Skip to main content

Dr. Aikaterini A. Zompra

Chemist, MSc, PhD in Medicinal Chemistry

Expertise in: Peptide Synthesis, Chromatography, Physicochemical Analysis & Characterization of peptides, proteins, natural products, APIs, food etc.

Publications: 23 in peer-reviewed journals

Participation in Funded Projects: CONCO-FP6-2005-LIFESCHEALTH, Thales-ESPA 2007-2013, Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship & Innovation EPAnEK, 2014-2020 (NSRF), MARISURF Horizon 2020

Current Funding: Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI), Post-Doctoral Grant

Email: azompra@upatras.gr

Dr. Aikaterini A. Zompra is a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of Pharmacy holding a Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Patras and +20 years of experience on synthesis, analysis of biomolecules using HPLC/FPLC, mass spectrometry, circular dichroism (CD) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as analytical tools. She graduated from University of Ioannina in 1999 (Chemistry) and she joined the Lab of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, at the University of Patras, in 2001, where she obtained her MSc in Medicinal Chemistry under the supervision of the Late Paul Cordopatis. She completed her PhD in 2006 with on the Design & Development of New Synthetic Analogues of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Leuprolide (Supervisor: P Cordopatis). In 2008, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at IRB Barcelona (Prof. F. Albericio) and later, she continued her post-graduate studies for several funded projects in the Department of Pharmacy (Patras, Greece). In 2015, she joined the lab of Biomolecular NMR (Dr. G.A. Spyroulias) for HORIZON 2020-MARISURF program. Until now, her research results are documented in 23 publications and 3 chapters in books. Her major research interests cover all aspects of biomolecules (synthesis of peptides, isolation, purification, chromatographic analysis, structure activity relationships), expression, isolation, and purification of biomolecules (proteins, biosurfactants) and analysis/physicochemical characterization.

Most Important Publications:

  1. ‘’Manufacturing peptides as active pharmaceutical ingredients”, A. Zompra, A. S. Galanis, O. Werbitzky, F. Albericio, Future Medicinal Chemistry, (2009) 1(2), 361-377.
  2. ‘’Enzymatic stability, solution structure, and antiproliferative effect on prostate cancer cells of leuprolide and new gonadotropin-releasing hormone peptide analogs.’’, V. Pappa, A.A. Zompra, Z. Spyranti , Z. Diamantopoulou, G. Pairas, F. N. Lamari, P. Katsoris, G. A. Spyroulias, P. Cordopatis, Biopolymers, (2011) 96(3), 260-272.
  3. “A peptide corresponding to the C-terminal region of pleiotrophin inhibits angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro” Mikelis, M. Lamprou, M. Koutsioumpa, A. G. Koutsioubas, Z. Spyranti, A. A. Zompra, N. Spiliopoulos, A. A. Vradis, P. Katsoris, G.A. Spyroulias, P. Cordopatis, J. Courty and E. Papadimitriou, Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, (2011) 112(6),1532-1543.
  4. ‘’Glutathione analogues as substrates or inhibitors that discriminate between allozymes of the MDR-involved human glutathione transferase P1-1″, A. Zompra, N. Georgakis, E. Pappa, T. Thireou, E. Eliopoulos, N. Labrou, P. Cordopatis, Y. Clonis, Biopolymers, (2016) 106(3), 330-344.
  5. ‘’Identification and characterization of short chain rhamnolipid production in a previously uninvestigated, non-pathogenic marine pseudomonad.’’, M. S. Twigg, L. Tripathi, A. Zompra, K. Salek, V. U. Irorere, T. Gutierrez, G. A. Spyroulias, R. Marchant, I. M. Banat, Applied microbiology and biotechnology, (2018) 102 (19), 8537-8549.

Current funding: “Enlightening the Conformational Changes of HNOX domain of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) by discrimination of diatomic gases from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), under grant agreement No [938]- principal investigator.

ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4003-0082

Email: azompra@upatras.gr