Leondios G. Kostrikis
Leondios G. Kostrikis | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Cypriot |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | University of Cyprus |
Leondios G. Kostrikis (born 1964) is a Cypriot biochemist from Cyprus and a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cyprus. In 2022, he attracted media attention with the news of having found a "deltacron" Coronavirus variant. This was subsequently debunked as a possible lab error.
Early life and education[edit]
Kostrikis was born in Cyprus.[1] He received his scientific education in biochemistry from New York University. In 1987, he received his B.Sc. degree, supported by a Fulbright Scholarship. In 1993, he received his Ph.D.[1]
Career[edit]
He moved to Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (ADARC) to do HIV research. In 1999, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Rockefeller University.[1] In 2003, he returned to Cyprus. He became Head of Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology and Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cyprus.[1]
Spurious SARS-CoV-2 Deltacron hybrid variant[edit]
Following the emergence of COVID-19 Omicron variant, Kostrikis announced in January 2022 in local TV[2] that his Cypriot health research team in Nicosia had found a new COVID-19 variant dubbing it "Deltacron".[3] Unfortunately, indiscriminate news of the COVID-19 hybrid variant dubbed "Deltacron" spread quickly in mainstream media.[4][5] [6] [7]
Maria Van Kerkhove (head of W.H.O.'s COVID-19 Technical Leader), Richard Neher (head of Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and associate professor of University of Basel), and other scientists, challenged this announcement, saying a lab mistake was a more probable explanation for Cyprus lab's finding.[8]Most experts believe it was likely due to the result of a lab error, which is possible lab contamination involving Omicron fragments in a Delta specimen. Since then, many virologists have argued that it is most likely the result of a lab contamination, which purportedly shares specific properties with two different strains.[9][10]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Leondios G. Kostrikis, Ph.D." Retrieved 2022-01-11.
- ^ Dr. Christian Kretschmer (Arzt) (31 January 2022). "Supervariante Deltakron gibt es nicht – Fehler durch Kontamination". Gelbe Liste (in German).
- ^ Georgiou, Georgios (January 8, 2022). "Cyprus Finds Covid-19 Infections That Combine Delta and Omicron". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Lee, Bruce Y. (March 12, 2022). "New 'Deltacron' Covid-19 Coronavirus Variant Is A Recombinant Of Delta And Omicron". Forbes. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Snider, Mike (March 10, 2022). "There may be a new COVID variant, Deltacron. Here's what we know about it". USA Today. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Khan, Amir (January 17, 2022). "'Deltacron': Should we worry about new COVID-19 variants merging?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Zimmer, Carl (March 11, 2022). "New 'Deltacron' Variant Is Rare and Similar to Omicron, Experts Say". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Kreier, Freda (January 21, 2022). "Deltacron: the story of the variant that wasn't". Nature. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Lapid, Nancy (March 9, 2022). "Variant that combines Delta and Omicron identified; dogs sniff out virus with high accuracy". Reuters. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Gubernator, Sebastian (2022-01-10). "Experten halten angeblichen "Demikron"-Nachweis für Laborfehler" (in German). Die Welt, cited via MSN. Retrieved 2022-01-11. Translation: Experts say the "Demikron" finding is a lab mistake