Greek diaspora scientist becomes member of the Royal Society in Britain

Vassilis Pachnis, one of the 50 distinguished scientists who were elected members of the Royal Society this year, is the group leader of a research team studying the development, organisation and functioning of the nervous system at the Francis Crick Institute. The aim of his research is to better understand nervous system-related disorders.

Born in Greece, he graduated from the University of Athens Medical School in 1980 and received his Ph.D. in Genetics in 1986 from the University of Pennsylvania and the Fox Chase Anti-Cancer Center in Philadelphia, USA. After post-doctoral research at Columbia University in New York until 1991, he moved to the UK and has been head of research teams since then, initially at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research and subsequently at The Francis Crick Institute.

Pachnis has also been the director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the Foundation for Research and Technology in Crete. He has authored many research papers and is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).