THIS WEBSITE USES COOKIES
We use cookies to personalise content, to provide social media features, and to analyse our traffic. By choosing 'allow all cookies', you consent to our cookies.
To find out more, read our privacy policy and cookie policy.

Prof. Dr. Maria Halabalaki

Professor
User Linkedin Google
NKUA

BioTransform represents a strategically important initiative that integrates excellence in research, education, and capacity building across Europe. It is a privilege to contribute to this distinguished consortium, which addresses the urgent need to train and empower the next generation of scientists for both academia and industry.

Evidence-based nutrition must be recognized not only as a lifestyle factor but as a key determinant in the development, progression, and management of non-communicable diseases. Through structured training, knowledge transfer, and stakeholder engagement, BioTransform supports the translation of scientific evidence into innovation pathways across Europe.

Professional background

Maria Halabalaki is a Professor at the Division of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry of the Pharmacy Department of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), where she also currently serves as Director for the Laboratory of Valorization of Bioactive Natural Products. In recent years, her scientific interests focus on the development and application of analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative characterization of plant extracts, foods, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, dereplication methods; quality control aspects; quantification of small molecules in biological fluids; metabolomics approaches for the discovery of biomarkers and investigation of mechanism of action of small molecules as well as metabolism studies. To date, she has been the author of >160 papers in peer-reviewed journals and her work has been also presented in more than 80 international conferences. Since 2015, she has been an invited speaker at more than 30 internationally established conferences. She belongs at the coordinating team of several EU (>20) and National (>40) research programs. In 2023 she received the prestigious Bionorica Phytoneering Award which acknowledges outstanding research in the field of development and application of phytopharmaceutical products. Additionally, in 2015, she was awarded with Egon Stahl in silver, an EU medal, recognizing and promoting young scientists working in the field of Pharmacognosy (Pharmaceutical Biology) and Analytical Phytochemistry. Among her other accolades, in 2005 her scientific profile as a luminous young scientist has been presented in the monthly newsletter series of the Thematic Network “Phytohealth”. In 2000 she was awarded the fellowship “Irakleitos” by the National Ministry of Education for the implementation of doctoral research. Moreover, she is a member of several National and International committees and societies e.g., in the BoD of GA society (Medicinal Plant and Natural Products Research), Group of Experts in European Pharmacopoeia (EDQM – working group 13A for Herbal Drugs and Herbal Drug Preparation) as well as the ad-hoc expert groups (AHEGs) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Additionally, she has participated in more than 15 international initiatives after invitation and she has been involved in the organization of several international conferences, as a member of the organizing/scientific committee. Finally, within the last 15 years she has co-supervised, supervised and collaborated with numerous under- and post-graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers, many of whom excelled in their respective fields.

Selected publications
  • Mikropoulou Eleni V, Aikaterini Basdeki, and Maria Halabalaki. “Metabolism and Bioavailability Aspects of Natural Products of Plant Origin Using Mass Spectrometry-Based and Metabolomic Approaches.” Natural Product Reports, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5NP00022J
  • Antonis Pikoulas, , Ioannis Morianos, Vassilis Nidris, Rania Hamdy, Evangelia Intze, Ángeles López-López, Maria Moran-Garrido, Valliappan Muthu, Maria Halabalaki, Varvara Papaioanou, Maria Papadovasilaki, Irene Kyrmizi, Yiyou Gu, Sandra M. Camunas-Alberca, Robina Aerts, Toine Mercier, Yuri Vanbiervliet, Sung-Yeon Cho, Amy Spallone, Ying Jiang, Dimitrios Samonakis, Efstathios Kastritis, Carlos Lax, Maria Tzardi, Aristides Eliopoulos, Konstantina Georgila, Agostinho Carvalho, Oliver Kurzai, Shivaprakash Mandya Rudramurthy, Caroline Elie, Fanny Lanternier, Kyriakos Petratos, Victoriano Garre, Elias Drakos, Johan Maertens, Vincent M. Bruno, Dimitrios P. Kontoyiannis, Coral Barbas, Sameh S. M. Soliman, Ashraf S. Ibrahim & Georgios Chamilos. “Albumin Orchestrates a Natural Host Defence Mechanism against Mucormycosis,” Nature 649, no. 8097 (2026): 693–702, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09882-3
  • Evangelos Kalampokis, Theodora Nikou, Stavros Beteinakis, Maria Halabalaki. “Multiscale Workflow for the Profiling and Identification of Urinary Food Bioactives Metabolites Part I: Optimizing Urine Extraction,” Analytica Chimica Acta 1353 (2025): 343947, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2025.343947.
  • Mikropoulou Eleni V, Zoi Evangelakou, Ioannis P Trougakos, and Maria Halabalaki. “A Metabolomic Approach to Investigate the Effect of Phytonutrients on Proteostasis and Metabolic Pathways in Drosophila Melanogaster.” Planta Medica 90, no. 07/08 (2024): 512–22. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2192-3167.
  • Nikou, Theodora, Kalliopi V Karampetsou, Olga S Koutsoni, Alexios-Leandros Skaltsounis, Eleni Dotsika, and Maria Halabalaki. “Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism Investigation of Oleocanthal.” Journal of Natural Products 87, no. 3 (March 22, 2024): 530–43. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.3c00422.
  • Sakavitsi Maria E, Annelies Breynaert, Theodora Nikou, Stef Lauwers, Luc Pieters, Nina Hermans, and Maria Halabalaki. “Availability and Metabolic Fate of Olive Phenolic Alcohols Hydroxytyrosol and Tyrosol in the Human GI Tract Simulated by the In Vitro GIDM–Colon Model.” Metabolites, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12050391.
  • Nikou Theodora, Maria E Sakavitsi, Evangelos Kalampokis, and Maria Halabalaki. “Metabolism and Bioavailability of Olive Bioactive Constituents Based on In Vitro, In Vivo and Human Studies.” Nutrients, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14183773.
  • Fytili Christina, Theodora Nikou, Nikolaos Tentolouris, Ioulia K Tseti, Charilaos Dimosthenopoulos, Petros P Sfikakis, Dimitrios Simos, Alexandros Kokkinos, Alexios L. Skaltsounis, Nikolaos Katsilambros and Maria Halabalaki. “Effect of Long-Term Hydroxytyrosol Administration on Body Weight, Fat Mass and Urine Metabolomics: A Randomized Double-Blind Prospective Human Study.” Nutrients, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14071525.