Dr Ilias Kounatidis

Dr Ilias Kounatidis received his Bachelor in Biology (2005) and PhD in Microbiology and Cytogenetics (2009) from the School of Biology, at Aristotle University of Thesalloniki (AUTH) in Greece. The main focuses of his doctoral thesis was the analysis of the microbiota of flies with agricultural or/and medical importance and the evaluation of the toxicity and the antimutagenic properties of essential oils and various grades of olive oils using Drosophila melanogaster as a research model.

Between 2010 and 2016 Dr Kounatidis was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford working:  i) across host-pathogen interaction topics involving Drosophila models as a host for the study of human pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Candida glabrata spp., ii) age dependent neurodegenaration topics using healthy ageing Drosophila models and iii) microbiota structure in conditions that resemble Intestinal Bowel Diseases (IBD) using hyper active immunity Drosophila flies as a host.   

From 2017 to 2020 Dr Kounatidis was a Beamline Scientist in the biological cryo-imaging group in Diamond Light Source (UK's National Synchrotron). His main research focus was the development, evaluation and following application across biomedical projects of advanced correlative cryo-microscopy schemes; combining super resolution imaging with cryo soft X-ray tomography and cryo-electron microscopy techniques. 

Dr Kounatidis holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PCTHE) from the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD) and a Master in Education (strand Leadership and Management) from the School of Education from Oxford Brookes University. 

I am also a Fellow of the Royal Microscopy Society (FRMS) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

I am currently, among my collegue Dr Laura Lopez, a co-cordinator of the Neuroscience research cluster in the School of Life & Health Sciences (LHCS) in OU.