who we are
How to feed the next billion?
Cellular Agriculture Greece is a Nonprofit Organization Working Towards:
- Expanding cellular agriculture research and education opportunities in Greece and around the world
- Creating a vibrant collective of students, academics and professionals eager to learn about and contribute to this exciting new field
- Generating awareness among our peers about the opportunities associated with plant-based, cell-cultivated, and fermentation-derived protein
- Advancing alternative protein research and innovation across multiple disciplines
- Connecting members to career opportunities both within and outside of academia
We want to make a positive difference in the way we feed the world and creating a vibrant community in our birth country was the proper place to start.
Team
Panos Kostopulos
co-Founder
Panos Kostopoulos
A fervent bioengineer about Alternative Proteins, Cellular Agriculture & AI.
Panos was born in Athens, Greece, and studied Chemical Engineering focusing on Biotechnology at NTU of Athens (MEng), where he produced vegan Omega-3 fats from wood waste (microalgae fermentation). His love for animals and science led him to the field of alternative proteins as an effective way to positively impact the planet. He gained hands-on experience in the industry working in Business & Product Development. He has produced and supports plant-based products, but he is also super excited about Cellular Agriculture (Fermentation, Cell Cultures, Tissue Engineering, Recombinant Proteins/ Precision Fermentation, rDNA, Omics, ML, AI, Bioinformatics). Panos is also the developer and creator of this website.
In January 2022, he moved to the US (Washington, DC), where he completed his master's degree (MSc) at Georgetown University's Biotechnology Graduate program. After graduating, Panos co-founded Proxy Foods, where he serves as CEO. Proxy Foods helps food companies supercharge R&D and innovation with Data and AI.
Panagiotis Vlachogiannis
co-Founder
Panagiotis Vlachogiannis
Since I was five years old, I've wanted to work in science development.
My journey in the protein transition began a few years later, when I first read Dr. Post’s article about cultivated meat. He was the first to dream of a burger made entirely of animal-free, lab-grown meat! These innovations were only true in science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov, such as i-Robot. Reading a published scientific paper on this technology blew my mind. Cultivating the meat from animal cells without sacrificing the animal gave a whole new meaning to the proverb "have your cake and eat it too".
It evolved into "have your cow and eat it too"
During my internship for the Good Food Institute (non-profit organization that works internationally to promote alternative protein innovation) and through our Alternative Protein Projects in Wageningen and Berlin, I met Nikiforos, who proposed the idea of Cell Ag. Greece to me. We met Panos at one of our events a few months later, and the spark was struck.
Today, I am working for a Dutch company to get CM to our tables as quickly as possible!
Athanasios Garoufas
Athanasios Garoufas
Athanasios Garoufas, Chief Business Development Officer at Gelatex Technologies, is a seasoned professional with a deep-rooted background in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and business development. Athanasios's expertise has fueled his success in establishing expansive distribution networks across Europe, Middle East , Southeast Asia and North Africa, yielding significant turnover increases.
At Gelatex, Athanassios not only steers the business development trajectory but also utilizes his legal acumen in managing aspects of the company's IP portfolio and different legal concepts. He plays a crucial role in promoting the innovative HaloSpinning platform, a patented method for producing nanofibrous scaffolds and microcarriers, vital to the development of complex tissue structures and organoids, particularly useful in cellular agriculture.
His academic journey has shaped his professional one, with an MSc in Industrial Pharmacology, an MBA, an MPH in Applied Public Health, a BSc in Chemistry, an LLB in Law, and a PhD in progress focusing on the Patentability of Biotech compounds. Athanasios's commitment to aligning scientific innovation with market needs is reflected in his outstanding career trajectory and his notable contributions to the cultivated meat industry.
Panagiota Moutsatsou
Panagiota (Naya) Moutsatsou
Panagiota (Naya) Moutsatsou is chemical engineer with 15y of research experience spanning the fields of food engineering and biotechnology.
She holds a MEng degree in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece and a PhD in regenerative medicine from Loughborough University, UK.
She is currently appointed as CMC Director at Gadeta BV, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumours, using T-cell engineering technologies. Prior to this, she held the position of Head of bioprocess development at Mosa Meat BV, a start-up company aiming to develop and commercialise cultivated bovine meat products. She has also led and participated in several academic research projects centred around food engineering, biomaterials and bioprocessing.
Naya has extensive expertise in developing and validating robust mammalian cell-based bioprocesses for cultivated meat and advanced therapeutic medicinal products. Her areas of focus include medium development, metabolic studies, process analytics, microcarrier and scaffold development and bioreactor design.
With a passion for innovation in biotechnology, Naya brings a multidisciplinary skill set and a commitment to advancing groundbreaking technologies in the industry.
Eirini Theodosiou
Eirini Theodosiou
Eirini obtained a Diploma (MEng equivalent) in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), followed by an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from University College London (UCL) and a PhD in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). She worked as a Senior R&D scientist and Purification team leader at Xellia Pharmaceuticals, before returning to academia, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Aston University (UK). She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, committee member for ESACT-UK and IChemE’s Biochemical Engineering Special Interest Group, and honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Eirini’s research is in the areas of Healthcare and Cellular Agriculture, including the development of methods for the selective separation of human cells for clinical applications, and the creation of polymer-based scaffolds for tissue regeneration and animal stem cell expansion and differentiation.
Charilaos Korkontzelos
Charilaos Korkontzelos
MSc graduate at Life Science and Technology. Chemical engineering background with specialization in Biotechnology and Food Processing. Enthusiastic mostly on bioprocesses and process development. Team worker and highly communicative. Ready to face every new challenge.
If we want to feed the world in 2060 (world population is expected to reach 10 billion) then the next 40 years, we need to produce the same amount of food as we did over the last 8,000 years
Cellular Agriculture Greece is a proud member of:
International Cellular Agriculture
Nonprofit Consortium (ICANC)
ICANC’s mission is to advance the field of cellular agriculture by building the community – that is, facilitating collaboration and connection between entrepreneurs, researchers, regulators, and consumers. The ICANC provides a decentralized platform for nonprofits in the international cellular agriculture sector to coordinate strategies, share resources, and find solutions to problems in the international cellular agriculture community.
Agriculture Cellulaire France
Cellular Agriculture Canada
(absorbed by New Harvest Canada)Cellular Agriculture Germany
Cellular Agriculture Greece
Cellular Agriculture New Zealand
Cellular Agriculture Institute of the Commons (Japan)
Cellular Agriculture Italy
Cellular Agriculture Portugal
Cellular Agriculture Society (USA)
Cellular Agriculture UK
Cultivate UK
New Harvest (Multinational)