Ioannis Vlachos, Ph.D.

Ioannis Vlachos, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School (HMS), and the Director of the Spatial Technologies Unit of the HMS Initiative for RNA Medicine. He also directs the Bioinformatics Unit of the Precision RNA Medicine Core. Ioannis is the co-Director of the Bioinformatics Program of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a Member of the Dana Farber / Harvard Cancer Center, and an Associate Faculty of the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard.

Dr. Vlachos’ research focuses on the optimal use of cutting-edge technologies for reverse translation, including bulk, single cell, and spatial tissue profiling to inform clinical decision making. To this end, his team is developing and applying novel technologies and AI/ML methodologies for data integration and target or biomarker prioritization. His group is creating the necessary data and methods to bring these novel approaches in precision medicine applications.

To enable the community gain access and benefit from the spatial tissue profiling revolution, he established the Spatial Technologies Unit, with support from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the HMS Initiative for RNA Medicine.

Dr. Vlachos is working in rendering Spatial Tissue Profiling into a powerhouse for discovery, innovation, and clinical breakthroughs. His team in the Spatial Technologies Unit is transforming research-focused spatial technologies into robust, automated, and highly repeatable production-grade methods. In 2023 Dr. Vlachos co-founded the Global Alliance for Spatial Technologies (GESTALT, www.globalspatial.org), in an effort to bring together the spatial tissue profiling community and to support world-wide efforts for standards in the field.

Dr. Vlachos work is supported by funding from diverse sources, including the NIH, the DoD, foundations, and collaborations with the industry. 10 of his publications are within the 1% most cited as evaluated by ISI/Web of Science.

Athanasios Ploumakis, PhD

Meet Nas! He studied Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, graduating with an MBiochem. He pursued his PhD at the University of Birmingham Medical School, where he investigated the role of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases in translational termination, completing his PhD in 2018. Following that, he took on the role of a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Broad Institute, focusing on the multi-omic characterization of multiple sclerosis-affected brain tissue. In 2021, he transitioned to his current role at BIDMC.

Shuoshuo Wang, PhD

Meet Shuoshuo! He completed his education in Marburg, Germany. His post-graduate and post-doctoral training in cell and developmental biology was completed in Osnabrueck (Germany), Basel (Switzerland), and Rehovot (Israel) before transitioning to a staff scientist role at NYU School of Medicine and Harvard University.

He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF). He serves as a reviewer for journals in cell and developmental biology, cardiovascular research, and as a guest editor for the Journal of Histotechnology.

His research interests include developing spatial transcriptomic technologies, pathology in genitourinary oncology, and mechanotransduction in development and diseases.

Antonella Arruda de Amaral

Meet Antonella! She graduated from her Bachelor’s Georgia Tech in Biomedical Engineering in Spring 2023, with a Minor in Health and Medical Sciences.

Her background is in NGS library prep and sequencing, and her personal interest lies in neurodegenerative diseases.

Nikolas Kalavros

Meet Nikolas! He completed his primary education in Greece, earning a B.Sc. in Biology from the Biology Department at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), where he trained in experimental procedures with a focus on microRNAs in cancer.

He is currently completing the Data Science and Information Technologies M.Sc. program in the Department of Informatics at NKUA. Nikolas was the first computational biologist to join the STU, in 2021. Since then, he has been actively involved in handling all data ingress, egress, and analysis, specializing in single-cell and spatial data.

Sheethal Umesh Nagalakshmi, MS

Meet Sheethal! She is a highly skilled and motivated individual with a strong educational background and extensive professional experience in bioinformatics. She earned her Master of Science in Bioinformatics from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

She was a Bioinformatics Analyst at MedGenome Inc. in Foster City, she automated pipelines and conducted in-depth analyses of various sequencing datasets. She has also made contributions to research projects at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Rochester Institute of Technology, showcasing her ability to apply bioinformatics tools to explore gene expression patterns and chromatin accessibility.