Associate Professor Athanasios Alexopoulos studied Biology at the University of Patras (Greece) and obtained his PhD in Hygiene (Mutagenic potential of chlorinated water) from the Medical Department of the above institution. During that time, he worked for 4 years in food industry and 10 years as a researcher. Since 2007 he is a faculty member of the Department of Agricultural Development at the Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) and he is currently the Director of the Laboratory of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Hygiene.  He has participated as a member of the research team in scientific projects funded from the EU and National funds or from the private and wider public sector. His current research focus on food and water microbiology, probiotics, spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment and the antimicrobial properties of natural agents. He has more than 130 publications/communications, including 68 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 6 chapters in books and 90 conference proceedings (980 citations, H-index: 16).