Professor Dr. Erika Loizidou

Biography

Erika Loizidou received her BSc in Chemistry from the University of Cyprus in 1999. She then completed her Master's degree in Chemistry at San Diego State University in 2003, followed by a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University in 2006. Her doctoral research, supervised by Professor K.C. Nicolaou, focused on the total synthesis and structural confirmation of the natural marine toxin azaspiracid-3, which involved a complex, multistep synthetic process. After completing her PhD, Erika was awarded a Marie Curie International Reintegration Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of Cyprus, where she examined the resistance mechanisms to HIV-1 inhibitors. This work led to the identification of a potential two-way binding mode of the FDA-approved HIV-1 integrase inhibitor raletgravir. She also secured a Marie Curie Fellowship for research on transdermal delivery systems for pharmaceuticals at Cardiff University, where she designed microneedle systems. In 2015, she joined Middlesex University as a Lecturer in Chemistry, eventually becoming a Senior Lecturer, where she developed undergraduate programs in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Currently, she serves as a Lecturer in Drug Discovery at University College London, contributing to both teaching and research in the field.

Research Interests

Experience