1945 - 2008

Ο Δρ. Νίκος Γεωργίου Οικονομάκος, διεθνώς αναγνωρισμένος επιστήμονας (Χημικός) γεννήθηκε στις 13 Δεκεμβρίου 1945 στις Κροκεές Λακωνίας. Αποφοίτησε αριστούχος από το Δημοτικό σχολείο και το Γυμνάσιο ( Γυμνάσιο -Λύκειο) Κροκεών, και συνέχισε τις σπουδές του με την εισαγωγή του στο πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών. Ο σεμνός και τίμιος συμπολίτης μας απεβίωσε εντελώς απρόσμενα την 1 η Σεπτεμβρίου 2008 και ενταφιάστηκε στο 3 ο νεκροταφείο ζωγράφου της Αθήνας. Με την σύζυγό του Χρυσούλα Λουκογιαννάκη, απέκτησαν δύο παιδιά, την Ιωάννα και τον Γιώργο.
Το παρακάτω βιογραφικό σημείωμα είναι παρμένο από την ιστοσελίδα του Ινστιτούτου Οργανικής και Φαρμακευτικής Χημείας Αθηνών του οποίου και διατελούσε διευθυντής.

Βιογραφικό Σημείωμα
Ιούνιος 2005

Ο Δρ. Ν.Γ. Οικονομάκος είναι Διευθυντής του ΙΟΦΧ και Επιστημονικός Υπεύθυνος της Ομάδος Δομικής Βιολογίας και Χημείας. Είναι πτυχιούχος Χημείας (1970) και διδάκτωρ Χημείας (1977) του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών και έχει διατελέσει Research Fellow στο Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics , University of Oxford (1983-1984, 1986-1987, 1994-1995). Τομείς εξειδίκευσης: Δομική Βιολογία, Κατευθυνόμενος-από τη δομή-σχεδιασμός φαρμάκων, Κρυσταλλογραφία Πρωτεϊνών, Ενζυμα/Βιοχημεία. Η έρευνα που διεξάγεται από την Ομάδα Δομικής Βιολογίας και Χημείας στοχεύει κυρίως στην κατανόηση της σχέσης δομής/δράσης ενζύμων που εμπλέκονται στο μεταβολισμό του γλυκογόνου-φωσφορυλάσης γλυκογόνου και κινάσης της φωσφορυλάσης γλυκογόνου, ριβονουκλεασών της οικογενείας της πανκρεατικής ριβονουκλεάσης Α, των εξαρτώμενων από ασβέστιο/καλμοντουλίνη πρωτεϊνικών κινασών σερίνης/ θρεονίνης, του νικοτινικού υποδοχέα της ακετυλοχολίνης, λεκτινών που εμπλέκονται στις κυτταρικές αλληλεπιδράσεις, των ανασυνδυασμένων πρωτεϊνών Τ AFs 9, της φωσφοενολοπυροσταφυλικής καρβοξυ-κινάσης, της γλυκοκινάσης, ξυλανασών F 10 και F 11 και εστερασών Α και Β του φερουλικού οξέος. Απώτερος στόχος της έρευνας είναι η αξιοποίηση της πληροφορίας, που προέρχεται από τον προσδιορισμό της 3 D δομής των πρωτεϊνικών μακρομορίων, για την κατανόηση της ενζυμικής κατάλυσης/αναστολής, της μοριακής αναγνώρισης υποστρωμάτων/αναστολέων και τον κατευθυνόμενο-από τη δομή-σχεδιασμό μικρών μορίων, μιας o ρθολογιστικής μοριακής προσέγγισης, που μπορεί να οδηγήσει στην ανάπτυξη υπογλυκαιμικών, αντιαγγειογενετικών, αντιφλεγμονωδών, αντιικών και ογκοκατασταλτικών φαρμάκων, φαρμάκων έναντι νόσων όπως Parkinson , Alzheimer και της σχιζοφρένειας, καθώς επίσης και στην ανάπτυξη εξειδικευμένων ενώσεων έναντι του φυτοπαθογόνου μικροοργανισμού Fusarium oxysporum . Η εμπειρία του Δρ . Ν . Γ . Οικονομάκου με τη φωσφορυλάση γλυκογόνου και την κινάση της φωσφορυλάσης γλυκογόνου τεκμηριώνεται στα διδακτικά πανεπιστημιακά βιβλία Βιοχημείας , όπως π . χ . John R. Helliwell Macromolecular crystallography with synchrotron radiation , Cambridge University Press (1992), Donald Voet and Judith G. Voet Biochemistry , 2nd edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc, New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore, 1995, Lubert Stryer's Biochemistry (1996), Nicholas C. Price and Lewis Stevens Fundamentals of Enzymology , 3 rd edition, Oxford University Press (1999), και Alan Fersht Structure and Mechanism in Protein Science , A Guide to Enzyme Catalysis and Protein Folding, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York (1999), David E. Metzler's Biochemistry, The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells , 2 nd edition, Volume 1, Academic Press (2001), and Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko and Lubert Stryer's Biochemistry , 5 th edition, Interational edition, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York (2002), όπου περιγράφεται το σημερινό επίπεδο γνώσεων καθώς έχει διαμορφωθεί από τα επιστημονικά επιτεύγματα της Καθ . Dame Louise N. Johnson (Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford) και του ιδίου. Είναι (1983- σήμερα ), χρήστης συγχροτρονικής ακτινοβολίας ακτίνων Χ (European Synchrotron Radiation Sources: SRS Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, UK, Sinchrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy, EMBL, Hamburg-Outstation, DESY, ESRF, Grenoble, France) μέσω αιτήσεων χρηματοδότησης και συμμετέχει στο Ευρωπαϊκό Δίκτυο Δομικής Βιολογίας . Εχει δημοσιεύσει περισσότερες από 100 εργασίες σε διεθνή περιοδικά με κριτές, άρθρα ανασκόπησης και θεματικές ενότητες σε βιβλία και έχει επιβλέψει 9 διδακτορικές διατριβές, 4 MSc και μεταπτυχιακά διπλώματα και 24 διπλωματικές εργασίες. Οι έρευνες της Ομάδας Δομικής Βιολογίας και Χημείας χρηματοδοτούνται από ανταγωνιστικά προγράμματα της ΓΓΕΤ (ΠΕΝΕΔ, ΕΝΤΕΡ, ΔΙΑΚΡΑΤΙΚΑ, κ.ά.), ΕΕ ( SCIENCE , HUMAN CAPITAL AND MOBILITY , BIOMED , BIOTECHNOLOGY , MARIE CURIE , HPRN ), Οργανισμούς-Πανεπιστήμια ( Wellcome Trust , Royal Society , Medical Research Council , FEBS , EMBO , University of Dundee ) και Μεγάλες Φαρμακευτικές Εταιρείες ( Novo Nordisk A / S , Bagsvaerd , Denmark , Aventis Pharma Deutschland GmbH , Frankfurt am Main , Germany , AstraZeneca , Macclesfield , UK , Pfizer Inc ., Groton , USA ).

Πρόσφατες δημοσιεύσεις

Oikonomakos, N.G., Schnier, J.B., Zographos, S.E., Skamnaki, V.T., Tsitsanou, K.E., and Johnson, L.N. (2000). Flavopiridol inhibits glycogen phosphorylase by binding at the inhibitor site. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 34566-34573. {PDB code: 1C8K }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Skamnaki, V.T., Tsitsanou, K.E., Gavalas, N.G., and Johnson, L.N. (2000). A new allosteric site in glycogen phosphorylase b as a target for drug interactions. Structure 8, 575-584. {PDB code: 1C50 }

Kontou, M., Leonidas, D.D., Vatzaki, E.H., Acharya, K.R., Mamalaki, A., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Tzartos, S.J. (2000). The crystal structure of a Fab fragment of a rat monoclonal antibody against the main immunogenic region of the human muscle acetylcholine receptor. Eur. J. Biochem. 267, 2389-2396. {PDB code: 1C5D }

Tsitsanou, K.E., Skamnaki, V.T., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2000). Structural basis of the synergistic inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase a by caffeine and a potential antidiabetic drug. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 384, 245-254. {PDB code: 1C8L }

Skamnaki, V.T., Oikonomakos, N.G. (2000). Kinetic characterization of the double mutant R148A/E182S of glycogen phosphorylase kinase catalytic subunit: the role of the activation loop. J. Protein Chem. 19, 499-505.

Poulas K, Eliopoulos E., Vatzaki E., Navaza J., Kontou M., Oikonomakos N., Acharya K.R., Tzartos S.J. (2001). Crystal structure of Fab198, an efficient protector of the acetylcholine receptor against myasthenogenic antibodies. Eur. J. Biochem., 268, 3685-93. {PDB code: 1FN4 }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Skamnaki, V.T., Osz, E., Szilagyi, L., Somsak, L., Docsa, T., Toth, B. and Gergely, P. (2002). Kinetic and crystallographic studies of glucopyranosylidene spirothiohydantoin binding to glycogen phosphorylase b. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 10, 261-268. {PDB code: 1HLF }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Zographos, S.E., Skamnaki, V.T. and Archontis, G. (2002). The 1.76 A resolution crystal structure of glycogen phosphorylase b complexed with glucose, and CP320626, a potential antidiabetic drug. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 10, 1313-1319. {PDB code: 1H5U }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M., Zographos, S.E., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Somsak, L., Nagy, V., Praly, J.P., Docsa, T., Toth, B. and Gergely, P. (2002). Binding of N-acetyl-N'-beta-D-glucopyranosyl urea and N-benzoyl -N'-beta-D-glucopyranosyl urea to glycogen phosphorylase b: kinetic and crystallographic studies. Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 1684-1696. {PDB codes: 1K06 , 1K08 , 1KTI } Cover Story

Cook, A., Lowe, E.D., Chrysina, E.D., Skamnaki, V.T. Oikonomakos, N.G. and Johnson, L.N. (2002). Structural studies of Phospho-CDK2/Cyclin A bound to nitrate, a transition state analogue: Implications for the protein kinase mechanism. Biochemistry 41, 7301-7311. {PDB code: 1GY3 }

Oikonomakos, N.G. (2002). Glycogen phosphorylase as a molecular target for type 2 diabetes therapy. Curr Protein Pept Sci. 3, 561-586 . Cover Story

Oikonomakos N.G, Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N. and Leonidas, D.D. (2003) Crystal structure of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase a in complex with a potential hypoglycaemic drug at 2.0 A resolution. (2003) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1647, 325-332 . {PDB codes: 1LWN , 1LWO }

Leonidas, D.D., Swamy, B.M., Bhat, A.G., Inamdar, S.R., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Chrysina, E.D., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2003) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of Sclerotium rolfssii lectin. Acta Cryst. D59, 363-365 .

Chrysina, E.D., Oikonomakos, N.G., Zographos, S.E., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Kovacs, L., Docsa, T., Gergely, P., and Somsak L. (2003) Crystallographic studies on alpha- and beta-D-glucopyranosyl formamide analogues, inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase. Biocatal. & Biotransfor. 21, 233-242. {PDB codes: 1P4G, 1P4H, 1P4J}

Pinotsis, N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Mavridis, I.M. (2003). The binding of beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins to glycogen phosphorylase b: kinetic and crystallographic studies. Protein Sci. 12, 1914-1924 . Cover Story {PDB codes: 1P2G , 1P29 , 1P2D , 1P2B }

Leonidas, D.D., Chabali, G.B., Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Oikonomakos, N.G., Vlassi, M., Frankling, C. and Acharya, K.R. (2003). High resolution crystal structures of Ribonuclease A complexed with adenylic and uridylic nucleotide inhibitors. Implications for structure-based design of ribonucleolytic inhibitors. Protein Sci. 12, 2559-2574. Cover story {PDB codes: 1O0H , 1O0N , 1O0F , 1O0O }

Kosmopoulou, M.N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Bischler, N., Eisenbrand, G., Sakarellos, C.E., Pauptit, R., Oikonomakos, N.G. (2004). Binding of the potential antitumour agent indirubin-5-sulphonate at the inhibitor site of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. Eur. J. Biochem. 271, 2280-2290. {PDB codes: 1UZU )

Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Kardakaris, R., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Kannan, T., Loganathan, T., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Binding of b -D-glucopyranosyl bismethoxyphosphoramidate to glycogen phosphorylase b. Kinetic and crystallographic studies. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 13, 765-772 . {PDB code: 1XC7}

Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Tiraidis, C., Kardakaris, R., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Hadady, Z., Somsak, L., Docsa, T., Gergely, P., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005). Kinetic and crystallographic studies on 2-( b -D-glucopyranosyl)-5-methyl-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole, -benzothiazole, and -benzimidazole, inhibitors of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. Evidence for a new binding site. Protein Sci. 14, 873-88 8. {PDB codes: 1XL0, 1XL1, 1XKX}

Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Chrysina, E.D., Leonidas, D.D., Kostas, I.D., Wendt, K.U., Klabunde, T., and Defossa, E. (2005) Crystallographic studies on acyl ureas, a new class of glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors, as potential antidiabetic drugs. Protein Sci. , in press. {PDB codes: 1WUT, 1WVX, 1WV0, 1WV1}

Watson, K.A., Chrysina, E.D., Tsitsanou K.E., Zographos, S.E., Gregoriou, M., Archontis, G., Fleet, G.W.J., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Kinetic and crystallographic studies of glucopyranose spirohydantoin and glucopyranosylamine analogues inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics , in press. {PDB codes: 1GGN, 1FTQ, 1FTW, 1FTY, 1FU4, 1FU7, 1FU8, 1P4H, 1FS4, 1B4D, 1GG8, 2PRJ}

Archontis, G., Watson, K.A., Xie, Q., Andreou, G., Chrysina, E.D., Zographos, S.E., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Karplus, M. (2005) Molecular recognition and relative binding of glucopyranose spirohydantoin analogues to glycogen phosphorylase: a free energy perturbation study. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics , in press.

Hatzopoulos, G.N., Leonidas, D.D., Kardakaris, R., Kobe, J., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) The binding of IMP to ribonuclease A. FEBS Journal , in press.

Kosmopoulou, M.N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Eisenbrand, G., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Indirubin-3'-aminooxy-acetate inhibits glycogen phosphorylase by binding at the inhibitor and the allosteric site. Broad specificities of the two sites. Letters in Drug Design & Discovery, in press. {PDB code: 1Z62}

Klabunde, T., Wendt, K.U., Kadereit, D., Brachvogel, V., Burger, H.-J., Herling, A.W., Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Schmoll, D., Sarubbi, E., von Roedern, E., Schonafinger, K., and Defossa, E. (2005). Acyl Ureas as Human Liver Glycogen Phosphorylase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. J. Med. Chem., in press.

 

Dr Nikos G. Oikonomakos, internationally recognized scientist (Chemist) was born on December 13, 1945 in Krokees (Krokeai) Laconia Greece. He attended elementary, middle and high school in Krokees from where he graduated with great honors and continued his education at the university Athens. Nikos, a modest and honest Krokeati passed away suddenly on September 1, 2008 and was buried in the 3rd cemetery of the suburb "Zografos" in Athens. With his spouse Chrysoyla Loykogiannakis, they had two children, Ioanna and Giorgos. The following biographical note is taken from the web page of the Institute Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Athens Greece where he was serving as director.

Curriculum Vitae
June 2005

Dr. Nikos G. Oikonomakos is the Director of the Institute of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (IOPC) of the National Hellenic Research Foundation and Head of the Structural Biology and Chemistry Group (SBCG). Diploma in Chemistry (1970), Doctorate in Chemistry (1977), University of Athens, Greece. Research Fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (1983-1984, 1986-1987, 1994-1995). Main fields of specialization: Structural Biology, Structure-based Drug Design, Protein crystallography, Enzymes, Biochemistry. He has theoretical and practical expertise (over 20 years) in the key enzymes of glycogen metabolism. The elucidation of the catalytic mechanisms of glycogen phosphorylase and phosphorylase kinase is well documented in e.g. Donald Voet & Judith G. Voet Biochemistry (1995) 2 nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, Lubert Stryer's Biochemistry (1996), Nicholas C. Price & Lewis Stevens Fundamentals of Enzymology , 3 rd ed, Oxford Univ. Press (1999), Alan Fersht Structure and Mechanism in Protein Science , A Guide to Enzyme Catalysis and Protein Folding, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York (1999), David E. Metzler's Biochemistry, The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells , 2 nd ed, Vol.1, Academic Press (2001), Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko & Lubert Stryer's Biochemistry , 5 th ed., W.H. Freeman and Company, New York (2002), where the present state of the art is traced back to his achievements together with Prof. Dame L. N. Johnson's group (Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, UK). His current research aims to understand structure and function of (1) proteins involved in the control of glycogen metabolism, (2) calcium/calmodulin regulated kinases, (3) RNases, (4) lectins, (5) nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, (6) phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, (7) glucokinase, (8) TAFs9 proteins, (9) alkaline xylanases F/10, F/11, and (10) esterases A and B of ferulic acid from Fusarium oxysporoum . Registered user (since 1983) of the European Synchrotron Radiation Sources for X-ray crystallographic data collection of the Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, UK, Sinchrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy, EMBL, Hamburg-Outstation, DESY, and ESRF, Grenoble, France, through grant applications. He is participating in the European Structural Biology Forum (ESBF), a network aiming to obtain structural data on all known protein families that have been identified through the genome sequencing efforts. More than 100 publications as refereed articles, reviews, and chapters in Books. He has supervised 9 PhD Theses, 4 MSc, and 24 final year projects. Research grants obtained come from national sources (Greek general secretariat for research & technlology), EU (SCIENCE, HUMAN CAPITAL & MOBILITY, BIOMED, BIOTECHNOLOGY, MARIE CURIE, HPRN), Organisations-Universities (Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, Medical Research Council, FEBS, EMBO, University of Dundee) and Pharmaceutical Companies.

 

Recent publications

Oikonomakos, N.G., Schnier, J.B., Zographos, S.E., Skamnaki, V.T., Tsitsanou, K.E., and Johnson, L.N. (2000). Flavopiridol inhibits glycogen phosphorylase by binding at the inhibitor site. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 34566-34573. {PDB code: 1C8K }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Skamnaki, V.T., Tsitsanou, K.E., Gavalas, N.G., and Johnson, L.N. (2000). A new allosteric site in glycogen phosphorylase b as a target for drug interactions. Structure 8, 575-584. {PDB code: 1C50 }

Kontou, M., Leonidas, D.D., Vatzaki, E.H., Acharya, K.R., Mamalaki, A., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Tzartos, S.J. (2000). The crystal structure of a Fab fragment of a rat monoclonal antibody against the main immunogenic region of the human muscle acetylcholine receptor. Eur. J. Biochem. 267, 2389-2396. {PDB code: 1C5D }

Tsitsanou, K.E., Skamnaki, V.T., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2000). Structural basis of the synergistic inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase a by caffeine and a potential antidiabetic drug. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 384, 245-254. {PDB code: 1C8L }

Skamnaki, V.T., Oikonomakos, N.G. (2000). Kinetic characterization of the double mutant R148A/E182S of glycogen phosphorylase kinase catalytic subunit: the role of the activation loop. J. Protein Chem. 19, 499-505.

Poulas K, Eliopoulos E., Vatzaki E., Navaza J., Kontou M., Oikonomakos N., Acharya K.R., Tzartos S.J. (2001). Crystal structure of Fab198, an efficient protector of the acetylcholine receptor against myasthenogenic antibodies. Eur. J. Biochem., 268, 3685-93. {PDB code: 1FN4 }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Skamnaki, V.T., Osz, E., Szilagyi, L., Somsak, L., Docsa, T., Toth, B. and Gergely, P. (2002). Kinetic and crystallographic studies of glucopyranosylidene spirothiohydantoin binding to glycogen phosphorylase b. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 10, 261-268. {PDB code: 1HLF }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Zographos, S.E., Skamnaki, V.T. and Archontis, G. (2002). The 1.76 A resolution crystal structure of glycogen phosphorylase b complexed with glucose, and CP320626, a potential antidiabetic drug. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 10, 1313-1319. {PDB code: 1H5U }

Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M., Zographos, S.E., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Somsak, L., Nagy, V., Praly, J.P., Docsa, T., Toth, B. and Gergely, P. (2002). Binding of N-acetyl-N'-beta-D-glucopyranosyl urea and N-benzoyl -N'-beta-D-glucopyranosyl urea to glycogen phosphorylase b: kinetic and crystallographic studies. Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 1684-1696. {PDB codes: 1K06 , 1K08 , 1KTI } Cover Story

Cook, A., Lowe, E.D., Chrysina, E.D., Skamnaki, V.T. Oikonomakos, N.G. and Johnson, L.N. (2002). Structural studies of Phospho-CDK2/Cyclin A bound to nitrate, a transition state analogue: Implications for the protein kinase mechanism. Biochemistry 41, 7301-7311. {PDB code: 1GY3 }

Oikonomakos, N.G. (2002). Glycogen phosphorylase as a molecular target for type 2 diabetes therapy. Curr Protein Pept Sci. 3, 561-586 . Cover Story

Oikonomakos N.G, Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N. and Leonidas, D.D. (2003) Crystal structure of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase a in complex with a potential hypoglycaemic drug at 2.0 A resolution. (2003) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1647, 325-332 . {PDB codes: 1LWN , 1LWO }

Leonidas, D.D., Swamy, B.M., Bhat, A.G., Inamdar, S.R., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Chrysina, E.D., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2003) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of Sclerotium rolfssii lectin. Acta Cryst. D59, 363-365 .

Chrysina, E.D., Oikonomakos, N.G., Zographos, S.E., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Kovacs, L., Docsa, T., Gergely, P., and Somsak L. (2003) Crystallographic studies on alpha- and beta-D-glucopyranosyl formamide analogues, inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase. Biocatal. & Biotransfor. 21, 233-242. {PDB codes: 1P4G, 1P4H, 1P4J}

Pinotsis, N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Mavridis, I.M. (2003). The binding of beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins to glycogen phosphorylase b: kinetic and crystallographic studies. Protein Sci. 12, 1914-1924 . Cover Story {PDB codes: 1P2G , 1P29 , 1P2D , 1P2B }

Leonidas, D.D., Chabali, G.B., Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Oikonomakos, N.G., Vlassi, M., Frankling, C. and Acharya, K.R. (2003). High resolution crystal structures of Ribonuclease A complexed with adenylic and uridylic nucleotide inhibitors. Implications for structure-based design of ribonucleolytic inhibitors. Protein Sci. 12, 2559-2574. Cover story {PDB codes: 1O0H , 1O0N , 1O0F , 1O0O }

Kosmopoulou, M.N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Bischler, N., Eisenbrand, G., Sakarellos, C.E., Pauptit, R., Oikonomakos, N.G. (2004). Binding of the potential antitumour agent indirubin-5-sulphonate at the inhibitor site of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. Eur. J. Biochem. 271, 2280-2290. {PDB codes: 1UZU )

Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Kardakaris, R., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Kannan, T., Loganathan, T., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Binding of b -D-glucopyranosyl bismethoxyphosphoramidate to glycogen phosphorylase b. Kinetic and crystallographic studies. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 13, 765-772 . {PDB code: 1XC7}

Chrysina, E.D., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Tiraidis, C., Kardakaris, R., Bischler, N., Leonidas, D.D., Hadady, Z., Somsak, L., Docsa, T., Gergely, P., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005). Kinetic and crystallographic studies on 2-( b -D-glucopyranosyl)-5-methyl-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole, -benzothiazole, and -benzimidazole, inhibitors of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. Evidence for a new binding site. Protein Sci. 14, 873-88 8. {PDB codes: 1XL0, 1XL1, 1XKX}

Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Chrysina, E.D., Leonidas, D.D., Kostas, I.D., Wendt, K.U., Klabunde, T., and Defossa, E. (2005) Crystallographic studies on acyl ureas, a new class of glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors, as potential antidiabetic drugs. Protein Sci. , in press. {PDB codes: 1WUT, 1WVX, 1WV0, 1WV1}

Watson, K.A., Chrysina, E.D., Tsitsanou K.E., Zographos, S.E., Gregoriou, M., Archontis, G., Fleet, G.W.J., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Kinetic and crystallographic studies of glucopyranose spirohydantoin and glucopyranosylamine analogues inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics , in press. {PDB codes: 1GGN, 1FTQ, 1FTW, 1FTY, 1FU4, 1FU7, 1FU8, 1P4H, 1FS4, 1B4D, 1GG8, 2PRJ}

Archontis, G., Watson, K.A., Xie, Q., Andreou, G., Chrysina, E.D., Zographos, S.E., Oikonomakos, N.G., and Karplus, M. (2005) Molecular recognition and relative binding of glucopyranose spirohydantoin analogues to glycogen phosphorylase: a free energy perturbation study. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics , in press.

Hatzopoulos, G.N., Leonidas, D.D., Kardakaris, R., Kobe, J., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) The binding of IMP to ribonuclease A. FEBS Journal , in press.

Kosmopoulou, M.N., Leonidas, D.D., Chrysina, E.D., Eisenbrand, G., and Oikonomakos, N.G. (2005) Indirubin-3'-aminooxy-acetate inhibits glycogen phosphorylase by binding at the inhibitor and the allosteric site. Broad specificities of the two sites. Letters in Drug Design & Discovery, in press. {PDB code: 1Z62}

Klabunde, T., Wendt, K.U., Kadereit, D., Brachvogel, V., Burger, H.-J., Herling, A.W., Oikonomakos, N.G., Kosmopoulou, M.N., Schmoll, D., Sarubbi, E., von Roedern, E., Schonafinger, K., and Defossa, E. (2005). Acyl Ureas as Human Liver Glycogen Phosphorylase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. J. Med. Chem., in press.