Antoniou

Prof. Antoniou is a Professor at the University of Vienna's Faculty of Life Sciences, leading the Molecular Disease Mechanisms group within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research focuses on non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) in neurological disorders, particularly their roles in neuronal circuit formation, synaptic plasticity, and therapeutic applications. Key areas include ncRNA secretion via EVs, trans-synaptic EV transmission, and ncRNA contributions to neuropsychiatric susceptibility from early life adversity.

He leads multiple grants as Principal Investigator (PI), including DFG-funded projects on BDNF-dependent plasticity and EV-microRNA regulation. Notable awards include the Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship (2015-2017) and the MRC Centenary Early Career Award (2014-2015). His team includes Postdoc Heba Ali, PhD student Yuzhou Zeng, and MSc researchers Selina Luhmann and Aditi Saha.

Research outputs span mechanisms of alpha-synuclein pathology in Parkinson's disease, synaptic mitochondrial regulation via EVs, and miRNA roles in BDNF signaling. His work bridges basic neuroscience with translational nucleic acid therapies for neurological diseases.