Dr. Latsoudis received her bachelor degree in Clinical Sciences (B.Sc.) from King’s
College, University of London. She carried on with postgraduate specialized studies in
Neurosciences and Genetics of Neurodegenerative Diseases receiving the Masters (M.Sc.)
and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degrees, respectively, from the Institute of Psychiatry,
affiliated member of King’s College University of London. Since 2004, Dr. Latsoudis is a
post-doctorate fellow in the laboratory of Molecular Basis of Neurological Disorders, headed
by Andreas Plaitakis, Professor of Neurology at the Medical School of University of Crete.
During this time, she supervised numerous of undergraduate and postgraduate students from
the Schools of Biology and Medicine, during the completion of their theses for the fulfillment
of the requirements for their B.Sc. in Biology and M.Sc. of Neurosciences degrees,
respectively. She became adjunct lecturer of Human Genetics at the Biology School during
2006 and 2009. Her teaching responsibilities also includes teaching of Human Biology and
Genetics of Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Postgraduate programs of “M.Sc. in
Neurosciences”, “M.Sc. in Optics and Vision”, and “M.Sc. in Cellular and Genetic Aetiology,
Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Disease” at the Medical School of University of Crete.
During her specialized studies in Neurosciences, Dr Latsoudis, together with Prof.
Leigh’s group, investigated the neuronal numerical density in extra motor cortical areas of
Motor Neurone Disease patients using the optical dissector (Latsoudis et al., 1999). Principal
areas of research interest during her PhD and post-doctorate studies include molecular and
cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s disease, ataxias,
Creutzfeldt-Jakob, etc). Using the tools of molecular biology and genetics, Dr. Latsoudis is
trying to detect genetic factors and elucidate their aetiopahogenic role in the development and
progression of human neurodegenerative diseases. Such examples include Glutathione-Stransferase A4 (Latsoudis et al., 2001), Parkin (Peng et al., 2003) and LRRK2 (Spanaki and
Latsoudis et al., 2006) genes in Parkinson’s disease, ROBO3 gene in Horizontal Gaze Palsy
and Progressive Scoliosis (Amoiridis et al., 2006) and PRNP gene in Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (Kotta et al., 2006).
In order to identify the genes involved in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis, a genome
wide scan was performed using 411 genetic markers spanning the entire genome every 10 cM
genetic distance in 300 patients and 800 controls from the island of Crete. Genetic Linkage
Analysis using 15 selected informative pedigrees revealed evidence for linkage of the disease
on a chromosomal locus with the two-point Lod Score at 4.1 under an autosomal dominant
model of inheritance. However, fine LD mapping of the linked region using additional single
nucleotide polymorphisms and microsatellite markers and sequencing of the most promising
candidate genes located within the detected region did not reveal a mutation or a rare
polymorphism that could account for the development of PD in these patients.
In a further study, Dr. Latsoudis tried to elucidate the role of mitochondrial
haplogroups in the development of PD using patients and controls from the island of Crete
(Latsoudis et al.,2008). The results of this study were consistent with the possibility that the
combination of common mtSNPs (present in ≥5% in the general population) can decrease the
chance of developing PD, but this effect was minor in the Cretan population. Dr. Latsoudis is
also involved in the detection of mutations and/or rare polymorphism of glutamate
dehydrogenase 2 (GLUD2) as genetic risk factors for the development of neurodegenerative
diseases, including PD, ALS, ataxias, etc. Recently, Prof. Plaitakis’ group reported that a
gain-of–function variation in GLUD2-derived isoenzyme accelerates (6-13 years) the
commencement of PD in three distinct populations from Greece and United States (Plaitakis
et al., 2010). This effect is disease-specific since it was not replicated in a cohort of ALS
patients from Crete and United Kingdom (collaboration of Dr. Latsoudis with Prof. AlChalabi and Prof. Shaw from Institute of Psychiatry of University of London).
Currently Dr. Latsoudis, together with other members of Prof. Plaitakis’ team (Dr.
Zaganas and Dr. Spanaki), aims to elucidate the expression pattern of hGDH2, coded by
GLUD2 gene, in human peripheral tissues as well as in cell lines of different types of cancer.