Under its Scientific Program, IASO had the pleasure and honor to receive the famous Greek Professor of Genetics, Mr. Stylianos Antonarakis, who delivered his speech titled "The renaissance of genomic medicine" at the Events Hall of IASO on Friday 20 January 2017.

The Events Hall was crowded by scientists from the whole spectrum of specialties who listened with great interest what the multi-awarded Geneticist had to say. Using simple language, Mr. Antonarakis spoke on the evolution of genetics and its respective scopes, the work and goals of the geneticists, genes and their significance, while he touched on several bioethics issues adducing some very pertinent examples.

It is worth mentioning Mr. Antonarakis's reference to the prenatal fetal diagnosis using maternal blood, which, despite being at an early stage, will soon give us the opportunity to read the whole fetal genome sequencing using only maternal blood. Mr. Antonarakis also stated that if we read the genome sequencing of the mother and father, we will be able to detect many syndromes and diseases.

A few words about Professor Mr. Stylianos Antonarakis

At the initiative of Mr. Antonarakis back in 2006, the 21st March was established as “World Down Syndrome Day” with the aim to raise awareness and educate the international community. The Greek Professor of Cretan descent graduated in 1975 and was awarded his doctorate from the School of Medicine of the University of Athens in 1983. After he received his specialization from the University Hospital, he then started working at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he became a Professor of Pediatric Genetics, Biology and Medicine. In 1992 he moved to Switzerland, where he was appointed as a Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetic Medicine at the University of Geneva.

The multi-awarded Geneticist has performed a lot of research projects and is listed among the greatest Geneticists globally. About a decade ago, Mr. Antonarakis and his team at the Johns Hopkins University managed to map the sequence of the human genome, and in particular gene-21, the gene responsible for Down syndrome. The famous Greek Geneticist is specialized in gene-21 disorders, gene cloning for genetic disorders, development of diagnostic trials, structure and function of the genome and noncoding human DNA sequences. He is a member of the Swiss National Science Foundation, Head of the Scientific Team of Genetics, Chair of the Department of Genetic Medicine at the University of Geneva, and Director of the Institute of Genetics and Genomics (iGE3).

 

From left to right: Messrs Aristides Antsaklis ΑMD, PhD, FRCOG (Hon.), Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology at the University of Athens, Chief of the Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at IASO, Dr. Georgios Stamatiou, Obstetrician/Gynecologist, President of IASO Group BOD, Professor Stylianos E. Antonarakis, Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Emmanouel Diakomanolis, Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology at the University of Athens, President of IASO Scientific Board, and Constantinos Pangalos, MD Dsc, Professor of Medical Genetics (Paris V), Corresponding Member of the French National Academy of Medicine, Scientific Director at InterGenetics, Scientific Associate to IASO.

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