Maria Papaioannou graduated from the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen in 2002. From 2002 to 2006 she worked as a researcher at the Institute of Genetics, Department of Biology and Chemistry, of the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen. In 2006 she received a Doctoral Degree in Science from the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Germany with the grade "Excellent". Until February 2007 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Human Genetics of Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany. From 2007 to 2008 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Medical Radiobiology of the University of Essen in Germany. From October 2008 she was an Adjunct Faculty member at the Department of Biological Applications and Technology at the University of Ioannina, Greece. In 2012, she was employed as a Lecturer at the School of Medicine at Aristotle University. Since 2016 she has been an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her research is focused on the study and identification of biological molecules and their interactions, and the detection of post-translational and epigenetic modifications, focusing on the processes of gene expression and their correlation with prevention, prognosis, and laboratory diagnosis, as well as their contribution to the treatment of diseases, with emphasis on urogenital, gastrointestinal, and endocrine diseases.