Harvard Catalyst Profiles

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece	BSc	07/2013	Sports Science
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece	MSc	07/2016	Muscle Biology in Exercise Science
Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia	PhD	09/2021	Muscle Biology in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
University of Arkansas, Arkansas, USA	Post Doc	06/2024	Muscle Biology in Cancer Cachexia

Stavroula Tsitkanou (Roula for short) is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Dr. Rutkove laboratory (Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School) from September 2024. Her research interests are mainly related to muscle biology and exercise physiology, in alignment with pathology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other compromised skeletal muscle conditions. Roula is currently working on understanding the paradoxical relationship of exercise and ALS, as well as the contribution of skeletal muscle in ALS pathogenesis. Before joining the Dr. Rutkove laboratory, Roula was working as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Cachexia Research Laboratory (University of Arkansas) for 2.5 years, investigating potential mitochondrial-targeted therapeutics for cancer cachexia. Roula graduated her PhD from Deakin University (Australia) in 2021, investigating potential therapeutic interventions for ALS using microRNA technologies and exercise training. Aside from her 8-year experience in animal studies, Roula was also working during her MSc (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece) in human studies related to acute and long-term exercise-induced skeletal muscle adaptations. Her passion about exercise physiology and muscle biology was sparkled from when she was track-and-field athlete in Greece (third place in Greek National Championship Under 23 in 3km steeplechase in 2012) endeavoring to understand her own athletic performance and improvement.

• Skeletal Muscle
• Exercise
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• Electrophysiology
• Cachexia