Staff
Director of the Laboratory
Christos Chatzidoukas
Dr. Christos Chatzidoukas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), and holds a PhD from Imperial College London (October 2003). He has more than 20 years of extensive and diverse research experience (both laboratory and computational), having actively participated in 15 research projects (European and national), eight of which he coordinated as Scientific Coordinator and as a member of the coordination and monitoring team.
He is the Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical and Biotechnological Processes at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has supervised 40 undergraduate and postgraduate theses, as well as 4 PhD students. He currently leads a working group consisting of 2 postdoctoral researchers, 4 PhD candidates, 1 research associate (with a postgraduate degree), and 4–6 undergraduate students per year.
His research output includes 45 scientific articles, 540 citations, and an h-index of 14 (Scopus, February 2025), along with more than 110 papers and presentations at international and national conferences, where he has been an invited speaker on five occasions.
He serves as a reviewer for more than 20 international journals, has been a guest editor for two special issues of scientific journals, and has organized three scientific conferences (two international and one national).
PhD Candidates
Georgia Papapanagiotou
Georgia Papapanagiotou holds an Integrated Master’s Degree (MSci) in Food Science and Technology (School of Agriculture, AUTH), a Master’s Degree (MSc) in “Hydrobiology and Aquaculture” (School of Biology, AUTH), and an MSc in “Quality Management and Technology” (School of Sciences and Technology, HOU). Since October 2020, she has been pursuing her Ph.D., titled “Development of an Innovative Autotrophic Microalgal Cultivation System for Sustainable Production of High-Value Nutritional Products” in the Department of Chemical Engineering at AUTH, under the supervision of Associate Professor C. Chatzidoukas. She has over 8 years of research experience and has participated in more than 10 research projects. She is an accredited agricultural consultant and an external collaborator with the Hellenic Statistical Authority, participating annually in statistical surveys related to the agri-food sector. Her research work includes 26 announcements at scientific conferences and 9 publications in peer-reviewed international scientific journals, with an additional 3 papers currently under review.
Christina Samara
Christina Samara graduated in 2021 from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a diploma of excellence, while she recited the graduation oath. For her distinction in her year, she received an Excellence Award and Scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). Since January 2022, she has been working on her doctoral thesis at the same Department, under the supervision of Associate Professor Christos Chatzidoukas, entitled “Cultivation of the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis, recovery and biotechnological utilization of its intracellular metabolites for the production of new foods and cosmetics”. Her PhD research is funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI). As part of her doctoral research, she has participated as a doctoral researcher in 3 research projects, while she has contributed to 16 presentations at scientific conferences and 8 publications in international scientific journals.
Athanasios Karousis
Athanasios Karousis graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of the Engineering school of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2020, continued his studies in the same department and is a postgraduate of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering program in 2023. Afterwards he started his Phd thesis in 2024, titled «Sustainable production of cellular biomass of microalgae and oleaginous yeasts high in fat content as a feedstock for the production of biofuels for navigation and aviation» in the Chemical Engineering department of AUTH, in the B’ Chemical Engineering Laboratory – Laboratory of Biochemical and Biotechnological Proccesses, under the supervision of the associate professor C.Chatzidoukas.
Alexandros Biziouras
Alexandros Biziouras is a graduate of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, having enrolled in 2018 and graduated in 2023. During his undergraduate studies, he specialized primarily in the field of biochemical engineering and biotechnology, while also developing strong skills in mathematical modeling and process simulation through the use of specialized software. Since November 2024, he has been pursuing his PhD thesis entitled “Dynamic simulation and optimization of a coupled cultivation system of oleaginous microalgae and yeast for bio-oil production by developing hybrid multi-scale models” at the Laboratory of Biochemical and Biotechnological Processes, Department of Chemical Engineering, under the supervision of Associate Professor Christos Chatzidoukas. Recently, his first publication in an international scientific journal was completed, while he has a total of three (3) announcements at international and national conferences.
