The University of Cyprus Medical School congratulates Dr. Efstathios Andreas Elia, Visiting Researcher at the Medical School and Postdoctoral Scientist at the Department of Chemistry

The University of Cyprus Medical School congratulates Dr. Efstathios Andreas Elia, Visiting Researcher at the Medical School and Postdoctoral Scientist at the Department of Chemistry, who secured an outstanding evaluation score and competitive funding under the highly selective VISION ERC–PATH programme of the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation for his research proposal titled “A Single-Cell Imaging Mass Spectrometry with Plasma Post-Ionization Platform for Investigating Cancer Immunometabolism.”

Dr Elia’s research project, SCI-MAP, aims to develop an innovative technology for the spatiotemporal imaging of cancer metabolomics. Spatiotemporal metabolomics enables scientists to “see” how cellular metabolism changes across space and time, rather than through a single static measurement. When applied to cancer, this approach can reveal the mechanisms and conditions that promote immune evasion and aggressive tumour behaviour. However, current technologies for spatiotemporal metabolomics are technically demanding and extremely costly, limiting their widespread use in translational research. The development of the SCI-MAP platform seeks to make the metabolic imaging of cancer more accessible, faster, and economically feasible, paving the way for broader application in clinical oncology and the development of targeted and personalized cancer therapies. The novel plasma post-ionization source will allow, for the first time, the direct study of specific lipid molecules that enable cancer cells to “hide” from the immune system.

Within SCI-MAP, Dr. Elia, in collaboration with Dr. Nikolas Dietis, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Head of the Zebrafish Laboratory of the Medical School, will use human cancer models in zebrafish larvae xenografts of as a proof-of-concept of the newly developed technology. The SCI-MAP project will also be supported by the expertise of Dr. Philippos Demetriou from the Centre for the Study of Haematological and other Malignancies and Professor David Langenau from Harvard Medical School.

This new funding represents an important distinction for Dr. Elia and for the Medical School, as the implementation of SCI-MAP highlights the School’s continued rise in research excellence and its key role in advancing and applying cutting-edge biomedical technologies in the field of cancer research.