Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Dr. Georgakopoulos-Soares is an Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin. His research integrates bioinformatics and AI-driven computational biology to investigate the evolutionary forces shaping genomes, non-canonical DNA structures, and human health and disease, with a particular emphasis on cancer.
The lab's cancer research program spans multiple areas, including gastrointestinal and pediatric malignancies. A major focus is the development non-invasive approaches through liquid biopsies, that the group is leveraging to create new methods for early stage cancer detection and identification of neoantigens to develop new cancer therapies in close collaboration with clinical and industry partners. Additionally, mechanistic studies are underway to gain fundamental insights into cancer biology and shape how we approach cancer risk assessment and treatment selection.
Other current projects include the identification of species-specific DNA sequences across hundreds of thousands of genomes and their functional significance in evolution and species differentiation and the characterization of non-canonical DNA structures across large-scale genomic datasets and their effect on gene regulation and genome stability. The group also creates and maintains a variety of freely accessible software tools and databases that serve as resources for the scientific community to accelerate genomic discovery.
- Imperial College London, UK BSc 2014 Biological Sciences
- University Of Cambridge, UK PhD 2019 Biological Sciences
- National Technical University of Athens, GR BEng & MEng 2022 Mechanical Engineering
- Postdoc: 2019-2022 University of California, San Francisco, USA
- Assistant Professor: 2022-2025 Penn State College of Medicine
His research program has secured a competitive start-up package and several awards from the NIH and various philanthropic foundations, totaling to $5.5 million.
1) Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA) National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Role: Principal Investigator
2) W. W. Smith Cancer Research Grant
Role: Principal Investigator
3) Four Diamonds Transformative Project
Role: Principal Investigator
4) Two Four Diamonds Fund Research Grant Awards
Role: Principal Investigator
5) Huck Innovative & Transformational Seed (HITS) Fund
Role: Principal Investigator
6) Elsa U. Pardee Research Foundation Grant
Role: Principal Investigator
7) Three Penn State Cancer Institute Awards
Role: Principal Investigator
University & Departmental Service
- Doctoral Advisory & Examination Committees – Advisor or committee member for >10 PhD students across Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, and Bioinformatics programs.
- Graduate Program Committees – Member of the Biomedical Sciences, Epidemiology, Neuroscience, and Bioinformatics graduate programs previously at Penn State College of Medicine and now at UT Austin.
- Course Development & Direction – Led new graduate course BMS 597: Computational Tools for Cancer Genomics (Course Director, 2025)
- Recruitment & Evaluation – Interviewer and evaluator for Biomedical Sciences and Bioinformatics PhD admissions (2023–2025).
- Departmental Seminar Organization – Organized departmental seminar series and invited prominent speakers.
Professional & Grant Review Service
Grant Review Panels
- Reviewer for R01 and R21 grants for the National Library of Medicine
- Reviewer for R01 and R21 grants for the National Cancer Institute
- Reviewer for The Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Reviewer for The Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation
- Reviewer for Penn State Cancer Institute internal grants
- Reviewer for Czech Science Foundation
- Abstract & Proposal Review – Reviewer for the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Conference (2024).
Peer Review and Editorial Service
- Guest Editor – Genome Biology (Special Issue on Non-canonical DNA Structure, 2025)
- Editor / Associate Editor – Frontiers in Oncology; Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
- Editorial Board Member – eLife, BMC Bioinformatics, PLOS Computational Biology, Human Genomics, Frontiers in Genetics, Biomedicines, Cancers
- Journal Peer Review – Frequent reviewer for Genome Research, Nature Communications, Nucleic Acids Research, Bioinformatics, Cell Genomics, and others (60+ peer reviews completed).
Professional Memberships
- American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
- American Heart Association (AHA)
Contact Information
Email address:
Website:
Campus location:
DPI
3.810
Address:
College of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacology & Toxicology
University of Texas at Austin
Dell Pediatric Research Institute
University of Texas at Austin
Dell Pediatric Research Institute
1400 Barbara Jordan Blvd
Austin, TX 78723
Austin, TX 78723