Home > About Us > Our background > Safety and efficacy, focusing on imaging technologies > Our Research Team > Dr Ioannis Bantounas, University of Manchester

I am a molecular biologist and senior postdoc in the group of Prof. Sue Kimber at the University of Manchester. I obtained my BSc in Cell and Molecular Biology (1^st Class Honours) from the University of Essex. I then did my PhD at the University of Bristol, developing adenoviral vectors for the expression of small RNAs (including ribozymes and shRNAs) in the central nervous system. I continued as a post-doc, studying microRNAs in the context of neuronal stress/neurodegeneration and developing lentiviral vectors for their expression. Following a brief stint at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, Greece, working on the role of miRNAs in colon cancer and EMT, I joined the University of Manchester to investigate novel roles of signalling scaffold proteins in axonal growth and transcriptional control of gene expression (protein-coding and miRNA) during glutamate excitotoxicity in neurons.

As of 2014, I have joined Prof. Kimber’s group. My current interests include:

• Utilising CRISPR-Cas9 technology for reporter gene insertion in hESC lines under the control of tissue-specific promoters. Emphasis is given to genetic loci marking steps along the kidney differentiation pathway.
• Developing lentiviral vectors to transfer fluorescent and other probes into hESCs for in vitro and in vivo
• Using modifications of the CRISPR system to control endogenous gene expression to more efficiently direct differentiation of hESC to kidney cell types.
• Studying the role of miRNAs in hESC differentiation and controlling kidney development.

Publications

Dajas-Bailador F*, Bantounas I* (*Joint First Authors), Jones EV, Whitmarsh AJ (2014). Regulation of axon growth by the JIP1-Akt axis. J. Cell Sci. 127(1):230-9.

Ferraro A, Kontos CK, Boni T, Bantounas I, Siakouli D, Kosmidou V, Vlassi M, Spyridakis Y, Tsipras I., Zografos G, Pintzas A (2014). Epigenetic regulation of miR-21 in colorectal cancer: ITGB4 as a novel miR-21 target and a three-gene network (miR-21-ITGΒ4-PCDC4) as predictor of metastatic tumor potential. Epigenetics. 9(1):129-41.

Joyce T, Oikonomou E, Kosmidou V, Makrodouli E, Bantounas I, Avlonitis S, Zografos G, Pintzas A. (2012). A molecular signature for oncogenic BRAF in human colon cancer cells is revealed by microarray analysis. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 12(7):873-98.

Scott H, Howarth JL, Lee YB, Wong LF, Bantounas I, Phylactou LA, Verkade P, Uney JB (2012). Mir-3120 is a mirror microRNA that targets heat shock cognate protein 70 and auxilin and regulates clathrin vesicle uncoating. J Biol Chem. 287(18):14726-33.

Lee Y-B, Bantounas I, Lee D-Y, Phylactou L, Caldwell MA, Uney JB. (2009). Twist-1 regulates the miR-199a/214 cluster during development. Nucleic Acids Res. 37(1):123-8.

Bantounas I, Uney JB. (2008). The evolution of adenoviral vectors and their application to gene delivery and RNAi in the CNS. Chapter in: Virus Expression Vectors. Transworld Research Network.

Hjiantoniou E, Anayasa M, Nicolaou P, Bantounas I, Saito M, Iseki S, Uney JB, Phylactou LA. (2008). Twist induces reversal of myotube formation. Differentiation. 76(2):182-92.

Bantounas I, Glover CP, Kelly S, Iseki S, Phylactou LA, Uney JB. (2005). Assessing adenoviral hammerhead ribozyme and small hairpin RNA cassettes in neurons: inhibition of endogenous caspase-3 activity and protection from apoptotic cell death. J Neurosci Res. 79(5):661-9.

Bantounas I, Phylactou LA, Uney JB. (2004). RNA interference and the use of small interfering RNA to study gene function in mammalian systems. J Mol Endocrinol. 33(3):545-57.