He completed his university studies at the Agricultural University of Athens (1988) and then received his PhD (1988-1992) from the same institution (General and Agricultural Microbiology Lab) and the University of Bordeaux - INRA (Molecular Genetics Laboratory) with postgraduate scholarships from the SSF and the European Union. Later, he was post-doctoral fellow of Royal Society at the University of Manchester (UK), School of Biological Sciences (1994), and then a research associate at the Agricultural University of Athens (1995). During 1996-2009 he worked as a researcher at the National Agricultural Research Foundation in Greece, and was director of the Institute for nine years (1997-2006). In March 2008, he was elected Assistant Professor in the laboratory "Agricultural Microbiology –Mycology” in AUA, where he works from October 2009.

He is evaluator of projects funded at national and European level and has been involved (as coordinator or senior researcher) in over 30 funded competitive (national or international) research projects over the last 15 years.

He is owner and co-owner of two patents on the biological cultivation of edible mushrooms and the biological control of plant pathogens, respectively.

He has more than 30 publications in international scientific journals and has published a total of more than 120 papers in scientific journals, conference proceedings and book chapters.

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Ecology, systematics, phylogeny and speciation of mushrooms, fungi, biodiversity, conservation of macromycetes, microorganisms biotechnology: mushroom farming and cultivation, biotransformation / biodegradation of agro-industrial waste and other environmental pollutants, composting of lignocellulosic residues using selected microorganisms (p .g. white-rot fungi), composting technologies and the effect of compost on plant growth and soil suppressiveness - etc. pathogens.