Dr. Sofia Nikoleta Economidou

Health Sciences

Sofia N. Economidou is a Teaching and Research Faculty Member in Pharmaceutical Technology in the Department of Health Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, at UNIC Athens. Her interdisciplinary background combines mechanical and biomedical engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, advanced manufacturing technologies, medical device development, and computational methods. She has more than 12 years of research experience across academic institutions, research centres, and industry.

Dr Economidou holds a Diploma in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Patras, with a specialisation in Applied Mechanics, Materials Technology, and Biomechanics. She obtained a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Kent, where her doctoral research focused on the design and development of 3D-printed microneedles for transdermal drug delivery. Her research involved advanced additive manufacturing techniques, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), mechanical, in vitro, and in vivo characterisation, as well as applications in diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis.

She subsequently received a UKRI–BBSRC Innovation Placement Mobility Grant through the Flexible Talent Mobility Account to conduct postdoctoral research at University College London in collaboration with Biosensors Beyond Borders Ltd. She worked on the development and commercialisation of medical devices for point-of-care diagnostics. Her work included prototype fabrication, in vitro testing, clinical trial preparation, quality management systems, the preparation of technical documentation for CE marking, and the preparation of FDA 510(k) submissions.

She continued her postdoctoral research at the National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, focusing on the optimisation of architectural structures using the finite element method and machine learning. She also worked as an AI Research Engineer at Biological Lattice Industries Corp., developing AI agents, workflow automation systems, and computational tools for applications in pharmaceuticals and the life sciences.

Her academic work includes publications in scientific journals such as Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Additive Manufacturing, Molecular Pharmaceutics, Micromachines, and the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. Several of these publications focus on 3D-printed microneedles and transdermal drug delivery. She is also an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and has teaching experience at the University of Kent and the University of Piraeus, as well as in professional education programmes for pharmaceutical scientists and academics.

Her research interests focus on pharmaceutical technology, 3D printing, microneedle-based drug delivery systems, biomaterials, medical devices, computational design, and data-driven optimisation. In recent years, her research has expanded into artificial intelligence and machine-learning-assisted approaches for pharmaceutical and biomechanical applications. Dr Economidou’s primary professional ambition is to contribute to the translation and application of engineering technologies in practical pharmaceutical and healthcare settings, bridging fundamental research, product development, regulatory requirements, and emerging AI-based technologies.