Four young Greek scientists that excel internationally were awarded for their top performances since Bodosaki Foundation. In particular, the following were awarded:

– THE Vassilis Sirganiss, who created models for predicting effectiveness new cancer drugs.

– THE Philip Strack where it decodes the way we make decisions.

– THE Konstantinos Vogiatzis as it uses quantum chemistry and Artificial Intelligence to describe chemical processes that promote clean technologies to protect the environment.

– O Edward Chouchani which revealed that the lactic acid is (also) involved in cancer.

The above are just some of the achievements of the four Greek and Greek-origin scientists who were awarded the 2023 Bodosaki Foundation Scientific Awards, at the Awarding Ceremony held in the crowded Zappeion Peristyle.

The institution of Scientific Awards Bodosaki Foundation has been honoring and promoting since 1992 the work of young Greeks, by nationality or gender, scientists who are pioneers in the global research arena and have already contributed significantly to the progress of science with their top performances. To date, 61 distinguished scientists from around the world have been awarded the Scientific Prizes, which are awarded every two years.

In particular, the awarded scientists were distinguished for their outstanding contribution to the development of knowledge in key scientific fields and for highlighting the Greek spirit in the international scientific community.

In recognition of their scientific excellence, they were honored with the following awards:

Biomedical Sciences Branch Life Sciences Science Award to Edward Chouchani, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School

Basic Sciences Sector Scientific Award, Chemistry Branch to Konstantinos Vogiatzis, associate professor of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry at the University of Tennessee

Social Science, Economics, Political Science Branch Scientific Award to Philipp Strack, Professor of Economics at Yale University

Applied Science/Technology Sector Scientific Award, Applications of Artificial Intelligence Methods and Technologies in Engineering Disciplines to Vassilis Sirganis, assistant professor of Management Science and Technology at Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science (by courtesy), James and Anna Marie Spilker Faculty Fellow

The Greek origin Edward Chouchani presented in his speech the importance of studying metabolic processes: “In our lab we are developing technologies that will help us understand how metabolism and metabolic processes in our cells and tissues can control adaptive physiology and disease. We are using these technologies as a starting point for developing new therapies to address the diseases of aging. We hope that by understanding how metabolism can regulate our cells and tissues, we will discover new ways to modify biology and protect against diseases of aging.”

Konstantinos Vogiatzis was mentioned on pcontribution of theoretical chemistry to the development of new separation technologies and the storage of carbon dioxide, which is the main cause of climate change, and which will contribute to offsetting historical emissions. His research focuses on an alternative technology that significantly reduces the energy cost of the separation process, the use of passive polymeric membranes and the optimization of their properties. In addition, in order to examine huge molecular databases, K. Vogiatzis and his team have also progressed in the development of new hybrid machine learning models.

Philipp Strack analyzed a highly interesting area of ​​his research on the well-being of societies, the consequences of overconfidence: “We study how it distorts beliefs and can lead to bad actions with consequences not only on an individual level, but also more broadly, towards society, causing prejudice and racism. My colleagues and I are developing a theory about who is biased towards whom in society. An interesting finding of this theory explains that there is wide disagreement about who is discriminated against in society. In our opinion there are many things that could reduce discrimination and we hope that our work will help to understand what measures can reduce prejudice in society.”

Vassilis Sirganis spoke about his work in this field machine learning: “An example of my contribution to the field is in developing machine learning algorithms to discover rules of how a causal relationship changes based on other characteristics. For example, in health, we want to know for which subgroups a new treatment will have the greatest effect on life expectancy as a function of genetic and other patient characteristics. The machine learning techniques we developed are capable of discovering complex patterns in changing the effect of one variable on another. These models can guide us in making optimal personalized decisions.”

The awards were presented by the distinguished laureates of the institution:

Nektarios Tavernarakis, awarded with the Bodosakis Scientific Prize in 2005 and currently chairman of the Board of Directors of the Technology and Research Foundation (ITE), chairman of the Board of Directors of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete.

Eliza Konofagou, awarded with the Bodosaki Scientific Prize in 2017 and currently professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at Columbia University and Director of the Columbia Ultrasound and Elastic Imaging Laboratory.

“The Bodosaki Foundation remains committed to supporting Education, Merit and Scientific Excellence. We support meritocracy, because it alone gives strength and value to any distinction, it strengthens democracy. And we support scientific excellence because it is society as a whole that gains from it: through the achievements of excellence, a future better world for all is shaped.” pointed out the president of the Board of Directors. of the Bodosaki Foundation Athena Desypri.

The Award Ceremony, which opened and closed with Joseph Haydn from a string trio, was attended by representatives of the state, personalities from academia, science, culture, business and Civil Society.

The institution of the Scientific Awards of the Bodosaki Foundation

The institution of the Scientific Awards is part of the Bodosaki Foundation’s charitable purposes for promotion of education and the promotion of scientific excellence. Criteria for the awarding of the Bodosaki Scientific Awards are the outstanding performance of the candidates in their scientific field, in which they have to present a complete project.