Ikonomou Lab

Laertis Ikonomou, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Oral Biology. He is a graduate of chemical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and was then awarded his PhD in biochemical engineering from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. Dr. Ikonomou completed postdoctoral training in stem cell and developmental biology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the NIH and at the Boston University School of Medicine Pulmonary Center. Earlier in his career, he was faculty member at the Center for Regenerative Medicine of Boston University and Boston Medical Center.

Dr. Ikonomou’s major research interests are in the areas of pluripotent stem cell biology and developmental biology, with emphasis on foregut and dental in vivo biology and its applications in directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. His research, supported by the NIH and the American Thoracic Society, defined for the first time the genetic program of lung primordial progenitors.

In addition to his research, since 2013, Dr. Ikonomou has been involved in education and information activities regarding unproven and unregulated cell- and gene-based interventions. He has spearheaded and co-authored numerous publications aimed at patients, clinicians, and cell/gene therapy developers. He has also organized and moderated webinars covering bioethical and regulatory questions in the cell/gene therapy space and served as a pro bono expert witness in a class action lawsuit against a business offering unproven “stem cell” interventions for respiratory diseases.

Our research program is in the areas of pluripotent stem cell biology and engineering, with emphasis on the study and in vitro derivation of foregut progenitors, such as respiratory and thyroid progenitors. Understanding the establishment and reconfiguration of gene regulatory networks in progenitor cells during early foregut development provides valuable insights into their cell fate decisions. We seek to apply information generated from embryonic studies to the development of robust, reproducible, and efficient protocols for in vitro differentiation of stem cells, with the ultimate goal of developing cell-based replacement therapies. To achieve these research ends, we use mouse genetic models, pluripotent stem cells, including induced pluripotent stem cells, and ex vivo culture of embryonic progenitors, as well as techniques such as bulk and single-cell RNA-Seq and ATAC-Seq.

In addition to our basic research program, we are particularly interested in policy and regulatory issues regarding the complex path from basic scientific discoveries to safe and efficient clinical translation of cell-and gene-based treatments. This process has been degraded by hundreds to thousands of direct-to-consumer businesses in the US and abroad offering interventions with minimal to no evidence of safety and efficacy to patients with incurable and/or end-stage diseases. We have explored these questions in a variety of publications from editorials to peer-reviewed articles and led awareness and education initiatives within scientific societies such as the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT).

• Anoosheh Tajsharghi, MSc, PhD student
• Dimiter Kunnev, PhD, research scientist
• India Zuniga, undergraduate student
• Kimberly Munoz Guzman, undergraduate student
• Jorge Eduardo Ortega Perez, BS, research assistant
• Mariadela Demoura, BS, research assistant
• Mina Kang, BS, master's student

• Gene regulatory networks in early lung epithelial fate decisions.
• Derivation of tooth organoids using human induced pluripotent stems.
• Study of oral mucosa progenitors in homeostasis and injury.

Location: 619 Biomedical Research Building
Laboratory Phone: 716-829-6207
Email: laertisi@buffalo.edu