Dr Nikolaos Batis PhD, BMedSc

Dr Nikolaos Batis

Department of Biomedical Sciences
Assistant Professor of Translational Pharmacology

Contact details

Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Academic leader, translational pharmacologist and innovation strategist advancing precision medicine through therapeutic innovation, biomarker science, entrepreneurship, industry engagement and international partnerships, connecting biomedical research, education and commercial translation to deliver healthcare impact and global collaboration.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Pharmacology, School of Clinical & Experimental Medicine, University of Birmingham
  • BMedSc (Hons) Pharmacology, University of Birmingham

Biography

Dr Nikolaos Batis is Principal Academic Lead for Business, Entrepreneurship and Industry Engagement and Assistant Professor of Translational Pharmacology at the University of Birmingham. He also serves as Head of Global Engagement for the School of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation and as Drug Discovery Hub Ambassador for the College of Medicine and Health.

His work sits at the intersection of biomedical education, translational science, innovation and international collaboration. He provides strategic leadership for entrepreneurship, industry engagement and innovation across biomedical and health sciences, driving initiatives that strengthen the translation of scientific discovery into healthcare, societal and economic impact.

Dr Batis leads the development of enterprise-focused education and researcher development programmes that equip students and researchers with the skills, networks and commercial awareness required to navigate translational and innovation pathways. He developed the Biomedical Entrepreneurship minor route within the Biomedical Sciences programme and founded the Biomedical Training Incubator in Translational Discovery, a summer initiative that integrates research, innovation, industry engagement and professional development. His educational leadership focuses on embedding entrepreneurial thinking, commercial awareness and translational capability within biomedical curricula and training environments.

As Head of Global Engagement, Dr Batis leads the development of strategic international partnerships that support collaborative research, student mobility, educational innovation and institutional capacity building. Working across academic, healthcare and industry sectors, he has strengthened engagement throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, contributing to the University's internationalisation strategy, global reputation and partnership portfolio. His work focuses on creating sustainable collaborations that connect research, education, innovation and enterprise.

Alongside his leadership activities, Dr Batis is a translational pharmacologist whose research focuses on precision medicine, therapeutic innovation and biomarker science. His work spans oncology, academic drug discovery, drug repurposing, rational combination therapies and translational biomarker development, including circulating tumour DNA and lipidomic approaches. He has contributed to multidisciplinary and international research programmes in precision oncology and head and neck cancer, with publications in leading international journals and collaborations spanning academia, healthcare and industry.

Prior to joining the academic staff at Birmingham, he held research leadership roles within the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, where he contributed to multidisciplinary programmes in drug discovery, biomarker development and translational oncology. He completed his PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Birmingham, investigating the allosteric pharmacology of the 5-HT3 receptor and identifying novel receptor modulators.

His broader vision is to build integrated translational ecosystems that connect discovery science, education, entrepreneurship, industry collaboration and international partnership development to accelerate healthcare innovation and improve patient outcomes globally.

Teaching

Educational Leadership

  • Principal Academic Lead for Business, Entrepreneurship and Industry Engagement
  • Founder and Academic Lead, Biomedical Training Incubator in Translational Discovery
  • Founder and Academic Lead BISS Biomedical Science, Clinical Care & Population Health 

Module Leadership

  • Biomedical Entrepreneurship (Year 3 BSc/MSci Biomedical Sciences)
  • Student Selected Science Project – Business (Year 2 BSc/MSci Biomedical Sciences)
  • Foundations of Neuroscience Pharmacology (Year 1 BSc/MSci Biomedical Sciences) 

Teaching Contributions

He contributes to teaching across Medical Sciences

  • Biomedical Science BSc/MSc
  • Medicine and Surgery MBChB
  • Flying Faculty - University of Birmingham (Dubai)
  • Pharmacology, Physiology, Human Disease & Cancer Biology
  • Advanced Pharmacology
  • Drug Discovery and Development
  • Research Methods and Experimental Design
  • Precision Medicine & Therapeutic Innovation
  • Biomarkers, Diagnostics & Clinical Translation

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Batis welcomes applications from prospective doctoral researchers interested in translational pharmacology, oncology and precision medicine.

Research areas include:

• Academic drug discovery and therapeutic innovation
• Precision oncology
• Drug Discovery and cancer metabolism
• Drug repurposing and rational combination therapies
• Translational therapeutics
• Industry-linked translational research
• Biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship

Research

Dr Batis is a translational pharmacologist whose research focuses on advancing precision medicine through the integration of therapeutic innovation, biomarker science and translational research. His work aims to accelerate the development of more effective and personalised approaches to disease diagnosis, monitoring and treatment.

His research spans translational oncology, drug discovery and biomarker development, with particular interests in therapeutic innovation, precision medicine and the clinical implementation of emerging technologies. Through multidisciplinary approaches, he investigates mechanisms of disease progression and treatment response to identify opportunities for improved patient stratification and therapeutic intervention.

A key aspect of his work is the translation of laboratory discoveries into clinically relevant applications. This includes the development of novel therapeutic strategies, biomarker informed approaches and collaborative programmes that bridge discovery science, clinical research and healthcare innovation.

Dr Batis works closely with academic, clinical and industry partners to develop research that delivers scientific, clinical and societal impact. His research is supported by national and international collaborations spanning academia, healthcare organisations and the life sciences sector, contributing to the advancement of translational medicine and global research partnerships.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Southam, AD, Higginson, JA, Lloyd, GR, Smith, MJ, Cruchley-Fuge, LE, Spruce, R, Edbali, O, Weber, RJM, Mehanna, H & Batis, N 2026, 'Regional HNSCC metabolomics reveals widespread changes to one-carbon metabolism and S-adenosylmethionine metabolism across tumour core, tumour edge and adjacent non-tumour tissues', British Journal of Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-026-03410-4

Payne, KFB, Brotherwood, P, Suriyanarayanan, H, Brooks, JM, Batis, N, Beggs, AD, Gendoo, DMA, Mehanna, H & Nankivell, P 2024, 'Circulating tumour DNA detects somatic variants contributing to spatial and temporal intratumural heterogeneity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 14, 1374816. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2024.1374816

Mehanna, H, Rapozo, D, Zeidler, SVV, Harrington, K, Winter, S, Hartley, A, Nankivell, P, Schache, A, Sloan, P, Odell, E, Thavaraj, S, Hunter, K, Shah, K, Thomas, G, Long, A, Amel-Kashipaz, R, Brown, R, Conn, B, Hall, G, Matthews, P, Weir, J, Yeo, Y, Pring, M, West, C, McCaul, J, Golusinski, P, Sitch, A, Spruce, R, Batis, N, Bryant, J, Brooks, J, Jones, TM, Buffa, F, Haider, S & Robinson, M 2024, 'Developing and validating a multivariable prognostic-predictive classifier for treatment escalation of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: the PREDICTR-OPC study', Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 356–367. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-23-1013

von Buchwald, C, Jakobsen, KK, Carlander, A-LF, Tous, S, Grønhøj, C, Rasmussen, JH, Brooks, J, Taberna, M, Mena, M, Morey, F, Bruni, L, Batis, N, Brakenhoff, RH, René Leemans, C, Jong, RJBD, Klussmann, JP, Wuerdemann, N, Wagner, S, Dalianis, T, Marklund, L, Mirghani, H, Schache, A, James, JA, Huang, SH, O'Sullivan, B, Nankivell, P, Broglie, MA, Hoffmann, M, Quabius, ES, Anderson, LA, Craig, SG, Alemany, L, Mehanna, H & HNCIG-EPIC group 2024, 'TNM 8 staging system beyond p16: Double HPV/p16 status is superior to p16 alone in predicting outcome in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma', European Journal of Cancer, vol. 211, 114329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2024.114329

Payne, K, Brooks, J, Batis, N, Khan, N, El-Asrag, M, Nankivell, P, Mehanna, H & Taylor, G 2023, 'Feasibility of mass cytometry proteomic characterisation of circulating tumour cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma for deep phenotyping', British Journal of Cancer, vol. 129, no. 10, pp. 1590-1598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-023-02428-2

Califano, J, Yousef, A, Mostafa, H, Valsamakis, A, Zhang, X, Batis, N, Varghese, C, Parish, J, Forman, M, Jarrett, J, Messer, K & Mehanna, H 2023, 'Lead Time to Recurrence After Posttreatment Plasma and Saliva HPV DNA Testing in Patients With Low-Risk HPV Oropharynx Cancer', JAMA Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, vol. 149, no. 9, pp. 812-819. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoto.2023.1730

Mehanna, H, Nankivell, P, Batis, N & Brooks, J 2023, 'Prognostic Implications of p16 and HPV discordance in oropharyngeal cancer: a multicenter, multinational (HNCIG-EPIC-OPC) individual patient data analysis', The Lancet Oncology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 239-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00013-X

Shaban, M, Raza, SEA, Hassan, M, Jamshed, A, Mushtaq, S, Loya, A, Batis, N, Brooks, J, Nankivell, P, Sharma, N, Robinson, M, Mehanna, H, Khurram, SA & Rajpoot, N 2022, 'A digital score of tumour-associated stroma infiltrating lymphocytes predicts survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma', Journal of Pathology, vol. 256, no. 2, pp. 174-185. https://doi.org/10.1002/path.5819

Payne, K, Brooks, J, Batis, N, Taylor, G, Nankivell, P & Mehanna, H 2022, 'Characterising the epithelial-mesenchymal transition status of circulating tumour cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma', Head & Neck, vol. 44, no. 11, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.27167

Payne, K, Brooks, J, Taylor, G, Batis, N, Noyvert, B, Pan, Y, Nankivell, P & Mehanna, H 2021, 'Immediate sample fixation increases Circulating Tumour Cell (CTC) capture and preserves phenotype in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: towards a standardised approach to microfluidic CTC biomarker discovery', Cancers, vol. 13, no. 21, 5519. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13215519

Batis, N, Brooks, J, Payne, K, Sharma, N, Nankivell, P & Mehanna, H 2021, 'Lack of predictive tools for conventional and targeted cancer therapy: barriers to biomarker development and clinical translation', Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, vol. 176, 113854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2021.113854

Swiderska, A, Coney, AM, Alzahrani, AA, Aldossary, HS, Batis, N, Ray, CJ, Kumar, P & Holmes, AP 2021, 'Mitochondrial succinate metabolism and reactive oxygen species are important but not essential for eliciting carotid body and ventilatory responses to hypoxia in the rat', Antioxidants, vol. 10, no. 6, 840. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10060840

Gleneadie, HJ, Baker, AH, Batis, N, Bryant, J, Jiang, Y, Clokie, SJH, Mehanna, H, Garcia, P, Gendoo, DMA, Roberts, S, Burley, M, Molinolo, AA, Gutkind, JS, Scheven, BA, Cooper, PR, Parish, JL, Khanim, FL & Wiench, M 2021, 'The anti-tumour activity of DNA methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine is enhanced by the common analgesic paracetamol through induction of oxidative stress', Cancer Letters, vol. 501, pp. 172-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2020.12.029

Abstract

Payne, K, Taylor, G, Brooks, J, Kahn, N, Batis, N, Nankivell, P & Mehanna, H 2021, 'Mass cytometry based multiparameter characterisation of Parsortix-enriched circulating tumour cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: A step towards clinical translation', Annals of Oncology, vol. 32, no. supplement 5, pp. S802. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ANNONC.2021.08.1310

Preprint

Shaban, M, Raza, SEA, Hassan, M, Jamshed, A, Mushtaq, S, Loya, A, Batis, N, Brooks, J, Nankivell, P, Sharma, N, Robinson, M, Mehanna, H, Khurram, SA & Rajpoot, N 2021 'A digital score of tumour-associated stroma infiltrating lymphocytes predicts survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma' arXiv. <https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.12862>

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