Journal of Stem cell Research and Therapy

Dr. Despina Bazou was awarded a B.Sc. in Genetics and a PhD in Cancer Biology from Cardiff School of Biosciences. Following her PhD, she was awarded an EU Marie Curie Research Fellowship and joined the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where she worked with the group of Prof. Radomski (Pharmacology Department, TCD) on the elucidation of flow-mediated tumour cell-induced platelet aggregation (TCIPA) using an ultrasound standing wave trap. She then joined the Edwin L. Steele Lab for Tumour Biology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital (2011-2016) under the mentorship of Drs. Rakesh Jain and Lance Munn. Her research centred on how endothelial cells are triggered to sprout in the tumour microenvironment as well as on the development of novel microfluidic systems to deliver a 'tumour-on-a chip' for the screening of anti-angiogenic and anti-tumour agents. She then returned to Ireland, to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH), as the Haemato-oncology Translational Research and Education Lead where she led and coordinated the clinical and translational research strategy and activities from study design, set-up, execution through to completion. She joined the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences (SBBS) in 2024, as a Principal Investigator. In 2025, she joined the Department of Biology at Maynooth University as a tenured Assistant Professor and Head of the Translational Haematology Lab (https://www.thetranslationalhaematologylab.com) focused on the development of transformative precision medicine treatment solutions to address the pathophysiology of blood malignancies.

• multiple myeloma
• Multi-omics
• Tumour microenvironment
• microfluidic systems

• Supervises and mentors MSc and PhD students in her lab (ongoing and completed)
• Research income: > €2.3 million raised in external grants (various PI/Co-PI roles)
• 60 peer-reviewed publications including original research, review articles and book chapters
• Invited/keynote speaker at international conferences; chaired sessions; >15 oral + >20 poster presentations
• Editor/guest-editor roles: Guest Editor for special issues International Journal of Molecular Sciences; Review Editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology
• Evaluator/expert for European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder, NC3Rs, etc.
• Member/Ambassador roles: Ambassador of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR), Member of the International Myeloma Society (IMS), among others

1. Bazou D, Kuznetsova L.A., Coakley W.T. Physical environment of 2-D animal cell aggregates formed in a short pathlength ultrasound standing wave trap. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 31 (3): 423–430 (2005).
2. Bazou D, Coakley W.T., Hayes A.J., Jackson S.K. Long-term viability and proliferation of alginate-encapsulated 3-D HepG2 aggregates formed in an ultrasound trap. Toxicology in Vitro, 22 (5): 1321–1331 (2008).
3. Bazou D, Foster G.A., Ralphs J.R., Coakley W.T. Molecular adhesion development in a neural cell monolayer forming in an ultrasound trap. Molecular Membrane Biology, 22 (3): 229–240 (2005). 
4. Bazou D, Dowthwaite G.P., Khan I.M., Archer C.W., Ralphs J.R. Gap junctional intercellular communication and cytoskeletal organization in chondrocytes in suspension in an ultrasound trap. Molecular Membrane Biology, 23 (2): 195–205 (2006). 
5. Bazou D. Biochemical properties of encapsulated high-density 3-D HepG2 aggregates formed in an ultrasound trap for application in hepatotoxicity studies. Cell Biology and Toxicology, 26 (2): 127–141 (2010). 
6. Bazou D, Kearney R., Mansergh F., Bourdon C., Farrar J., Wride M. Gene expression analysis of mouse embryonic stem cells following levitation in an ultrasound standing wave trap. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 37 (2): 321–330 (2011). 
7. Bazou D, Castro A., Hoyos M. Controlled cell aggregation in a pulsed acoustic field. Ultrasonics, 52 (7): 842–850 (2012).
8. Song J.W., Bazou D., Munn L.L. Anastomosis of endothelial sprouts forms new vessels in a tissue analogue of angiogenesis. Integrative Biology, 4 (8): 857–862 (2012). 
9. Song J.W., Daubriac J., Janet M.T., Bazou D., Munn L.L. RhoA mediates flow-induced endothelial sprouting in a 3-D tissue analogue of angiogenesis. Lab on a Chip, 12 (23): 5000–5006 (2012).
10. Bazou D., Ng M.R., Song J.W., Chin S.M., Maimon N., Munn L.L. Flow-induced HDAC1 phosphorylation and nuclear export in angiogenic sprouting. Scientific Reports, 6 (1): 34046 (2016).