Marios Kidonakis was born in Heraklion, Greece. He obtained his B.Sc. (valedictorian), M.Sc. and Ph.D. (honors) at the Department of Chemistry, University of Crete. During his doctoral studies he focused on several organic transformations catalyzed by Au nanoparticles. As a doctoral student he was selected to participate at the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to Chemistry. For his research achievements he received the Hildergard Zervas award, issued by the Academy of Athens for groundbreaking research in the area of Organic Chemistry. Following his PhD, he worked for two years as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Crete. In September 2021 he joined the group of Prof. Minnaard as a NIH postdoctoral fellow to work on the synthesis and biochemical evaluation of lipids against Tuberculosis. His interests lie within the area of total synthesis and catalysis.