Dimitrios Voulgaris

Dimitrios was born in Athens, Greece. He has a B.Sc. in Materials Science & Technology from University of Crete where he graduated in the top 2% of his class. He also has a M.Sc. in Bioengineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. For his Master Thesis he joined the Stem Cells group at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg, Sweden where under the supervision of Anders Lundin worked on neural differentiation and brain patterning, elucidating how small molecules impart  brain regionality.

In 2017 he started his Ph.D in Prof. Anna Herland's group of In vitro neural systems. Dimitrios' work mainly focuses in stem cell engineering. More specifically, Dimitrios' work aims at optimizing and establishing protocols that generate cells of the neurovascular unit (NVU) from induced pluripotent stem cells. Brain microvascular endothelial cells and astrocytes are major key players in the NVU where they provide support and nutrients to the brain and the study of their interactions in health and disease paves the way for a better understanding of the phenomena underlying autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis as well as a tool for drug screening.