About

Konstantinos Konstantopoulos is the William H. Schwarz Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on the intersection of engineering, biology, and medicine, with particular applications in cancer metastasis. His group works to elucidate how vascular and tissue microenvironments regulate the dissemination of cancerous cells from primary tumors to distant organs during metastasis. The ultimate goal of his work is to develop novel diagnostic and prognostic tools to predict cancer progression and patient outcomes, as well as to design therapeutic strategies to combat metastasis through a multidisciplinary approach. Konstantopoulos has pioneered the identification and biophysical characterization of novel adhesion molecules expressed by tumor cells that facilitate metastatic dissemination. He discovered a new mechanism called the osmotic engine model, employed by tumor cells during metastasis. His basic science discoveries have shed light on previously unknown mechanisms utilized by tumor cells and open new avenues for treatment. His lab has also developed a Microfluidic Invasion Network Device (MIND) for diagnosis, prognosis, and personalized care of cancer patients, which has the potential to improve prediction of metastatic potential and guide effective treatment strategies. Konstantopoulos has served as chair of his department, is a project leader with the NCI-funded Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences-Oncology Center, and is a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants. He has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society, and has served on various editorial boards and NIH study sections.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Anesthesia
• Medicine
• Surgery
• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Soil science
• Mechanics
• Biophysics
• Cell biology

Selected publications

• Author Correction: Experimental and theoretical model for the origin of coiling of cellular protrusions around fibers

  Nature Communications · 2023-12-21

  erratumOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anesthetic management of a patient with Takotsubo syndrome undergoing hip fracture repair

  Signa Vitae · 2021

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Anesthesia
  • Surgery

  Introduction: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a type of acute reversible left ventricular dysfunction in the form of acute catecholaminergic myocardial stunning in the absence of occlusive coronary artery, with considerable patient morbidity and mortality1. The optimal anesthetic management of patients with TTS remains unclear. We would like to share our experience with a patient with TTS presenting for hip fracture repair. Methods: An 80-year old female complained of dyspnea and retrosternal chest pain after subcapital hip fracture. Her diagnostic workup revealed elevated markers of myocardial necrosis and pathologic findings from transthoracic echocardiogram. Left ventriculography imaging along with an unremarkable coronariography was suggestive of TTS. After the initial control of acute myocardial crisis, the patient was scheduled for hip fracture repair, under spinal anesthesia. Having obtained patient’s informed consent, we performed an ultrasound guided fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) (30 mL ropivacaine 0.5%/8 mg dexamethasone). Twenty minutes after the FICB, the patient was placed in the lateral decubitus position and 3 mL levobupivacaine 0.5% were injected intrathecally. A bolus dose of dexmedetomidine 1 mcg/kg followed by a continuous intravenous infusion at a rate of 0.5 mcg/kg/hour was initiated 10 min before lumbar puncture. The infusion was reduced to 0.25 mcg/kg/hour 30 min later due to a drop in systolic blood pressure 40% below baseline, until the end of surgery. Results: No complications occurred in the postoperative period. The patient walked on the second day and one week later she was discharged from hospital. Conclusion: To our knowledge, there are no reports of intraoperative dexmetomidine administration in TTS patients. Avoidance of adrenergic agonists and initiation of antiadrenergic therapy is suggestive by the pathogenesis of the syndrome [1]. Our main goal was the control of stress response [2, 3], performing FICB to facilitate perioperative analgesia and administering dexmetomidine, an agent with sedative, anxiolytic and analgesic properties.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The importance of water and hydraulic pressure in cell dynamics

  Journal of Cell Science · 2020 · 103 citations

  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Biophysics

  All mammalian cells live in the aqueous medium, yet for many cell biologists, water is a passive arena in which proteins are the leading players that carry out essential biological functions. Recent studies, as well as decades of previous work, have accumulated evidence to show that this is not the complete picture. Active fluxes of water and solutes of water can play essential roles during cell shape changes, cell motility and tissue function, and can generate significant mechanical forces. Moreover, the extracellular resistance to water flow, known as the hydraulic resistance, and external hydraulic pressures are important mechanical modulators of cell polarization and motility. For the cell to maintain a consistent chemical environment in the cytoplasm, there must exist an intricate molecular system that actively controls the cell water content as well as the cytoplasmic ionic content. This system is difficult to study and poorly understood, but ramifications of which may impact all aspects of cell biology from growth to metabolism to development. In this Review, we describe how mammalian cells maintain the cytoplasmic water content and how water flows across the cell surface to drive cell movement. The roles of mechanical forces and hydraulic pressure during water movement are explored.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Co-digestion of municipal waste biopulp with marine macroalgae focusing on sodium inhibition

  Energy Conversion and Management · 2018-11-23 · 27 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A clinical audit of nutritional screening and support of hospitalized patients with hematologic diseases

  Clinical Nutrition ESPEN · 2018-03-22

  article
  PublisherDOI

• World scientific production of tobacco and smoking

  2018-09-15 · 1 citations

  article

  <b>Introduction:</b> Bibliometric analysis is used as a measure of scientific production and reveals the trends of a scientific field. <b>Methodology:</b> The database Scopus is used to find the publications using the keywords: tobacco, smoking, cigarette, waterpipe (OR water-pipe OR “water pipe”), “smokeless tobacco”, ecig (OR e-cig OR “electronic cigarette”) and nicotine. The analysis concerns the papers published each year, their field, country, affiliation, document type, title source and other keywords used. <b>Results:</b> An exponential increase occurs after 1980, reaching 18,870 papers for smoking and 7,118 for tobacco in 2017. However, a significant decrease is observed after 2012-2016, indicating that this scientific field reached a saturation. Only waterpipe and electronic cigarette don’t show a decrease. The first country in all keyword is USA, while the first ten countries are always from North America, Europe, Australia, China and India. The first ten institutions are found in the USA, with some exceptions in Western Europe or China, and Middle East in the case of waterpipe. The journals Nicotine and Tobacco Research, Tobacco Control, Plos One, Lancet and Addictive Behaviors have the higher number of papers published. There is no significant domination of some journals in the field, as each one of the first journals cover the 1-2% of the total papers published. Medicine and biological sciences are the main scientific fields, except agricultural sciences in the case of tobacco. The most cited paper has more than 20,000 citations and the first ten ones more than 3,000 citations. The most productive authors have more than 500 papers each one. <b>Conclusions:</b> The world scientific production of tobacco and smoking is still high, but a saturation is observed.

  PublisherDOI

• 16s rRNA gene sequencing and radioisotopic analysis reveal the composition of ammonia acclimatized methanogenic consortia

  Bioresource Technology · 2018-09-26 · 46 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Characterization of Monobody Scaffold Interactions with Ligand via Force Spectroscopy and Steered Molecular Dynamics

  Scientific Reports · 2015-02-04 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Monobodies are antibody alternatives derived from fibronectin that are thermodynamically stable, small in size, and can be produced in bacterial systems. Monobodies have been engineered to bind a wide variety of target proteins with high affinity and specificity. Using alanine-scanning mutagenesis simulations, we identified two scaffold residues that are critical to the binding interaction between the monobody YS1 and its ligand, maltose-binding protein (MBP). Steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations predicted that the E47A and R33A mutations in the YS1 scaffold substantially destabilize the YS1-MBP interface by reducing the bond rupture force and the lifetime of single hydrogen bonds. SMD simulations further indicated that the R33A mutation weakens the hydrogen binding between all scaffold residues and MBP and not just between R33 and MBP. We validated the simulation data and characterized the effects of mutations on YS1-MBP binding by using single-molecule force spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance. We propose that interfacial stability resulting from R33 of YS1 stacking with R344 of MBP synergistically stabilizes both its own bond and the interacting scaffold residues of YS1. Our integrated approach improves our understanding of the monobody scaffold interactions with a target, thus providing guidance for the improved engineering of monobodies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sevoflurane versus propofol anesthesia in patients undergoing lumbar spondylodesis: A randomized trial

  Journal of Surgical Research · 2012-10-10 · 32 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Preface to Special Issue: “Glycomechanics: Sugar Coating Blood Cell–Endothelial Interactions in Shear Flow”

  Annals of Biomedical Engineering · 2012-02-23

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• The Role of Hydraulic Pressure in the Osmotic Engine Model of Cell Migration

  NIH · $2.1M · 2019–2030

Frequent coauthors

• Athanasios Liaskas

  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

  4 shared

• Panagiotis Diamantopoulos

  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

  4 shared

• Aliki Stamou

  Laiko General Hospital of Athens

  4 shared

• Eftyhia Kanioura

  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

  4 shared

• Ioannis‐Georgios Tzanninis

  Laiko General Hospital of Athens

  4 shared

• Dimitrios Politis

  4 shared

• Vasiliki Skarlatou

  Evangelismos Hospital

  4 shared

• Nora‐Athina Viniou

  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

  4 shared

Labs

• Konstantopoulos LabPI

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological…
• Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (2012)
• Robert B. Pond, Sr. Excellence in Teaching Award (2003 and 2…
• Bioengineering Distinguished Alumnus Award from Rice Univers…