Christoforos Giatzakis, PhD
Scientific Manager · Astrea Health
Scientific manager overseeing Astrea's sequencing, variant calling, and clinical-genetics lab pipeline
About
Christoforos Giatzakis, PhD is Astrea Health's scientific manager and the lab-side counterpart to the clinic's physician leadership. He studied biology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, earned a PhD in cell biology at Georgetown University, and completed postdoctoral work at Georgetown and the NIH. Since 2009 he has also directed DNAbiolab in Heraklion, a medical diagnostic center focused on molecular and genetic testing. His long research collaboration with Constantine Stratakis predates Astrea by decades.
What to Know
Signature approach
Giatzakis turns genetic testing into usable clinical information. He oversees sequencing workflows, variant calling, disease-panel methodology, and the scientific review that sits between raw lab output and a physician or counselor conversation. His work is especially important when a whole-exome result needs to separate actionable findings from incidental or uncertain variants.
What sets them apart
- US-trained molecular-genetics path. Georgetown PhD plus NIH postdoctoral work gives Astrea a scientific manager with deep bench and translational genetics training.
- Independent lab track record. DNAbiolab has been under his direction since 2009, adding an established diagnostic-lab backbone to the Athens clinic.
- Stratakis research continuity. Co-authored endocrine-genetics papers with Constantine Stratakis as far back as 1999, including work connected to Carney complex and adrenocortical genetics.
Before You Book
- Use case. His involvement matters most when your case depends on sequencing quality, variant interpretation, disease-panel choice, or prenatal/genetic-diagnostics methodology.
- Result path. Expect his lab review to feed a physician or genetic-counseling session rather than replace that conversation.
- Athens and Crete link. Astrea is in Athens, while his DNAbiolab base is in Heraklion; coordination can span both parts of the lab network.
Credentials
Education
BSc, Biology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1998)
PhD, Cell Biology
Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA (2005)
Years in practice
21
Affiliations
Thought Leadership
Publications
- A genome-wide scan identifies mutations in the gene encoding phosphodiesterase 11A4 (PDE11A) in individuals with adrenocortical hyperplasia · Nature Genetics, 2006
- A cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE8B) that is mutated in adrenal hyperplasia is widely expressed in human and mouse tissues: a novel PDE8B isoform in human adrenal cortex · European Journal of Human Genetics, 2008
- Large deletions of the PRKAR1A gene in Carney complex · Clinical Cancer Research, 2008
- Comparative genomic hybridization analysis of adrenocortical tumors of childhood · Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 1999
- Phorbol-12-myristate 13-acetate acting through protein kinase C epsilon induces translocator protein (18-kDa) TSPO gene expression · Biochemistry, 2008
Notable Collaborators
- Constantine A. Stratakis, MD, D(Med)Sci, PhD · Adrenocortical genetics, Carney complex, PRKAR1A and PDE11A mutations — co-authored research dating from 1999 through the late 2000s
- Vassilios Papadopoulos · Translocator protein (TSPO / peripheral benzodiazepine receptor) biochemistry and gene regulation, Georgetown University
Other specialists at Astrea Health
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