PhD Student
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Chrystalla Protopapa is a PhD student at the University of Athens. She is a pharmacist who graduated from the University of Athens and completed her MSc in Pharmaceutical Formulation and Entrepreneurship at University College London (UCL). During her time at UCL, she was awarded a one-year entrepreneurial scholarship by the Clinton Global Initiative and became a fellow of the Initiative. For her MSc dissertation, she explored a new scientific field: the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) in the selection of excipients for biologics formulations.
In 2022, she began her PhD titled “Design and Preparation of Solid Dosage Forms of Bioactive Compounds–Application of AI/ML in the Prediction of Dissolution Profiles” In recognition of her research potential, she was awarded a prestigious PhD scholarship from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, ranking first nationwide.
Alongside her PhD research, Chrystalla collaborated with leading pharmaceutical companies in Greece on the development of generic drugs. Her research output includes 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She also participated in the European research program “Health Hub”, a major initiative focused on the digitization of healthcare through AI. During her PhD, she completed visiting research placements in leading laboratories across the UK and Italy, where she trained in advanced 3D printing techniques and thermodynamic analysis, methods she later implemented in her home lab in Greece. Her research interests focus on the application of various 3D printing techniques and hot-melt extrusion for the development of oral dosage forms. She is also interested in tablet preparation using direct compression, as well as the integration of AI/ML in pharmaceutical formulation.
Chrystalla has also made significant contributions to the wider scientific community, participating in 33 international conferences and delivering both oral and poster presentations. Several of her works have received awards for best abstract and poster.