Digestive System Diseases

Maria Gazouli, PhD, Biologist, is Associate Professor of the Department of Biology at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) School of Medicine. She performed her 1st PhD training at the Department of Biology, School of Science of NKUA in partnership with the Hellenic Pasteur Institute, her 2nd PhD training at the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine of NKUA, and her postdoctoral work in the USA (1997-2000) in the Cell Biology and Pharmacology Department, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. In 2007, she joined the NKUA Medical School as Lecturer of Biology, in 2012 she was promoted to Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and, in late 2016, she was promoted to Associate Professor of Molecular Biology. Dr M. Gazouli's work refers mainly to the molecular basis of diseases (mainly autoimmune diseases and cancer), to molecular detection of pathogens, and to the investigation of the pathogenesis of the diseases they cause to humans. She worked on stem cells implication in mucosal healing, and she is responsible for the e-learning program of the NKUA Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine. Recently, Dr Gazouli was involved in the incorporation of nanotechnology into targeted cancer detection, imaging and drug delivery. She was honored with a Fulbright Scholarship for the Development of Nanotechnology-based Biosensor Arrays for the Detection of Circulating Colorectal Cancer Cells at University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Dr Gazouli's work is reflected in more than 230 publications that have received more than 8900 citations and an h-index of48 (Google scholar, 1/10/2018). She owns one granted international patent and three European patents. She has given more than 50 invited lectures at international and national conferences and universities and has trained several junior scientists. She has served as ad hoc reviewer for various high-impact scientific journals, and she is regularly invited to serve on review panels as an expert evaluator by prestigious organizations, such as the National Research Grant Funding Agencies of Greece, Broad Medical Research Program Inflammatory Bowel Disease Grants, the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), Krakow, the PISCOPIA Fellowship Programme on behalf of the University of Padova, Italy, the Czech-Norwegian Research Programme, the Qatar National Research Fund, the Danish Council for Independent Research for DFF - YDUN Research Project, the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR), University and Research and the Evaluation of research products.

1. Introduction.- 2. Stem cells principles and biology.- 3. The truth behind esophagus: the stem cells significance.- 4. Pancreatic Diseases: The Role of Stem Cells.- 5. Stem cells therapy for liver diseases.- 6. The role of stem cells in colorectal cancer carcinogenesis and treatment.- 7. THE ROLE OF STEM CELLS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANAL FISTULAS.- 8. Stem cells in inflammatory bowel disease: From pathogenesis to clinical practice.- 9. Paneth Cells Physiology and Pathophysiology in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.