EREVNITIKO KENTRO VIOIATRIKON EPISTIMON ALEXANDROS FLEMINGK

Their core work

The Alexander Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center is Greece's premier life sciences research institute, conducting fundamental and translational research in molecular biology, genetics, and biomedicine. Their core work spans mouse disease models and phenotyping, epigenetics, protein misfolding diseases, and metagenomics — bridging basic discovery with drug development. They also serve as a Greek node in pan-European research infrastructures like ELIXIR and EOSC, contributing to life science data management and FAIR data standards across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2015–2017), Fleming focused on foundational life science capabilities: mouse phenotyping infrastructure, bioinformatics platforms, and basic epigenetics research. From 2019 onward, a clear shift emerged toward translational applications — drug discovery for protein misfolding diseases, deep learning for metagenomics, and cloud-based data sharing through EOSC. The center has evolved from primarily supporting European research infrastructure to actively leading projects that combine computational methods with therapeutic discovery.

Fleming is moving from infrastructure support toward leading computationally-driven translational research, making them an increasingly valuable partner for drug discovery and AI-in-biology consortia.

How they like to work

Fleming operates as both a leader and a team player — coordinating exactly half their projects (5 of 10), including their highest-funded work. As a participant, they join large pan-European infrastructure consortia (ELIXIR, EOSC-Life) with dozens of partners, while as a coordinator they run focused, smaller-scale research projects. With 151 unique partners across 26 countries, they maintain an exceptionally broad network for their size, suggesting they are well-connected and trusted across European research communities.

Fleming has collaborated with 151 unique partners across 26 countries, giving them one of the broadest networks among Greek research centers. Their infrastructure participation (ELIXIR, EOSC, INFRAFRONTIER) connects them to nearly every major life science institution in Europe.

What sets them apart

Fleming combines wet-lab biomedical expertise (mouse models, epigenetics, synthetic biology) with strong computational and data science capabilities — a rare dual strength in a single Greek institution. Their embedded role in three major European research infrastructures (ELIXIR, EOSC, INFRAFRONTIER) gives them direct access to shared data, tools, and networks that most research centers lack. For consortium builders, Fleming offers a credible Greek partner that can contribute both experimental biology and bioinformatics to multi-disciplinary projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ProMiDis
  Their largest funded project (EUR 877K) as coordinator, tackling protein misfolding diseases with synthetic biology and cyclic peptides — a direct path to therapeutic applications.
• FastBio
  Highest single grant (EUR 1.5M ERC), running until 2025, using genomics and systems biology to study molecular signatures — signals strong individual research excellence.
• ELIXIR-CONVERGE
  Positions Fleming at the center of Europe's FAIR data movement for life sciences, contributing to standards that will shape how biological data is managed continent-wide.