Dimitrios Vatakis, Ph.D., is a program director in the Division of Genetics, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. He administers research grants in the areas of chromosome and nuclear structure, mRNA metabolism and translational control, and the mechanics of protein synthesis.
Prior to joining NIGMS, Vatakis was a scientific review officer at The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Before NIH, he was an assistant professor in hematology and oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and director of the UCLA/Centers for AIDS Research Virology Core Laboratory. His research program focused on the impact of drug use on HIV infection and pathogenesis as well as the impact of chronic HIV infection on immune function.
Vatakis received his B.S. from the University of California, Irvine, and his Ph.D. in molecular microbiology and immunology from the University of Southern California. He conducted postdoctoral research studying the mechanisms of HIV infection in quiescent CD4 T cells as well as engineering the immune system to target melanoma at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
To contact Vatakis, send email to dimitrios.vatakis@nih.gov.
If you’re a reporter wishing to interview Vatakis, contact the NIGMS Communications and Public Liaison Branch.
