Aliki Antoniou is a PhD candidate at the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on how maternal factors influence the metabolic functions of early-life gut microbiota and the impact of these changes on gut epithelium and immune function during infancy.

Aliki completed her BSc in Biology at the University of Hohenheim, where she majored in Molecular Microbiology. During her studies, she developed a deep interest in how bacteria influence human health. This passion led her to pursue an MSc in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University.

For her master’s thesis at the Karolinska Institutet, Aliki investigated the relationship between the vaginal microbiome, cellular responses, and cervical dysplasia, further fueling her curiosity about the microbiome and the factors that shape its dynamics.