Instructor @NYUGSOM_Path • Molecular Biologist • Interested in Leukemia, Tumor Microenvironment & Cancer Biology
New York, NY
Joined June 2022
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Respiratory failure is a leading cause of death in AML.
It begins when leukemia infiltrates the lung. Almost nothing was known about what happens locally.
We looked.
🧵 @NatImmunol
🔗 nature.com/articles/s41590-0…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Happy to share our new paper in @Nature “Type 2 immune history trains lung macrophages for viral disease tolerance” nature.com/articles/s41586-0… the work was fearlessly led by @PayalYokota Thanks to all our collaborators! @nyulangone @nyugrossman
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
What happens to the bone marrow niche in #CHIP? We find that CHIP is associated with fibro-inflammatory hubs emerging before the disease.
Co-led by our fantastic @aliciaguilar_ and @gibran_edun
nature.com/articles/s41590-0…
#ClonalHematopoiesis #PreTumorMicroenvironment #Hematopoiesis
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
What happens to the bone marrow after chemotherapy?
Very excited to share our new paper, featured on the cover of @BloodPortfolio, led by an incredibly talented student in my lab, Ximing Li! 🎉
ashpublications.org/blood/ar…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Excited to share our brand new work today @CellStemCell ...the first single-cell transcriptomic + epigenomic map of the human spleen in myelofibrosis. Using scRNA/CITE-seq + scATAC-seq from patient splenectomies, we show how the spleen becomes an aberrant niche for malignant extramedullary hematopoiesis. @NYUGSOM_Path @Perlmutter_CC
cell.com/cell-stem-cell/abst…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Understanding how AML spreads is the first step toward stopping it. This @NIH-funded study reveals how leukemia cells damage the lungs and identifies promising new therapeutic targets—exactly the kind of translational science that can improve patient care. go.nih.gov/f4mQIol
ALT Human cells with acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) in the pericardial fluid.
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Whoa! Ecstatic that our @iannisaifantis1 @nyulangone @IRSantPau Nature Immunology @NatImmunol article about how #leukemia invades the #lung is also in the 99th percentile of all tracked articles of a similar age in all journals according to Altmetric. Recognition to rising stars @VarvaraParask and @ZiyanLin2352 !
nature.com/articles/s41590-0…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Excited to share our new paper in @ScienceMagazine A subset of lung cancers drives cachexia, not through factors circulating in the blood, but through local lung sensory neurons. science.org/doi/10.1126/scie… big thanks to first authors Michael and @s_kotschi our collaborators
What if one of cancer’s most devastating side effects could be reversed?
Cancer cachexia is a debilitating wasting syndrome that affects many people with cancer, yet treatment options remain limited.
Team CANCAN has published new research in @ScienceMagazine that highlights a previously underappreciated driver of cancer cachexia: localised signals from tumours acting directly on sensory neurons.
This is a big step toward reframing cancer cachexia as not only a systemic metabolic condition, but also one shaped by tumour–nerve communication.
🎥 @ThalesPapaG, Co-Investigator on team CANCAN and team InteroCANCEption, explains the discovery and what it could mean for patients.
Read the full paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…
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Team CANCAN is funded by @CR_UK and @theNCI through Cancer Grand Challenges.
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Excited to share our study on immune interactions in extramedullary (lung) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) out today at @NatImmunol !! Acute respiratory failure frequently occurs in AML due to leukemia infiltration of the lungs. The question is why and what can we do to suppress it. @VarvaraParask in the lab started this work by mapping AML:stromal and AML:immune cell interactions using scRNA-Seq and Visium/Xenium @10xGenomics spatial tools.
nature.com/articles/s41590-0…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
🚨 Excited to share our new Nature Immunology @NatImmunol paper! 🫁
How does acute myeloid #leukemia hijack the #lung and trigger #respiratory failure?
We found #AML cells drive #pulmonary remodeling via Galectin-9 & IL-33 signaling. And we identified drug treatments that can reverse it! 💊
Huge thanks to an amazing teamwork co-led with @iannisaifantis1 @VarvaraParask @nyugrossman
nature.com/articles/s41590-0…
This study is the main focus of my postdoctoral work in the Aifantis lab.
Huge thanks to all co-authors and collaborators, especially @ZiyanLin2352 for the beautiful computational analyses, my mentor @iannisaifantis1 for his support, and @ManelEsteller & his team!
Also many thanks to @AkEisfeld @sanamloghavi @ThalesPapaG @artsinyc and everyone else who contributed @NYUGSOM_Path @nyugrossman !
#AifantisLab #Leukemia #TME
Key points:
• AML reshapes the lung into an inflammatory, damaged niche
• Galectin-9 and IL-33 signaling : key players within the AML lung TME
• Targeting these pathways reduces lung infiltration and systemic disease burden
• Glucocorticoids improve pulmonary function
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Thank you @_TanyaBondar_ for highlighting our paper. We are thrilled to see the work out today in Blood Cancer Discovery. For all our friends in the myeloid community, @BCD_AACR has made the full text available for free until Friday! Please download it today brnw.ch/21x2FHK
A huge thanks to @AkEisfeld @iannisaifantis1 @audrey_lasry @BettinaNadorp … working with you on this project was a pleasure and a privilege 🙏🏻💜
PS: it is not everyday that you get interviewed by BCD’s Abigail Cleveland in front of not one but 2 #HassanHajjaj pieces in the background … EPIC!!!
Stay tuned for the interview!!!
Bright stars @audrey_lasry @BettinaNadorp @sanamloghavi @iannisaifantis1 @AkEisfeld aligned in this truly stellar work on extramedullary AML, published today @BCD_AACR
doi.org/10.1158/2643-3230.BC…
and presented at the #Myeloid2026 in Cincinnati just now:
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Very excited to share our work on myeloid sarcoma, out today! Don’t miss @iannisaifantis1 presenting it this afternoon at #Myeloid2026
Read this just published article by Sanam Loghavi, Ann-Kathrin Eisfeld, and Iannis Aifantis, et al. “RAS Pathway Activation is a Hallmark of Myeloid Sarcoma.” #Myeloid2026 aacrjournals.org/bloodcancer… @sanamloghavi @iannisaifantis1 @AKEisfeld @audrey_lasry @BettinaNadorp #AMLsm
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Annual #AifantisLab photo...#2026. Amazing to work with great colleagues...in a great city and institution @nyugrossman ...visit our online sites to learn more on our work in leukemia, epigenetics and tumor microenvironment: aifantislab.com/ ; med.nyu.edu/faculty/iannis-a…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Excited to share our lab’s second paper published in @ScienceTM led by @spicyscientist and @Cuijuan3! 1/
science.org/eprint/W9M5JXKP5…
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
nature.com/articles/s41467-0… Our work is out!!!🎉🎉🎉
Varvara Paraskevopoulou retweeted
Welcome on X Dimitri Papaioannou (@DimitriosP60249) a physician-scientist affiliated with our lab @nyugrossman !!! And would like to share his latest paper on a protein-coding circular RNA controlling DNA damage in myeloid leukemia...!
ashpublications.org/blood/ar…
