Biography

Akis joined the James Hutton Institute in 2022 as a Research Scientist at the Molecular Physiology Group. Previously he completed a PhD at The James Hutton Institute & University of St Andrews in plant nematology and genomics. His background combines a BSc in Agricultural Engineering and an MSc in Plant Protection and Environment from the Agricultural University of Athens (Greece), as well as a second MSc in Plant Sciences (specialised in Plant Pathology & Entomology) from Wageningen University (the Netherlands).

Research

  • Phenotyping for tolerance to different abiotic (e.g. flood) and biotic (e.g. potato cyst nematodes) stresses in potato.
  • Gene editing in potato and establishment of workflow for bioinformatics analysis.
  • Genomic data analyses (e.g. RNA-seq) and support.

Past research

  • 2019: Research Assistant in Plant Nematology (University of St Andrews).
  • 2015 – 2019: PhD in Plant Nematology  (The James Hutton Institute & the University of St Andrews). Thesis title: Genome-based approaches for identification of avirulence genes in potato cyst nematodes.

Previous Publications

Sonawala, U.; Beasley, H.; Thorpe, P.; Varypatakis, K.; Senatori, B.; Jones, J.; Derevnina, L.; Eves-van den Akker, S. (2023) A gene with a thousand alleles: the HYPer-variable effectors of plant-parasitic nematodes, bioRxiv (Preprint).

Varypatakis, K.; Véronneau, P-Y.; Thorpe, P.J.; Cock, P.J.A.; Tze-Yin Lim, J.; Armstrong, M.R.; Janakowski, S.; Sobczak, M.; Hein, I.; Mimee, B.; Jones, J.T.; Blok, V.C. (2020) The genomic impact of selection for virulence against resistance in the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida., Genes, 11, Article No. 1429.

Varypatakis, K.; Jones, J.T.; Blok, V.C. (2019) Susceptibility of potato varieties to populations of Globodera pallida., Nematology, 21(9), 995-998