Plant & Environmental
Biotechnology Laboratory

Antimicrobial Resistance Dispersal – Risk Assessment

The spread of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a significant public health concern. While modern agricultural practices (such as manuring and the use of reclaimed water) offer clear benefits, they also increase the risk of pathogen and AMR dispersal. From production to post-harvest handling, these risks may ultimately affect consumers. We seek to understand the pathways and model the dynamics of pathogen and AMR dispersal across the farm-to-fork continuum, identifying sources and examining their interaction with environmental microbial communities under ecological constraints. To this end, we employ microcosm and mesocosm experiments to analyze microbial load, diversity, resistance markers, horizontal gene transfer markers, and the associated genomic background in soils, recycled water, and, plants and harvested products. Advanced techniques (including amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing, qPCR, immunomagnetic assays, and FISH/FACS) are employed to characterize microbial diversity and assess virulence and overall pathogenicicty potential. Selective pressure compounds (i.e. antibiotic residues), are quantified via HPLC and LC-MS/MS. Finally, computational models and risk assessment strategies developed within this context, are expected to enable the identification of critical control points and the creation of regulatory tools for safer agricultural production and post-harvest management.

Personnel

Sotirios Vasileiadis
, Assistant Professor in Microbial Molecular-Ecology
, Genomics

Publications

Iakovides, I. C., Vasileiadis, S., Christou, A., Karaolia, P., Mina, T., Rocha, J., Duan, Y., Beretsou, V. G., Gallois, N., Changey, F., Michael, C., Coelho, L. P., Manaia, C. M., Merlin, C., & Fatta-Kassinos, D. (2026). Storage and soil depth, in addition to wastewater treatment, govern microbiota, and mobile genetic element and antibiotic resistance markers during reclaimed water irrigation. Water Research, 300, 125889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.125889

Katsivelou, E., Perruchon, C., Karas, P. A., Sarantidou, A., Pappa, E., Katsoula, A., Ligda, P., Sotiraki, S., Martin-Laurent, F., Vasileiadis, S., & Karpouzas, D. G. (2023). Accelerated dissipation, soil microbial toxicity and dispersal of antimicrobial resistance in soils repeatedly exposed to tiamulin, tilmicosin and sulfamethoxazole. Science of The Total Environment, 893, 164817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164817

Hem, S., Drigo, B., Vasileiadis, S., Brunetti, G., Smith, E., Ferro, S., Lombi, E., Ashbolt, N. J., & Donner, E. (2025). Mitigating Legionella spp. Risk in an Australian healthcare facility using on-site electrochemical water disinfection. Journal of Water and Health, 23(7), 877–893. https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2025.395

Valmas, M. I., Kormas, K., Karpouzas, D. G., Konstantinidis, K. T., Rozman, S. D., Udiković-Kolić, N., Remus-Emsermann, M. N. P., & Vasileiadis, S. (2025). Targeted analysis of metagenomes: Divide and conquer. Biotechnology Advances, 83, 108619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2025.108619

Perruchon, C., Tagkalidou, N., Kalogiouri, N., Katsivelou, E., Karas, P. A., Menkissoglu-Spiroudi, U., Vasileiadis, S., & Karpouzas, D. G. (2025). Isolation of a Sphingomonas strain able to degrade the pleuromutilin antibiotic tiamulin: In vitro characterization of the antibiotic transformation capacity and pathway elucidation via comparative genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 32(40), 23081–23096. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-025-36996-y

Katsivelou E., Perruchon C., Lithtourgidis A., Kotsopoulos T., Vasileiadis S., Karpouzas D.G., (2024) Bioaugmentation of manures by a tiamulin-degrading Sphingomonas as a mean to alleviate environmental dispersal of antibiotic residues. Bioremediation Journal https://doi.org/10.1080/10889868.2024.2343863 

Katsivelou, E., Perruchon, C., Karas, P. A., Sarantidou, A., Pappa, E., Katsoula, A., Ligda, P., Sotiraki, S., Martin-Laurent, F., Vasileiadis, S., & Karpouzas, D. G. (2023). Accelerated dissipation, soil microbial toxicity and dispersal of antimicrobial resistance in soils repeatedly exposed to tiamulin, tilmicosin and sulfamethoxazole. Science of The Total Environment, 893, 164817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164817

Perruchon, C., Katsivelou, E., Karas, P. A., Vassilakis, S., Lithourgidis, A. A., Kotsopoulos, T. A., Sotiraki, S., Vasileiadis, S., & Karpouzas, D. G. (2022). Following the route of veterinary antibiotics tiamulin and tilmicosin from livestock farms to agricultural soils. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 429, 128293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128293

Karaolia P., Vasileiadis S., Michael S.G., Karpouzas D.G., Fatta-Kasinos D. (2021) Shotgun metagenomics assessment of the resistome, mobilome, pathogen dynamics and their ecological control modes in full-scale urban wastewater treatment plants. Journal of Hazardous Materials 418: 126387 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126387

Drigo, B., Brunetti, G., Aleer, S. C., Bell, J. M., Short, M. D., Vasileiadis, S., Turnidge, J., Monis, P., Cunliffe, D., & Donner, E. (2021). Inactivation, removal, and regrowth potential of opportunistic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes in recycled water systems. Water Research, 201, 117324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117324

Funding


PhD Fellowship: Pathogenicity and environment: risk of dispersal of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance

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