Georgina Xanthou

Georgina Xanthou is an immunologist who serves as an associate professor at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens.

Xanthou's research focuses on autoimmune and allergic diseases, particularly in understanding of immunological mechanisms through which cytokines control T cell pathogenicity towards environmental allergens and self-antigens. She has received awards, including the Romain Pauwels Research Excellence Award by the European Respiratory Society, the Allergopharma Award by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and the UNESCO L’Oreal Award for Women in Science.

Xanthou serves as a board member on scientific advisory and grant review boards, as well as a peer scientific reviewer for journals, including PNAS, Nature, AJRCCM, European Respiratory Journal.

Education and career Xanthou holds a BSc in biomedical sciences from the Department of Biology in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and a PhD in immunology from the University of Athens, Medical School. She completed a European Molecular Biology Organization-funded postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine in Imperial College, London.

In 2003, Xanthou was appointed as an instructor in the Cellular Immunology Laboratory at Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens (BRFAA). She became an assistant professor in 2007 and has been an associate professor and group leader since 2019. In 2021-2023, she served as a visiting professor and senior project scientist at University of California, Los Angeles.

Research Xanthou has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her publications have been published in scientific journals, including Cell, Nature Reviews Immunology, Nature Immunology, JEM, JACI, Science-Business eXchange, Faculty of Medicine 1000, Global Medical Discovery Series, PNAS USA.

Xanthou's research focuses on immunology and inflammation, and more specifically on the role of dendritic cells and T cells in the regulation of autoimmune and allergic diseases, as well as cancer. In one of her highly cited articles, she demonstrated that the cytokine, osteopontin has a dual role in allergic airway disease, being pro-inflammatory during initial allergen sensitization and anti-inflammatory during subsequent allergen challenges, and highlighted its potential as a therapeutic target for allergic diseases.

Awards and honors 2008 – Allergopharma Award, EAACI Executive Committee 2009 – UNESCO L’Oreal Award for Women in Science, UNESCO 2009 – Romain Pauwels Research Excellence Award, European Respiratory Society 2012 – Fellow Award, European Federation of Immunologic Societies 2014 – Fellowship, European Respiratory Society

Selected articles