Spyros CharonisEducationPhD, University of ManchesterBS, Imperial College LondonSpecialty/FocusBioinformaticsVaccinesHuman Leukocyte AntigenImmunogeneticsComputational BiologyPublicationsTsilibary EC, Charonis S, & Georgopoulos AP (2021, January) Vaccines for Influenza Vaccines 9(1) 47 10.3390/vaccines9010047 James L, Tsilibary EC, Charonis S, & Georgopoulos AP (2020, November) Commentary: COVID-19 and the Path to Immunity Journal of Immunological Sciences 4(4) 31-33 Charonis S, Tsilibary EC, & Georgopoulos AP (2020, November) SARS-CoV-2 Virus and HLA Class II: Investigation in silico of Binding Affinities for COVID-19 Protection and Vaccine Development Journal of Immunological Sciences 4(4) 12-23 Charonis S, James L, & Georgopoulos AP (2020, July) In silico assessment of binding affinities of three dementia-protective 2 HLA alleles to nine human herpes virus 3 antigens Current Research in Translational Medicine in press 10.1016/j.retram.2020.06.002 Charonis S, James L, & Georgopoulos AP (2019, October) In Silico Analysis of the Binding Affinities of Antigenic Epitopes of Vaccines Administered to Gulf War Veterans to Specific Human Leukocyte AntigenHuman Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)Genes that are located in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of chromosome 6 and play a central role in immune recognition. Most investigations of association of HLA to various diseases have focused on evaluating HLA allele frequencies in diseases of interest, as compared to the general, healthy population. Such studies have demonstrated HLA involvement with cancer, autoimmune, and in- fectious diseases. HLA Class I proteins (HLA-A, B, C) are expressed on all nucleated cells and present peptides from endogenous proteins to cytotoxic T lymphocytes engaged in immune surveillance. HLA Class II proteins (HLA-DRB1, DRB3/4/5, DQB1, DPB1) are expressed on antigen-presenting cells and present peptides derived from exogenous proteins to CD4+helper T cells. A previous study of Gulf War syndrome in 27 veterans found that HLA DRB1*15 was more prevalent in cases than controls with an odds ratio of 1.66, although this association was not statistically significant. Class II Alleles Protective for Gulf War IllnessGulf War Illness (GWI)Shortly after the Gulf War (1990^aEUR"91), veterans started to report a variety of health problems that began during, or soon after returning from, deployment, prompting investigation into the epidemiology and etiology of the complaints. Those investigations revealed that diffuse symptoms such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, mood and neurocognitive complaints, gastrointestinal problems, and rashes were most commonly reported. The constellation of symptoms, now commonly referred to as Gulf War Illness (GWI), has affected a substantial number of Gulf War veterans. Several population-based studies have demonstrated that these symptoms occur at significantly higher rates in deployed Gulf War veterans relative to their nondeployed peers and other veterans, raising the issue about possible in-theater exposures and stress as contributing factors. However, these symptoms are also present in non-deployed military personnel, leading some to suspect other causes, including reactions to vaccine adjuvants. In summary, GWI is now a recognized constellation of symptoms of unclear etiology, also co-occurring with psychiatric disorders. Journal of Neurology & Neuromedicine 4(5) 23-30 Hebditch M, Carballo-Amador MA, Charonis S, Curtis R, & Warwicker J (2017, October) Protein-Sol: a web tool for predicting protein solubility from sequence Bioinformatics 33(19) 3098-3100 10.1093/bioinformatics/btx345 Charonis S (2016, January) An integrative and predicitve model for the influence of protein sequence, structure and excipients on aggregation propensity University of Manchester 1-220 Warwicker J, Charonis S, & Curtis RA (2013, November) Lysine and Arginine Content of Proteins: Computational Analysis Suggests a New Tool for Solubility Design Molecular Pharmaceutics 11(1) 294-303 10.1021/mp4004749 Verouti SN, Tsilibary EC, Demopoulos CA, Charonis AS, Charonis S, & Drossopoulou GI (2013, April) Vitamin D Receptor Activators Upregulate and Rescue Podocalyxin Expression in High Glucose-Treated Human Podocytes Experimental Nephrology 122(1-2) 10.1159/000346562 Charonis S (2013, January) Computational Studies of Charge in G Protein Coupled Receptors University of Manchester 1-104