Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos

Project

Lipid nanoparticles for targeted cancer therapies

Fellowships

The Tow Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022-present)

NIH T32 Cancer Pharmacology Training Grant (2020-2022)

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/magdalini-panagiotakopoulos-bb522b40/

Magdalini is an interdisciplinary scientist working at the interface of chemical engineering, nanotechnology, and translational biology. She holds a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from NTUA, Greece and a PhD in Bioengineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining MSKCC, she served as R&D Manager at a diagnostics startup in Zurich. There, she built two research labs from scratch and led a team of 10 scientists and engineers through preclinical product development.

At MSKCC, her research combines molecular design with human biology to treat immune dysregulation in both cancer and non-cancerous diseases. This work has led to two precision therapeutic platforms: targeted nanoparticles for kidney injury in bone marrow transplant recipients, and a delivery system designed to eliminate senescent (dormant but therapy-resistant) pancreatic cancer cells.

In parallel, Magdalini has built a machine learning framework to predict how nanoparticles assemble and hold drugs based on their chemical structure. This innovation transforms what was historically a slow, trial-and-error process into a precise, data-driven discipline.

Her research has been recognized with the AI in Drug Delivery Award from the Controlled Release Society and the Hellenic Medical Society Postdoc Award, alongside competitive fellowship and grant support from the NIH and the Tow Foundation.