Detection of small microplastics in the surface freshwater samples of Yangcheng Lake, China

Her research focuses on optical manipulation and sensing at the micro- and nanoscale. At DKU, she leads a research group pioneering the use of plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials for advanced biosensing—such as detecting viruses and proteins—and for environmental monitoring, including the identification of micro-/nano-plastics in local water systems. Her teaching interests at DKU include Biophysics, Optics and Modern Physics, as well as General Physics.

She has an extensive publication record in high-impact journals including Nano Letters, Nanophotonics, and Science of the Total Environment. Her research output since joining DKU in 2022 includes numerous articles in journals such as Advanced Physics Research, Heliyon, and Biomedical Optics Express, a significant proportion of which are co-authored by DKU undergraduate students. Her work is presented on the international stage through invited talks at major conferences, complemented by numerous contributed presentations. The impact of her mentorship is further demonstrated by her students receiving international poster awards and scholarships for their research. She is a recipient of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence and has a strong track record of securing competitive research funding as PI, with awards from the Kunshan Government and the JSPS Kakenhi program. An active leader in her field, she holds key organizational roles, including Program and General Chair for the Optica Biophotonics Congress -OPTICA (2022-2025) and Associate Editor for Optics Express (2023-present). She also contributes as an expert reviewer for prestigious European grant programs (2024-present).

Kotsifaki holds a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Patras, Greece, an M.Sc. in Physics of Laser Communications from the University of Essex, UK, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Prior to her appointment at Duke Kunshan University, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Greece, a Postdoctoral Scholar at NTUA, and a Staff Scientist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) in Japan.