She received my B.Sc. in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. My interest in research was originally fulfilled during my B.Sc. thesis on the mechanisms of anti-viral efficacy of DL-isoborneol in HSV infection (Microbiology Lab, School of Biology, Aristotle University Of Thessaloniki, Greece) which led to my first first-author publication (Antiviral Research 1999). I, then, concluded my doctoral training in Functional Genetics and Immunology in the Institute of Immunology, BSRC “Al. Fleming”, Vari/Greece, under the supervision of Prof. George Kollias (in collaboration with the Aristotle University Of Thessaloniki, Greece). My doctoral studies shed light on the cellular and TNF-receptor requirements in murine models of TNF-mediated inflammatory arthritis and Crohn’s-like disease through the generation of a genetic tool (ColVI-Cre), which drives specific expression or inactivation of conditionally-expressed genes in the mesenchymal cells of the joint and the intestine (Armaka et al., JEM 2008). This study challenged current concepts on the secondary role of mesenchymal cells in chronic inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in vivo and highlighted them as key pathogenic determinants. 

The dissection of the signaling pathways affecting the developmental role as well as the homeostatic and pathogenic behavior of synovial fibroblasts in modeled inflammatory joint diseases, by employing lineage tracing and functional genetic approaches.