SheSTEMs Awards 2024: What are the girls behind the awards doing today? – Part A

While we are starting preparations for the upcoming She STEMs 2026 (stay tuned!), we took a moment to look back at some highlights from our last flagship Symposium, the She STEMs 2024, where we celebrated and awarded early-career scientists across several categories.

In this piece, we are shining a light on four of them, sharing a glimpse of what they’ve been up to since.
Maria started a new job, Marianna completed yet another specialized degree and received awards and international distinctions, Christina took on a new position and now has her own lab in Germany (if you’re looking for a position, message her), and Klytaimnistra earned her PhD!
 

Biology
Maria Andreou, PhD, Laboratory Scientist 

Maria is a laboratory scientist at Protavio Ltd, working in translational oncology with a focus on biomarker discovery and assay development. Her scientific background is in cancer genetics, with a focus on identifying early molecular alterations and translating them into signals that can support clinical decision-making.
She recently completed her PhD at the Medical University of Gdańsk, where she studied early molecular changes in histologically normal breast tissue. This research was inherently interdisciplinary, operating at the interface of laboratory experimentation, clinical practice, and bioinformatics, and required continuous collaboration between clinicians, molecular scientists, and computational researchers. The work resulted in peer-reviewed publications and was recognized with a 2024 Honorable Mention from the Polish Academy of Sciences (Gdańsk Branch Award for Young Scientists) for scientific excellence.
Alongside her professional role, she continues to develop her research perspective through independent scientific initiatives, including her participation in the ARISTEiA ISEC-4 International Educational Workshop, to be held in Euboea, Greece, on March 20-25. ARISTEiA provides a complementary space to extend the same analytical tools and interdisciplinary thinking beyond biomedicine, and explore how they can be applied to broader challenges at the intersection of health, environment, and society. Across both her professional and independent work, she aims to pursue research that is rigorous, collaborative, and relevant to real-world decision making.

Medicine
Marianna Kapsetaki, MD, MSc, PhD

Marianna Kapsetaki, MD, MSc, PhD, is a neurosurgery resident, neuroscientist, and concert pianist. Since September 2025, she has embarked on a UK concert tour with piano recitals in seven cities and completed an MSc in Clinical and Experimental Neurosurgery with Distinction at the University of Athens. She has also undertaken a research visit at the University of Nottingham, published three articles in international scientific journals, and presented her research at the Congress of the European Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery in Budapest and at the Conference of the Hellenic Neuropsychological Society in Athens. In the same timeframe, she delivered a recital and public lecture on Music and the Brain at the Central European University in Budapest and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens, received the International Award “Vexillum – Giuseppe Sciacca” at the Vatican City and the Greek International Women Award (GIWA) in Arts & Culture and was selected to serve as a Consulting Editor for Neuropsychology, a journal published by the American Psychological Association. Her current research mainly focuses on investigating the effects of brain stimulation on memory, an area of critical importance given the key role of memory in our lives.

Computer Science
Christina Giannoula, PhD

Christina Giannoula, PhD, has joined the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) in Germany as a tenure-track faculty member (Assistant Professor level), effective January 2026. At MPI-SWS, she has founded the SPIN research group, conducting research on system design for ML and AI.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of computer architecture, computer systems, high-performance computing, and sustainable computing. Her current work focuses on the hardware/software co-design of emerging applications, particularly AI/ML, with modern computing systems. She designs solutions across the entire system stack—from algorithms and compilers to runtime systems, programming frameworks, and hardware engines—leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as processing-in-memory and memory disaggregation. Her work targets improvements in performance, scalability, programmability, and sustainability.
Dr. Christina Giannoula is actively recruiting motivated PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to join the SPIN research group. Those interested in working at the forefront of computer systems research can visit this link for more information on available positions and the research focus.

Materials Science
Klytaimnistra Katsara, PhD

2025 was a demanding year for Klytaimnistra Katsara, PhD, during which she substantially reassessed her personal priorities. On 18/12/2025, she defended her doctoral dissertation, which was completed with great success. This was a unique experience, and the audience showed strong interest in the interdisciplinary research topic, which focused on the detection of microplastics in food and on informing consumers about food safety.
This work is the most significant she has carried out to date, as through the study of the microcosm, she realized how many potentially toxic particles we consume daily through food and beverages, and the extent to which plastic pollution has silently affected our food chain.
Klytaimnistra and her research team (IESL in collaboration with Hellenic Mediterranean University – HMU) were particularly satisfied with her work, which led to the publication of eight scientific articles in high-impact journals. Receiving the state scholarship from HFRI was a great honor and enabled her to meet the demands of her studies and complete her PhD.
For her, this chapter of research ends as new horizons lie ahead. The search for more stable and sustainable career paths is leading her toward new directions, and she hopes that, in the future, research in Greece will be meaningfully supported, so that women can combine science and family, while retaining equal opportunities and prospects.