Nektaria Petronikolou

Nektaria Petronikolou has worked at Lycia Therapeutics since 2022 as a Scientist II. Prior to that, they were at Nektar Therapeutics from 2020 to 2022, where they held the roles of Scientist and Associate Scientist. From 2018 to 2020, they were a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Francisco, where they investigated the molecular mechanisms of catalysis and regulation of an oncogenic protein using molecular biology and protein biochemistry methods. Nektaria provided a rationale for substrate selectivity via alanine scanning mutagenesis of peptide substrates and demonstrated that post-translational modifications on a distal epitope of the peptide substrate can modulate enzyme activity using biochemical assays. From 2012 to 2018, they were a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where they taught, graded, prepared reagents and managed technicians for the successful execution of the lab practical exercises of the undergraduate course “Techniques in Biochemistry and Biotechnology” (BIOC 455), guided the discussion session for the undergraduate courses “The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Life” (MCB150) and “Biochemical & Physical Basis of Life” (MCB 354), and taught, graded, and wrote assignment and exam questions for the lab practical exercises of the undergraduate course “Molecular and Cellular Basis of Life Laboratory” (MCB 151). Nektaria was also a Graduate Research Assistant, where they performed structure-function studies of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of antibiotics, biofuels and other commodity chemicals, and utilized protein crystallography, site-directed mutagenesis, activity/inhibition assays, Michaelis-Menten kinetics and binding affinity assays to understand the interactions of enzymes with their substrates or inhibitors. Nektaria elucidated structure-function relationships of 5 enzymes that span different protein families.

Nektaria Petronikolou received their BSc in Biology from Ethnikon kai Kapodistriakon Panepistimion Athinon in 2010, and went on to earn their PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2018.