Helmholtz Munich

Junior group leader, Institute for Lung Health and Immunity

"My group studies how immune cells contribute to the development and progression of chronic obstructive airway diseases. We want to identify druggable molecular pathways that ameliorate inflammatory responses and induce tissue regeneration."

“My group studies how immune cells contribute to the development and progression of chronic obstructive airway diseases. We want to identify druggable molecular pathways that ameliorate inflammatory responses and induce tissue regeneration.”

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Academic career and research areas

Dr. Kapellos obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece with an orientation in genomics and genetics. In 2010, he moved to the United Kingdom and Imperial College London to be trained as an immunologist from where he graduated with Distinction.

One year later he began his PhD studies at the University of Oxford at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology where he studied the effects of lipophilic chemical compounds called cannabinoids on innate immune cell (macrophages and neutrophils) functions under inflammatory conditions using in vitro assays and in vivo animal models. During his work, Dr. Kapellos discovered the anti-inflammatory role of cannabinoids which mediates through the regulation of immune cell chemotaxis. His next stop was the University of Bonn in Germany where he conducted his postdoctoral work under the supervision of Prof. Joachim L. Schultze. He undertook pioneering research characterizing the myeloid cell compartment in the bronchoalveolar space and peripheral blood of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, he collaborated with Prof. Christine S. Falk, a leader in transplantation immunology, as well as the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on projects that compared the role of myeloid cells in the development of end-state lung diseases, such as emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and arterial hypertension, as well as lung cancer. At Helmholtz Zentrum München, Dr. Kapellos will extend his work on the discovery of novel immunoregulatory pathways that can be harnessed to ameliorate tissue damage in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, including COPD, bronchiectasis and asthma.

Skills

Myeoloid Cells Bioinformatics Immunology Respiratory Medicine COPD

Dr. Kapellos as one of the founding members about the "Advanced COPD network", a worldwide collaborative of researchers:

"The network’s goal is to understand the pathophysiology that leads to the initiation of the disease and to prevent it's development at early stages. As part of the systems medicine team of the network my aim is to decipher the driving molecular mechanisms in COPD using omics technologies and computational methods."