Antonia Sophocleous (PhD, FHEA) is an Associated Professor in Biochemistry at the Department of Life Sciences at the European University Cyprus (EUC); she holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Edinburgh (UoE, 2009) and a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Durham University (2004). She is the Head of the Microbiome and Cancer Research Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Centre (BTCRC), at the EUC and an instructor for the undergraduate programs of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Pharmacy and Nutrition & Dietetics. She has published in total 32 original research, peer-reviewed articles in reputed journals and she has written 6 book chapters in the two most recent edition of the Bone Research Protocols; she is the first author in 15 out of her 38 outputs and the corresponding author in 5 of them. She has presented her work 23 times at scientific conferences (17 oral presentations and 6 poster presentations). According to Scopus, she has more than 880 total citations (h-index: 16) and according to Google Scholar, she has more than 1838 total citations (h-index: 18). Antonia is a founding member of the Society for Biological Sciences in Cyprus (since 2020) and a member of the Biochemical Society (since 2018) and the European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS) (since 2007). As part of her international standing, Antonia has been a peer reviewer for reputed and subject specific journals, such as Calcified Tissue International (Springer), Frontiers in Endocrinology (Open Access), Medical Principles and Practice (Karger, Open Access), Osteoporosis International (Springer), PLOS ONE (Open Access), British Journal of Pharmacology (Wiley Online Library), Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry (Springer), BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (Open Access), and Bone (total number of peer reviews: 50). She has been invited to be an abstract reviewer for the annual European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS) congress since 2022. Her editorial responsibilities include: being a Co-chair of the Lab Methods Committee, part of the Editorial Board of the IFMRS Learning Environment, HubLE (until August 2023); a Guest editor for a Special Issue on “The Role of Nutrition in Osteoarthritis Development” in the journal Nutrients (impact factor 6.706) (until November 2024); a Co-Editor of the European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS) Newsletter (until May 2025); an Editorial board member of Human Health, a section of the journal Frontiers for Young Minds. Role: Science Mentor (ongoing since October 2024); an Associate Editor for the journal Frontiers in Medicine - Geriatric Medicine (ongoing since March 2025); a Guest editor for a Special Issue on “Bone-Health-Promoting Bioactive Nutrition” in the journal Nutrients (ongoing since March 2025). She wrote one editorial for the journal Nutrients, titled 'The Role of Nutrition in Osteoarthritis Development', published in October 2023). Antonia is currently interested the role of the gut microbiome in the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis as well as in cancer development and therapy; most recently she has been the project coordinator for the project ‘Role of microbiome and probiotics in osteosarcoma’, which received the Small Research Grant for Parental Leave (internal EUC, 2023 – ongoing). Antonia is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (Fellowship reference: PR244607) since August 2022, and received professional training on Foundational International Council for Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) E6 (R2) Online Training (7 hours), by The European Centre for Clinical Research Training in May 2024; on PGT supervision – Fostering a Culture of Good Supervision, by The University of Edinburgh, in October 2023, on Faculty Professional Development Program (36 hours), by European University Cyprus (January to July 2018), including Constructing and Setting up your E-Invigilate Exams (2 hours) (in May 2020), and on Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis short course, by ScHARR, University of Sheffield in March 2019. In her free time she enjoys hiking, cycling, cooking and reading history novels.