Athina Andrea

Athina Andrea serves as a Research Fellow at the National Food Institute of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), embedded within the Research Group for Global Capacity Building. Her work centers on antimicrobial resistance surveillance and food safety, with direct collaboration through the European Union Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance (EURL-AR) network. She operates from DTU's campus in Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, contributing to international public health initiatives through laboratory proficiency testing and genomic analysis.

Her research expertise spans antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in foodborne pathogens, with specialized focus on Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Enterococcus. Andrea develops standardized protocols for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing validation across European reference laboratories. Her work bridges laboratory science with global policy frameworks, emphasizing capacity building in low-resource settings to combat antimicrobial resistance transmission through food chains.

Andrea's 2024 publications reveal consistent methodological advancements in proficiency testing frameworks, with increasing integration of genomic approaches alongside traditional phenotypic methods. The progression from the 29th to 31st EURL-AR reports demonstrates expanding pathogen coverage and technical complexity, culminating in her journal article establishing species-specific quality thresholds for genomic surveillance. This trajectory highlights her pivotal role in evolving antimicrobial resistance monitoring from culture-based to sequence-based methodologies while maintaining rigorous quality control standards.

She actively participates in major EU-funded initiatives including the EURL-AMR consultancy project (2025-2027) as a core team member, and leads the WateResist project investigating water-mediated antimicrobial resistance transmission in produce. Her grant portfolio demonstrates strong alignment with European food safety priorities, particularly through the CarbaCamp project assessing carbapenem resistance in Campylobacter across animal-human-food interfaces. These projects collectively secure multi-year funding for DTU's National Food Institute.

Andrea operates within DTU's Research Group for Global Capacity Building, which functions as Denmark's national reference laboratory for antimicrobial resistance. This team coordinates training programs for laboratories worldwide and maintains the European Union's proficiency testing infrastructure for bacterial pathogens. Her work directly supports the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) through standardized data generation for annual EU One Health reports on antimicrobial resistance.