Pharmaceutical Research and Therapeutic Sciences

Paraskevi Zagana is a Chemist and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Patras, Greece, within the Division of Pharmacology and Biosciences, with teaching experience in Biopharmaceutics - Pharmacokinetics, while she has also taught in the Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmacognosy of the same Department. She has worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Metabolic Engineering and Systems Biology Laboratory (MESBL) and at the Laboratory of Cell Therapy Engineering and Regenerative Medicine of the Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences at the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH/ICE-HT) in Patras. She has also served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras, in collaboration with FORTH/ICE-HT, where her work focused on the design, formulation and property characterization, active/passive drug loading, and evaluation of the anticancer activity of innovative liposomal and polymeric drug nanocarriers. In parallel, she served as the Quality Management System Manager (ISO 9001:2015) with the Scope of Application ‘Metabolic and Bioinformatics Analyses’ at MESBL, within the framework of the National Infrastructure for Translational Medicine (EATRIS-GR) at FORTH/ICE-HT. She completed her PhD dissertation at the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Patras, focusing on the development of liposomal drug carriers, the effect of their lipid composition on interactions with normal and cancer cells, and their in vivo biodistribution. She graduated from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Ioannina, specializing in the field of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, where she studied the inhibitory effect of cyclic peptide RGD- analogues against ADP-induced human platelet aggregation.

• Pharmacology
• Toxicology
• Drug Delivery Systems
• 3D Cell Culture & Organoids

• Research projects: Participation in European Horizon 2020, H.F.R.I., EPAnEK, and COST-funded projects involving CAR-T therapies, 3D bioprinting and organoids, nanotoxicology, advanced drug delivery, and sustainable biotechnology.
• Research leadership: Founder of ZetaBio Group, focused on 3D cancer models, disease modelling, drug-response prediction, and personalized medicine.
• Scientific collaboration: Active collaborator in a multicenter study investigating gestational pesticide exposure, metabolomics, endocrine disruption, and developmental biomarkers.
• Scientific presentations: 7 oral presentations and 22 poster presentations/abstracts at national and international scientific conferences, including NanoTox, HSBMB, IFAC, and pharmaceutical/chemical engineering conferences.
• Editorial activities: Member of editorial boards of Cancer Research, SCIREA Journal of Pharmacy, Journal of Drug Design and Research, and CEOS Chemistry.
• Peer review: Reviewer for international journals including Endocrine Connections, Cancer Research, Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, and Journal of Biological Research–Thessaloniki.
• Conference organization: Co-organized the 10th IFAC International Conference on Foundations of Systems Biology in Engineering and the 2nd Erasmus Mundus NANOMED Workshop.
• Scientific mentoring: Invited advisor to the iGEM Patras Pharmacy Student Team, which received a Gold Medal and Inclusivity Award and ranked among the Top 10 undergraduate teams globally.
• Scientific award: Best Poster Award at the 10th IFAC International Conference (2024) for work on metabolic profiling of the CAR-T cell production process.
• Quality and research management: Served as Quality Management System Manager (ISO 9001:2015), developing SOPs, quality-control procedures, data traceability, audits, and CAPA processes for metabolomic and bioinformatic research.

• Integrated Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Ecotoxicity Assessment of Earthworms Exposed to ZnO and Mn-Doped ZnO Nanomaterials — Frontiers in Toxicology, 2026.
• Advanced Liposomal Systems for Cancer Therapy with Focus on Lipid–Polymer Hybrids and Cell Membrane-Coated Liposomes — Future Pharmacology, 2026, 6, 6.
• Novel TNBC-Targeted DOX-Arsonoliposomes — Proceedings, 2021, 78(1), 17. ISSN: 2504-3900.
• Preparation, Physicochemical Properties, and In Vitro Toxicity towards Cancer Cells of Novel Types of Arsonoliposomes — Pharmaceutics, 2020, 12(4), 327.
• Does the lipid membrane composition of arsonoliposomes affect their anticancer activity? A cell culture study — Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2009, 53(5), pp. 592–599.
• In vivo distribution of arsonoliposomes: effect of vesicle lipid composition — International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2008, 347(1–2), pp. 86–92.
• Trypanocidal activity of arsonoliposomes: effect of vesicle lipid composition — Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 2007, 61(8), pp. 499–504.
• Arsonoliposome interaction with thiols: effect of pegylation and arsonolipid content of arsonoliposomes on their integrity during incubation in glutathione — Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 2006, 6(9–10), pp. 2974–2978.
• Effect of lipid composition and pegylation on the interaction of arsonoliposomes with thiols and their in vitro cytotoxicity towards PC3 cells — Epitheorese Klinikis Farmakologias kai Farmakokinetikis, 2006, 20(2), pp. 352–354.