Dr. Panagiotis Madesis was born in Thessaloniki on 19.01.1971. He is married with two children. He studied at the Faculty of Agriculture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). He pursued graduate studies in the laboratory of Genetics and Plant Breeding of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, AUTH where he also did his doctoral dissertation. Additionally, the last year of his doctoral thesis, he moved to the University of Manchester in the Laboratory of Plant Science with emphasis on the genetic manipulation of the chloroplast genome. During this period he worked on a number of research programs. Dr. Madesis has carried out his studies with the help of the following scholarships a) Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Manchester, b) Greek State Institute Scholarship.
In 2004, he was given a postdoctoral position in the Laboratory of Plant sciences in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. Since October 2008 he has been Researcher in the Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB; formerly, Institute of Agrobiotechnology) of the National Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). From 2020 he has been appointed as a Ass. Professor of Molecular Biology in the University of Thessaly. He is member of the editorial board and reviewer in a number of journals. He has published more than 140 research papers and 11 book chapters with more than 3000 references.
He is a member of the a) Marie Curie Fellows Association (MCFA), b) the Greek Society of Biological Sciences c) the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece d) the Greek Scientific Society of Plant Breeding where from 2012 he serves as member of the Board.
His scientific interests focus on Molecular mechanisms involved in stress tolerance. Plant Breeding through conventional and biotechnological methods moreover he utilizes novel methodologies like genetics and genomics and other “omics” technologies. He is working on the development of higher yielding plants, plants with increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, he is very interested in developing plant systems for the production of high added value products in plants. In addition, Dr. Madesis is working onmolecular plant physiology of stress tolerance, plant genotyping and biodiversity assessment through plant species identification, these studies have allowed him to develop a novel methodology for plant species identification, including the important designation of origin products (PDO) “Fava Santorinis”, Prespes beans, or species identification in commercial products like Feta cheese, olive oil etc and also the traceability and detection of possible fraud in commercial products. For this activity, in 2013 was bestowed a distinction by the Ministry of Rural Development and the President of the Hellenic Republic.