Dr. Vasiliou’s research focuses on investigating the etiologies and molecular mechanisms of environmentally-induced human diseases, such as liver disease, obesity & diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. More specifically, research in his laboratory focuses on the means by which the exposome (total exposures throughout life), metabolism (specifically aldehyde dehydrogenases and cytochrome P-450s) and antioxidants (glutathione and catalase) contribute to human health and disease. His laboratory utilizes state-of-the-art integrated system approaches that include metabolomics, lipidomics, redox proteomics, exposomics, tissue imaging mass spectrometry, machine-learning, as well as human cohorts and genetically-engineered mouse models to elucidate mechanisms, and to discover biomarkers and novel interventions for human disease.
Our active research projects include:
Other areas of active research in the form of international collaborations include the role of exposome in influencing the severity of asthma in children and in hastening aging.
Drug discovery also represents an area of active research interest in the laboratory. In a multi-investigator collaboration involving several universities and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), the laboratory has been developing small molecules designed to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy of cancer.
Specialized Terms: Integrated multi-omics (metabolomics/lipidomics, redox proteomics, and trascriptomics), Cellular Responses to Environmental Stress, Gene-Environment Interactions; Alcohol Metabolism and Disease; Aldehyde Dehydrogenases and Glutathione in Metabolism and Disease (specifically, obesity diabetes, and cancer), Cancer Drug Discovery.
Alcoholism; Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; Diabetes Mellitus; Environmental Health; Glutathione; Gout; Ophthalmology; Genomics
Cancer; Environmental Health; Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics; Global Health; Maternal & Child Health; Metabolism; Nutrition; Substance Use, Addiction; Metabolomics; COVID-19