Demetrios Spandidos

Demetrios A. Spandidos
Δημήτριος Σπαντίδος
Demetrios A. Spandidos
Born (1947-04-13) 13 April 1947 (age 77)
Agios Konstantinos, Sparta, Greece
NationalityGreek
CitizenshipGreek
Alma materAristotle University of Thessaloniki, McGill University, University of Glasgow
SpousePanayota D. Krempeniou
ChildrenTwo
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular oncology, Virology, Genetics, Cancer therapeutics, COVID
InstitutionsUniversity of Crete
ThesisGenetics and transcription of reovirus (1976)
Websitewww.demetriosspandidos.com

Demetrios A. Spandidos is a Greek virologist and cancer researcher. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Crete where he was professor of virology from 1989 till 2015. He is also the founder of Spandidos Publications and the editor-in-chief of all eight of its journals.

Education

Spandidos received his bachelor's degree from the University of Thessaloniki in 1971, his PhD from McGill University in 1976, and a DSc from the University of Glasgow in 1989.[1]

Career

From 1976 to 1978, Spandidos worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, working in the laboratory of Louis Siminovitch.[2]

In 1978, Spandidos gave a presentation to a Dana Farber Cancer Institute seminar. In this presentation, Spandidos claimed to have proven that oncogenes were the root cause of all cancers. Robert Weinberg, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was in the audience when Spandidos gave this talk, and later recalled that he had devised what he called "exactly the same" strategy to identify oncogenes in human tumors not long before Spandidos' talk.[3] Spandidos had published these findings in Cell a month prior to Weinberg having his idea, which, like Spandidos' paper, related to transfectable oncogenes.[4]

Spandidos was forced to end his position at the University of Toronto in Siminovitch's laboratory due to accusations of fraud. Two postdocs in Siminovitch lab were unable to reproduce Spandidos' findings, and Spandidos did not present the raw data proving that he was innocent. However, Siminovitch did not initiate an independent investigation and the accusations have never been officially confirmed.[4]

From 1978 to 1979, Spandidos was an assistant professor at the Hellenic Anticancer Institute in Athens, Greece. From 1979 to 1989, Spandidos worked at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, where he studied the Ras oncogene.[5]

Previous and Present Positions

  • 1972 - 1976 Graduate Student, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
  • 1977 - 1978 Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • 1978 - 1979 Assistant Professor, Hellenic Anticancer Institute, Athens, Greece
  • 1979 - 1981 Centennial Fellow (MRC Canada), Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, Scotland, UK where he studied the Ras oncogene.[5]
  • 1981 - 1988 Senior Scientist, the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
  • 1988 - 1998 Director, Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Research and Biotechnology, The National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
  • 1990 - 2013 Director, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, University Hospital, Heraklion, Greece
  • 1989 - 2014 Professor of Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
  • 2015–Present Professor Emeritus, Medical School, University of Crete, Greece

2021

THE CANCER STORY - THE DISCOVERY OF CELLULAR ONCOGENES - Published by Spandidos Publications October 2021[6]

2022

Demetrios Spandidos is elected this year as a new member of Academia Europaea.[7]

Spandidos Publications

In 1992, Spandidos established Spandidos Publications, a publisher of scientific journals. It currently publishes twelve journals: International Journal of Molecular Medicine, International Journal of Oncology, Molecular Medicine Reports, Oncology Reports, Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, Oncology Letters, Biomedical Reports, Molecular and Clinical Oncology, World Academy of Sciences Journal, International Journal of Functional Nutrition, International Journal of Epigenetics and Medicine International Journal. Spandidos is the editor-in-chief of all of them.[8]

Honours and awards

  • 1989 Corresponding member of the Academia National De Medicina De Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 2002 Doctor Honoris Causa of "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
  • 2004 Doctor Honoris Causa of "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 2013 Honorary Professor, Fujian University, P.R. China
  • 2022 Member of the Academia Europaea[13]

References

  1. ^ "Spandidos Lab Home Page". University of Crete.
  2. ^ Spandidos, Demetrios A. (November 2004). "The Cancer Story" (PDF). Cancer Biology and Therapy. 3 (11): 1184–1186. doi:10.4161/cbt.3.11.1260. PMID 15539942.
  3. ^ Warsh, David (7 October 1996). "Nobel Contender Called Out On Strikes Not Even His Own". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b Angier, Natalie (2014). Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 79. ISBN 9780544358348.
  5. ^ a b Spandidos, Demetrios A. (November 2021). "EDITORIAL of the International Journal of Oncology for 30 years of progress (1992-2021)". International Journal of Oncology. 59 (1): 3221–3225. doi:10.4161/cbt.3.11.1260. PMC 8237083. PMID 33982788.
  6. ^ Spandidos, Demetrios (2021). THE CANCER STORY - THE DISCOVERY OF CELLULAR ONCOGENES. Spandidos Publications. p. 183. ISBN 9789609899949.
  7. ^ "Academia Europaea Official Website".
  8. ^ "About Spandidos Publications". Spandidos Publications. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  9. ^ Bonavida, Benjamin (July 2017). "In Honor of Professor Demetrios A. Spandidos". Critical Reviews in Oncogenesis. 22 (3–4): 3–4. doi:10.1615/CritRevOncog.2018025394.
  10. ^ Zaravinos, Apostolos (July 2017). "Preface: Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressor Genes in Cancer: Honoring of Professor Demetrios A. Spandidos". Critical Reviews in Oncogenesis. 22 (3–4): 3–4 vii–x. doi:10.1615/CritRevOncog.2018025390.
  11. ^ Mammas, Ioannis (October 2019). "Clinical Virology research and medical education in Greece: An interview with Demetrios A. Spandidos, Professor of Clinical Virology at the University of Crete in Greece". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine. 18 (4): 3221–3225. doi:10.3892/etm.2019.7946. PMC 6766560. PMID 31588212.
  12. ^ Spandidos, Demetrios (July 2021). "EDITORIAL of the International Journal of Oncology for 30 years of progress (1992-2021)". International Journal of Oncology. 59 (1): 3221–3225. doi:10.3892/ijo.2021.5216. PMC 8237083. PMID 33982788.
  13. ^ "Academia Europaea Official Website".