwind, Andreas R.; Kilpinen, Helena; Raghav, Sunil K.; Witwicki, Robert M.; Orioli, Andrea; Wiederkehr, Michael; Panousis, Nikolaos I.; Yurovsky, Alisa; Romano-Palumbo, Luciana (2015-08-27).
"Population Variation and Genetic Control of Modular Chromatin Architecture in Humans" . Cell . 162 (5): 1039–1050.
doi :
10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.001 .
ISSN
1097-4172 .
PMID
26300124 .
S2CID
16537629 .
^ Delaneau, O.; Zazhytska, M.; Borel, C.; Giannuzzi, G.; Rey, G.; Howald, C.; Kumar, S.; Ongen, H.; Popadin, K.; Marbach, D.; Ambrosini, G. (3 May 2019).
"Chromatin three-dimensional interactions mediate genetic effects on gene expression" . Science . 364 (6439): eaat8266.
doi :
10.1126/science.aat8266 .
ISSN
1095-9203 .
PMID
31048460 .
S2CID
143432659 .
^ Ongen, Halit; Brown, Andrew A.; Delaneau, Olivier; Panousis, Nikolaos I.; Nica, Alexandra C.; GTEx Consortium; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil T. (December 2017).
"Estimating the causal tissues for complex traits and diseases" . Nature Genetics . 49 (12): 1676–1683.
doi :
10.1038/ng.3981 .
ISSN
1546-1718 .
PMID
29058715 .
S2CID
2700102 .
^ Nica, Alexandra C.; Montgomery, Stephen B.; Dimas, Antigone S.; Stranger, Barbara E.; Beazley, Claude; Barroso, Inês; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil T. (2010-04-01).
"Candidate causal regulatory effects by integration of expression QTLs with complex trait genetic associations" . PLOS Genetics . 6 (4): e1000895.
doi :
10.1371/journal.pgen.1000895 .
ISSN
1553-7404 .
PMC
2848550 .
PMID
20369022 .
^ Ongen, Halit; Andersen, Claus L.; Bramsen, Jesper B.; Oster, Bodil; Rasmussen, Mads H.; Ferreira, Pedro G.; Sandoval, Juan; Vidal, Enrique; Whiffin, Nicola; Planchon, Alexandra; Padioleau, Ismael (2014-08-07).
"Putative cis-regulatory drivers in colorectal cancer" . Nature . 512 (7512): 87–90.
Bibcode :
2014Natur.512...87O .
doi :
10.1038/nature13602 .
ISSN
1476-4687 .
PMID
25079323 .
S2CID
4408628 .
^ ENCODE Project Consortium; Birney, Ewan; Stamatoyannopoulos, John A.; Dutta, Anindya; Guigó, Roderic; Gingeras, Thomas R.; Margulies, Elliott H.; Weng, Zhiping; Snyder, Michael; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil T.; Thurman, Robert E. (2007-06-14).
"Identification and analysis of functional elements in 1% of the human genome by the ENCODE pilot project" . Nature . 447 (7146): 799–816.
Bibcode :
2007Natur.447..799B .
doi :
10.1038/nature05874 .
ISSN
1476-4687 .
PMC
2212820 .
PMID
17571346 .
^ International HapMap 3 Consortium; Altshuler, David M.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Peltonen, Leena; Altshuler, David M.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Peltonen, Leena; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Schaffner, Stephen F.; Yu, Fuli; Peltonen, Leena (2010-09-02).
"Integrating common and rare genetic variation in diverse human populations" . Nature . 467 (7311): 52–58.
Bibcode :
2010Natur.467...52T .
doi :
10.1038/nature09298 .
ISSN
1476-4687 .
PMC
3173859 .
PMID
20811451 . {{
cite journal }}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link )
^ GTEx Consortium (2015-05-08).
"Human genomics. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) pilot analysis: multitissue gene regulation in humans" . Science . 348 (6235): 648–660.
doi :
10.1126/science.1262110 .
ISSN
1095-9203 .
PMC
4547484 .
PMID
25954001 .
^
"People | International Common Disease Alliance" . www.icda.bio . Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
^
"Δερμιτζάκης: Με ήθελαν για διακοσμητικό στην Ερευνα και Καινοτομία" . newsique.gr (in Greek). 2020-08-26. Retrieved 2020-10-18 .
External links