Two researchers from the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences received awards at the 2025 biennial meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research International (SSFRI).
Dr Aphrodite Vasilaki and Dr Paraskevi (Pari) Kritsiligkou won the Leopold Flohé Redox Pioneer Young Investigator Award and the Catherine Pasquier Award, respectively.
Held this year in Galway, Ireland, the 22nd SSFRI Biennial Conference brought together over 400 delegates from across the globe to share state-of-the-art research in redox biology, the study of how reduction and oxidation (redox) reactions affect biological systems. These reactions are essential for life, contributing significantly to energy production, cellular signalling and many other vital cellular functions.
Dr Pari Kritsiligkou is a Tenure Track Fellow in the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology and a founding member of the Society of Free Radical Research Europe’s early career researcher committee. Pari received the Catherine Pasquier Award for outstanding early career scientists with significant accomplishments in the field and future promise. Pari’s work has been focused on understanding how free radicals can regulate signalling pathways in health, development and disease. She has developed tools to allow spatiotemporal visualisation of redox events that are helping us illuminate sites of intracellular damage on proteins, lipids and nucleic acids and understand how these drive disease.
Dr Aphrodite Vasilaki is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences. A former recipient of the Catherine Pasquier award, Aphrodite received the Leopold Flohé Redox Pioneer Young Investigator Award, aimed at established researchers with outstanding novel findings in the field of biological redox processes. She has examined the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during ageing for over 20 years, predominantly in skeletal muscle and neuronal cells. More recently, her work has focused on studying the effect of maternal/neonatal protein restriction on the development of the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems and the lifelong impact that protein restriction in early life may have on these systems.
Professor Claire Eyers, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact) for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences said: "It is fabulous to see Pari and Aphrodite being recognised by the international community for their great and consistent work in the field of redox biology. These awards really highlight the growing strengths that we have in this area across the Faculty."