Patrick Munk

Patrick Munk is an Associate Professor at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where he leads research in the Research Group for Genomic Epidemiology and contributes to the DTU Microbes Initiative. His work integrates genomics, metagenomics, and bioinformatics to study antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across human, animal, and environmental systems. He is actively involved in global surveillance efforts and is currently accepting PhD students.

• PhD, MSc
• Member, The Danish Young Academy (2024–2029)

Patrick Munk’s research focuses on antimicrobial resistance, genomic epidemiology, metagenomics, and bioinformatics. His work leverages large-scale sequencing of sewage, livestock, and environmental samples to understand the global spread of resistance genes. He has led and contributed to major international studies, including the global sewage surveillance project across 101 countries, and has developed key genomic resources such as the PanRes and MetalResistance databases.

His recent publications span high-impact journals like Nature Communications and Nature Microbiology, with themes centered on sewage-based surveillance, fecal resistomes in livestock, source attribution of microbial communities, and novel sequencing methodologies. His research has been widely covered in media and policy documents, reflecting its societal impact.

• Genomic analysis of sewage from 101 countries (Nature Communications, 2022)
• Time-series metagenomics for source-attributed surveillance (Nature Communications, 2024)
• High-throughput single-cell metagenomic sequencing (Frontiers in Microbiology, 2025)

Patrick Munk has received recognition through significant media coverage, policy citations, and widespread academic engagement. His work has been highlighted in over 40 news outlets, referenced in policy sources and patents, and discussed across social media and academic platforms like Mendeley and Wikipedia.

He supervises multiple PhD students and is a Principal Investigator or Supervisor on several active and completed projects, including Bioinformatic methods for multi-metagenome integration and Host range and epidemiology of antibiotic resistance. He is also a co-creator of key datasets that support open science in AMR research. His lab is part of a broad collaborative network involving DTU, international consortia, and public health agencies.