Vassilios Papadopoulos

Vassilios Papadopoulos (born February 18, 1961) is a Greek-American scholar, researcher, inventor, professor, and university administrator who has served as dean of the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, since 2016. Previously, he was the associate vice president and director of the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization at Georgetown University from 2005 to 2007, and the executive director and chief scientific officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center from 2007 to 2015.

Education A graduate of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Athens, Papadopoulos holds a PhD in life sciences from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. Afterwards, Papadopoulos completed postdoctoral training at Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, researching the role of kinases and phosphatases in cholesterol transport and steroidogenesis.

Career and research Papadopoulos has published more than 400 papers and holds numerous patents. He also examines the regulation of steroid biosynthesis, intracellular compartmentalization and homeostasis by hormones, chemicals, drugs, natural products and environmental factors. Additional research has focused on neurosteroids in the brain, adipose tissue, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

In 1988, Papadopoulos was appointed to the faculty of Georgetown University School of Medicine Later, Papadopoulos worked in collaboration with Patrizia Guarneri demonstrating that brain neurosteroid synthesis is under the control of translocator protein (TSPO) drug ligands and endogenous DBI, leading to the first pharmacological means to regulate steroid formation in the brain. His research on steroidogenesis continued at McGill, focusing on the mechanisms of mitochondrial cholesterol import and prostate. At USC his research focuses on Leydig cell development and the role of TSPO in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Contributions to Science Steroidogenesis

Papadopoulos' studies demonstrated that the development of Leydig cells and their ability to produce testosterone are controlled by intratesticular factors, and that TSPO is a high-affinity cholesterol and drug-binding protein which controls the rate of steroid formation in rodents and humans. Moreover, luteinizing hormone binding to Leydig cells' luteinizing hormone receptors induces the formation of a cytosolic and mitochondrial protein complex involved in cholesterol targeting to cytochrome P450 family 11 subfamily A member 1 (CYP11A1) in the mitochondria. This focus on steroidogenesis revealed the mitochondrial protein complex that drives cholesterol import, trafficking, and metabolism for steroid hormone production.

Neurosteroid formation

Papadopoulos' neurosteroid research on inducing TSPO via drug ligands in glial cells increased neurosteroid formation and led to therapeutic application for the treatment of anxiety and other mental health pathologies. Thereafter, TSPO drug ligands reached the market for the treatment of anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders and neurological diseases. and the design of neuroprotective drugs.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals

At Georgetown, studies on in utero and adult in vivo exposure to endocrine disrupting phthalates and plasticizers with collaborator Martine Culty revealed an impact on testicular function. Endocrine disrupting chemicals such as phthalate DEHP and the non-phthalate DINCH reduced testosterone and aldosterone formation in adult rats. This work contributed to the body of evidence on the endocrine disrupting potential of plasticizers and their regulation by governmental agencies.

Since 2016, Papadopoulos has served as dean of the Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Southern California, previously known as USC School of Pharmacy. In 2022, USC announced the $50 million renaming gift for the endowment of the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the largest gift for pharmacy school in California.