Nektarios Tavernarakis is a distinguished Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, in Heraklion, Greece. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), the largest Research Institution of Greece. He has served as Director of FORTH’s Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), where he is heading the Neurogenetics and Ageing laboratory. He is the Director of the Graduate Program on BioInformatics at the Medical School of the University of Crete. He earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Crete, and trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. His work focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system, and the development of novel genetic tools for biomedical research.
He is Chairman of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Governing Board and Executive Committee. He has been elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Academia Europaea, and corresponding member of the Academy of Athens. He has received several notable scientific prizes and awards, including two ERC Advanced Investigator Grants, and an innovation-supporting ERC Proof of Concept Grant.
He is also the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research award, the Helmholtz International Fellow Award, the EMBO Young Investigator award, the Galien Scientific Research Award, the BioMedical Research Award of the Academy of Athens, the Bodossaki Foundation Scientific Prize for Medicine and Biology, and the Empeirikeion Foundation Academic Excellence Prize.
Professor Nektarios Tavernarakis is Vice-President of the European Research Council since 01 Jan 2021 and is responsible for the Life Sciences domain
Mandate ERC Scientific Council: 01 Aug 2016 - 31 Dec 2022 (2nd term)