Christos G. Gkogkas
Studies how protein synthesis is controlled in the brain; first author of the mouse study linking loss of the translational repressor 4E-BP2, downstream of mTORC1, to autism-like behaviour through increased neuroligin translation.
Research Director, Biomedical Research Institute, FORTH, Ioannina (since 2023; principal investigator since 2019) · Chancellor's Fellow, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences and Patrick Wild Centre (2013–2019) · postdoc with Nahum Sonenberg, McGill University (2009–2013) · PhD in molecular neuroscience, University of Edinburgh (2009)
Gkogkas Lab, Biomedical Research Institute, Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) (Ioannina, Greece) ↗ Lab lineagetrained under Nahum Sonenberg → ORCID0000-0001-6281-3419 ↗
Christos Gkogkas was first author of the 2013 Nature study (GKO2013) from Nahum Sonenberg's lab at McGill. Mice lacking 4E-BP2, the main brake on eIF4E in the brain downstream of mTORC1, showed autism-like behaviours and a higher ratio of excitatory to inhibitory synaptic activity. Of 24 autism-linked mRNAs tested, only the neuroligin mRNAs were translated more, and blocking eIF4E with the drug 4EGI-1 or reducing neuroligin 1 restored social behaviour. The work is in mice; mTOR itself was not manipulated, and the link to human autism is by analogy.
Gkogkas studied biology in Athens and did his MSc and PhD at the University of Edinburgh, then a postdoc with Nahum Sonenberg at McGill University (2009–2013). He returned to Edinburgh as a Chancellor's Fellow in 2013 and since 2019 has led a group at the FORTH Biomedical Research Institute in Ioannina, Greece, which studies translational control in the brain using brain organoids and rodent disease models.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | A | Autism-related deficits via dysregulated eIF4E-dependent translational control GKO2013 First author: loss of 4E-BP2 increases neuroligin translation and causes autism-like behaviour in mice, reversed by blocking eIF4E. |
Co-authors in the Atlas
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Christos G. Gkogkas.
- Davide Ruggero Showed that oncogenic mTOR signalling reprograms which mRNAs are translated, and that tumours become addicted to this through the 4E-BP–eIF4E axis. His UCSF lab found that mTOR-driven translation of a specific set of mRNAs promotes prostate cancer invasion and metastasis
- Nahum Sonenberg Co-discovered the mRNA cap-binding protein eIF4E and the 4E-BP proteins that restrain it, and showed how mTOR releases this brake to control protein synthesis
Every researcher with a profile →
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