Pavlos Anastasiadis, PhD

Education

• 1993-2000 | B.Sc., Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, Informatics
• 2010-2015 | Ph.D., University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, “Regulation of cytokine-mediated vascular permeability under flow-induced shear stress.”

Post Graduate Education and Training

• 2001-2002 | Fellow, Department of Computer Science, Freie University, Berlin, Germany
• 2002-2003 | Fellow, National German Research Foundation, Department of Chemistry, Freie University, Berlin, Germany
• 2003-2005 | Fellow, Max-Planck Foundation, Saarbrücken, Germany
• 2005-2008 | Fellow, Fraunhofer-Institute for Biomedical Technology, St. Ingbert, Germany
• 2016-2019 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, UMSOM
• 2019-2021 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, UMSOM

Dr. Anastasiadis’s laboratory focuses on developing focused ultrasound (FUS)-based therapeutic and diagnostic strategies for brain tumors, with particular emphasis on controlled modulation of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), neuro-oncology, and translational image-guided interventions. The lab integrates quantitative acoustic dosimetry, cavitation monitoring, MRI, histopathology, and molecular analyses to study BBB opening, therapeutic delivery, sonobiopsy, and treatment response in preclinical and clinically informed models. A central goal of this work is to advance precise, noninvasive platforms that improve drug delivery, tumor characterization, and treatment efficacy for patients with malignant brain tumors.

Dr. Anastasiadis received his B.Sc. in Informatics from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and completed research fellowships at Freie University Berlin, the Max Planck Institute, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Germany. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where his work examined how mechanical forces and inflammatory signaling regulate endothelial permeability. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), where he helped advance focused ultrasound approaches for glioblastoma and brain drug delivery. He joined the UMSOM faculty in 2022 and is currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, with interdisciplinary affiliations in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, the Maryland Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery, and the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Focused ultrasound, blood-brain barrier modulation, neuro-oncology, brain tumors, glioblastoma, diffuse midline glioma, sonobiopsy, image-guided therapy, MRI-guided interventions, drug delivery, immunotherapy, acoustic cavitation, vascular biology, endothelial permeability, tumor microenvironment, translational cancer research, theranostics, nanoparticle delivery, microbubble formualtions, neuromodulation for opioid addiction.

• Lee H, Menezes V, Zeng S, Kim C, Baseman CM, Kim JH, Padmanabhan S, Premdas P, Djeddar N, Bryksin A, Pandey N, Anastasiadis P, Kim AJ, MacDonald TJ, Bettegowda C, Woodworth GF, Herrmann FJ, Arvanitis C. Data-driven feedback identifies focused ultrasound exposure regimens for improved nanotheranostic targeting of the brain. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2026 Jan 7.
• Woodworth GF, Anastasiadis P, Ozair A, Chabros J, Bettegowda C, Chen C, Gerstl JVE, Douville C, Mekary RA, Smith TR, Meng Y, Hawkins C, Pople CB, Abrahao A, Llinas M, Heyn C, Bunevicius A, Rezai AR, Ball AJS, Henry K, Sahgal A, Torio E, Ren H, Ahmad H, Arora H, Eisenberg H, Perry J, Carpenter JS, Hynynen K, Pham LC, Anketell MB, Lim-Fat MJ, Xu Z, Cifarelli CP, Sheehan JP, McDannold NJ, Gandhi D, Golby AJ, Lipsman N. Microbubble-enhanced transcranial focused ultrasound with temozolomide for patients with high-grade glioma (BT008NA): a multicentre, open-label, phase 1/2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2025;26(12):1651-1664.
• Woodworth GF, Anastasiadis P, Ozair A, Chen C, Gandhi D, Meng Y, Abrahao A Jr, Carpenter JS, Cifarelli CP, Eisenberg H, Lim-Fat MJ, Hynynen K, Rezai AR, Sahgal A, Sheehan JP, Torio E, Xu Z, Lipsman N, Arvanitis C, McDannold NJ, Golby AJ. Acoustic emissions dose and spatial control of blood-brain barrier opening with focused ultrasound. Device. 2025;3(10).
• Ozair A, Moiz B, Anastasiadis P, Gandhi D, Amatya B, McDermott MW, Woodworth GF, Ahluwalia MS. Focused ultrasound for brain metastases. Neurooncol Adv. 2025. In press.
• Ozair A, Moiz B, Anastasiadis P, Gandhi D, Bettegowda C, Mischel PS, Hong J, Ahluwalia MS, Woodworth GF. Applications of focused ultrasound for primary brain tumors. Neurooncol Adv. 2025. In press.
• Pang S, Johnson RJ, Pandey N, Kapur A, Anastasiadis P, Kanvinde P, McFarland E, Winkles JA, Woodworth GF, Kim AJ, Huang HC. Fn14-targeted gold nanorods for augmenting laser thermal therapy for high-grade gliomas. Langmuir. 2025;41(28):18520-18531.
• Blanchard AC, Maximova A, Phillips-Jones T, Bruce MR, Anastasiadis P, Dionisos CV, Engel K, Reinl E, Pham A, Malaiya S, Singh N, Ament S, McCarthy MM. Mast cells proliferate in the peri-hippocampal space during early development and modulate local and peripheral immune cells. Dev Cell. 2025;60(6):853-870.e7.
• Chu WM, Hew B, Sugawara A, Pardi N, Anastasiadis P, Moisyadi S. Immunotherapy against colorectal cancer via delivery of anti-PD-L1 nanobody mRNA. eGastroenterology. 2025.
• Chen H, Anastasiadis P, Woodworth GF. MR imaging-guided focused ultrasound: clinical applications in managing malignant gliomas. Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am. 2024.
• Seas AA, Malla AP, Sharifai N, Winkles JA, Woodworth GF, Anastasiadis P. Microbubble-enhanced focused ultrasound for infiltrating gliomas. Biomedicines. 2024;12:1230.
• Zierden HC, Marx-Rattner R, Rock KD, Montgomery KR, Anastasiadis P, Folts L, Bale TL. Extracellular vesicles are dynamic regulators of maternal glucose homeostasis during pregnancy. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):4568.
• Carney CP, Kapur A, Anastasiadis P, Ritzel RM, Chen C, Woodworth GF, Winkles JA, Kim AJ. Fn14-directed DART nanoparticles selectively target neoplastic cells in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer brain metastasis. Mol Pharm. 2023;20(1):314-330.
• Pandey N, Anastasiadis P, Carney CP, Kanvinde PP, Woodworth GF, Winkles JA, Kim AJ. Nanotherapeutic treatment of the invasive glioblastoma tumor microenvironment. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2022.
• Pang S, Kapur A, Zhou K, Anastasiadis P, Ballirano N, Kim AJ, Winkles JA, Woodworth GF, Huang HC. Nanoparticle-assisted, image-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy for cancer treatment. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2022;14(5):e1826.
• Alomari S, Kedda J, Malla AP, Pacis V, Anastasiadis P, Xu S, McFarland E, Sukhon L, Gallo B, Rincon-Torroella J, Ben-Shalom N, Ames HM, Brem H, Woodworth GF, Tyler B. Implementation of minimally invasive brain tumor resection in rodents for high viability tissue collection. J Vis Exp. 2022;(183):e64048.
• Anastasiadis P, Gandhi D, Guo Y, Ahmed AK, Bentzen SM, Arvanitis C, Woodworth GF. Localized blood-brain barrier opening in infiltrating gliomas with MRI-guided acoustic emissions-controlled focused ultrasound. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118(37):e2103280118.
• Tretbar SH, Fournelle M, Speicher D, Becker FJ, Anastasiadis P, Landgraf L, Roy U, Melzer A. A novel matrix-array-based MR-conditional ultrasound system for local hyperthermia of small animals. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2021;69(2):758-770.
• Kanvinde PP, Malla AP, Connolly NP, Szulzewsky F, Anastasiadis P, Ames HM, et al. Leveraging the replication-competent avian-like sarcoma virus/tumor virus receptor-A system for modeling human gliomas. Glia. 2021;69:2059-2076.
• Anastasiadis P, Mohammadabadi A, Fishman MJ, Smith JA, Nguyen BA, Hersh DS, Frenkel V. Design, characterization and evaluation of a laser-guided focused ultrasound system for preclinical investigations. Biomed Eng Online. 2019;18(1):36.
• Hersh DS, Anastasiadis P, Mohammadabadi A, Nguyen BA, Guo S, Winkles JA, et al. MR-guided transcranial focused ultrasound safely enhances interstitial dispersion of large polymeric nanoparticles in the living brain. PLoS One. 2018;13(2):e0192240.
• Anastasiadis P, Zinin PV. High-frequency time-resolved scanning acoustic microscopy for biomedical applications. Open Neuroimaging J. 2018;12:69-85.
• Juntarapaso Y, Miyasaka C, Tutwiler RL, Anastasiadis P. Contrast mechanisms for tumor cells by high-frequency ultrasound. Open Neuroimaging J. 2018;12:105-119.
• Wadajkar AS, Dancy JG, Hersh DS, Anastasiadis P, Tran NL, Woodworth GF, et al. Tumor-targeted nanotherapeutics: overcoming treatment barriers for glioblastoma. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2017;9:e1439.
• Shen WB, Anastasiadis P, Nguyen B, Yarnell D, Yarowsky PJ, Frenkel V, Fishman PS. Magnetic enhancement of stem cell-targeted delivery into the brain following MR-guided focused ultrasound for opening the blood-brain barrier. Cell Transplant. 2017;26(7):1235-1246.
• Anastasiadis P, Mojica KDA, Allen JS, Matter ML. Detection and quantification of bacterial biofilms combining high-frequency acoustic microscopy and targeted lipid microparticles. J Nanobiotechnology. 2014;12(1):24.
• Weiss EC, Lemor RM, Pilarczyk G, Anastasiadis P, Zinin PV. Imaging of focal contacts of chicken heart muscle cells by high-frequency acoustic microscopy. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2007;33(8):1320-1326.
• Weiss EC, Anastasiadis P, Pilarczyk G, Lemor RM, Zinin PV. Mechanical properties of single cells by high-frequency time-resolved acoustic microscopy. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2007;54(11):2257-2271.