International research talents for the University Medical Center Göttingen
Prof. Dr. Argyris Papantonis, head of the Translational Epigenetics & Genome Architecture Laboratory at the Department of Pathology at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), was selected as a “Scout” in May 2025 as part of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Henriette Herz Scouting Program. This enables him to nominate up to three renowned young scientists from abroad for a Humboldt Research Fellowship and recruit them to his research team at UMG. The program thus offers the opportunity to attract international scientists to UMG and bring new perspectives to research.
The first fellowship holder via the Henriette Herz Scouting Program for the UMG, Dr. Ilias Tzelepis, was recruited from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Since November 1, 2025, he has been contributing his biochemical expertise to genomic research at UMG. His aim is to close gaps in understanding in the areas of cellular aging and cancer development. He will investigate the fundamental biophysical principles responsible for changes in proteins in human cells as they age or develop into malignant tumors. Dr. Tzelepis will contribute his expertise to the research work of Prof. Papantonis' team for at least two years.
Dr. Ilias Tzelepis, born in 1991, studied Biology at the University of Crete in Greece from 2009 to 2013 and graduated with a bachelor's degree. In 2015, he completed his master's degree in Human Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University in France. From 2016 to 2022, he conducted research and earned his doctorate in the Department of Oncology Pathology at the renowned Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, focusing on the development of tumors. He then spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Perelman School of Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, researching fundamental mechanisms of cancer development associated with changes in genetic material.
About the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of more than 30,000 Humboldtians in over 140 countries worldwide, including 63 Nobel Prize winners.
Contact person in the department:
Prof. Dr. Argyris Papantonis, Department of Pathology, Phone +49 551 / 39-65734, argyris.papantonis(at)med.uni-goettingen.de
Press contact:
University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Göttingen
Head of Corporate Communications
Lena Bösch
Von-Siebold-Str. 3, 37075 Göttingen
Phone +49 551 / 39-61020
Fax +49 551 / 39-61023
presse.medizin(at)med.uni-goettingen.de
www.umg.eu