Principal investigator
Ina Gajic is an Assist. Professor of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology at the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade. She is a medical doctor, a specialist in Medical microbiology, a subspecialist in Bacteriology, and a member of the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for streptococci. She was trained in the NRL for streptococci in France, Germany and Slovenia. She is a General Secretary of the Serbian Society of Microbiology, Secretary of the Microbiology Board of the Serbian Medical Society, member of the Election Committee of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, and Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Microbiology.
Natasa Opavski is a Full Professor of microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Faculty University of Belgrade. She is MD and medical microbiologist. Her primary research interests are molecular epidemiology of streptococcal and pneumococcal infections and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. She trained at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Gottingen, Germany; National Reference Center for Streptococci at the University Hospital Aachen, Germany and Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections, Reference Laboratory for Streptococci, London, UK. She is the Head of the Serbian National Reference Laboratory for Streptococci. Currently, she leads two projects focusing on the seroepidemiology of pneumococci, along with another project addressing bacterial resistance within hospital settings.
Nedjeljko Karabasil is a full professor in (1) Meat Hygiene and Technology and (2) Food Control at the Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade. He is a veterinarian by training with a background in food safety and quality. His main research interests are in policy-led food science and food microbiology topics. He has published more than 50 papers in a wide range of veterinary and food science peer-reviewed journals. He is part of the Executive Board of the Serbian Veterinary Society, and the Serbian Society of Microbiology, and editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Veterinarski Glasnik.
Dr Milica Mirković, Ph.D. in the field of Technological microbiology, is associate professor at the Department of Technological Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade. She has been gained experience in food microbiology, characterization of potential probiotic characteristics, as well as antibiotic resistance of lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditional Serbian cheeses. She is an expert in the field of molecular microbiology for the identification of bacteria and antimicrobial compounds. Dr Milica Mirković has published over 60 scientific papers, including her doctoral dissertation.
Dr. Novaković has multidisciplinary research experience in pharmacological research with knowledge of a wide range of pharmacological research techniques in examining the effects of natural and synthetic substances and drugs on smooth muscle contractility. Additionally, he is continuously trained in molecular biology techniques including Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Her specific expertise relates to: pharmacological analysis of the effects of natural and synthetic substances as modulators of ion channels in order to relax smooth muscles, qualitative and quantitative analysis of drug residues in different ecosystem niches, DNA isolation, sequencing of the whole genome by NGS, sequencing of fetal free DNA from peripheral blood NIFTY mothers, study of pathophysiological processes that can occur during pregnancy and statistical processing of results and data management.
Dušan Kekić is an assistant professor at the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. He is a doctor of medicine, a specialist in medical microbiology, a subspecialist in bacteriology and a PhD in the field of molecular medicine. He is a member of the National Reference Laboratory for Streptococcus in Serbia. Primary areas of interest are research into the molecular epidemiology of streptococcal and pneumococcal infections and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. He also works on a similar topics related to Gram-negative pathogens causing hospital infections in Serbia, as well as resistance to Helicobacter pylori antibiotics.
Currently, he is involved in the surveillance projects of pneumococcal seroepidemiology and invasive pneumococcal diseases, as well as an institutional subproject dealing with bacterial resistance to antibiotics in hospital settings.
Dr Olja Šovljanski is a Research Associate at Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad. As a PhD in Technology Microbiology and a Specialist in Microbiology safety, she is responsible for the establishment of microbiological safety concepts and cooperation with business entities within the Laboratory of Microbiology. Dr. Olja Šovljanski was/is a participant in 9 (inter)national projects and two COST actions. Her research activities and scientific production are reflected in more than 50 scientific papers (most of them are in Q1 category), two international Springer book chapters, three technical solutions and a patent applied for at the national level, more than 40 publications at international and national conferences, etc. According to the SCOPUSdatabase, her Hirsch index is 11, and her number of citations is 400.
Nemanja Mirković is an assistant professor at the Department of Technological Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade. Nemanja Mirković is a doctor of science in the narrow scientific field of technological microbiology, and his main field of research is antimicrobial compounds effective against multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. He is also intensively involved in molecular microbiology, focusing mainly on the study of the mechanisms of action of antimicrobial compounds on pathogenic bacteria and the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria. He gained experience in the field of molecular microbiology during his PhD studies and training in Norway, Italy, Ireland and Slovenia. He is currently involved in the Erasmus+ project “European Excellence in Dairy Learning” – AEDIL dairy CoVE and is a member of the Association of Microbiologists of Serbia
Jovana Kabić is a research assistant at the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Holding a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology – Microbiology, she is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Prokaryotic Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. Her research primarily focuses on bioinformatic investigations of molecular epidemiology concerning clinical isolates of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, alongside work in genomics and phylogenomics.
Milos Jovicevic, MD is a Teaching Assistant at the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. His main fields of research are Healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance, genetic characterization of bacteria, and biofilm. Also, he is a member of the National Reference Laboratory for streptococci where he is involved in the monitoring of antibacterial susceptibility and molecular epidemiology of streptococci in Serbia. He is a participant in several scientific projects regarding MDR.
Ivan Vićić is a teaching assistant at the Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade. He has attended several trainings in food safety and quality, including the EUFORA—The European Food Risk Assessment (EU-FORA) Fellowship program. He also participated in the COST project CA 18105 – “Risk-based meat inspection and integrated meat safety assurance—RIBMINS.”
Nikola Bajčetić is employed at the Department of Technological Microbiologyas an intern researcher. In his previous scientific work, he was involved in examining the potential probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria, which also includes the examination of antibiotic resistance. He was a participant in the Dairy Summer School program at the University of Cork (Ireland), as part of the ERASMUS + CoVe project. He is the co-author of a total of 5 scientific papers. At the “Ecotrophelia Serbia 2021” competition, with the “Ice Biotic” team, he won first place with goat’s milk ice cream with fiber and encapsulated probiotic bacteria.
Study of Medicine (1983-89), master and PhD thesis at the Univ. of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine (UBFM), Serbia. Specialization and sub-specialization in Clinical Pharmacology, UBFM. Full Professor of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (since 2008). Postdoc at the William Harvey Research Institute, London, UK (1999-2001). Visiting Scientist at the Dept. of Hematology, Oncology and Radiation Physics, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden (2016). Visiting Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC (2017). Clinical Pharmacology Residency Program Chairman, UBFM (since 2021). Former Chairmen of Pharmacology, UBFM. Teaching assignments (undergraduate and postgraduate studies): pharmacology, clinical pharmacology and toxicology; pharmaceutical medicine; laboratory animal science; intensive medicine (role: Faculty, CERTAIN program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA); bioethics (role: Instructor, Research Ethics Master Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai). Clinical pharmacologist at the 3rd level hospital (since 2011). Clinical trial experience: > 10 phase III/IV studies (role: clinical pharmacologist). More than 300 publications (> 80 CC/SCI in extenso publications) and more than 1000 citations in CC/SCI journals. Editor of two international monographs in bioethics. Ongoing research support (co-investigator): COST Action CA19105 and TRACE (The Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia). Member of the Serbian Royal Medical Board.
Dr Ana Tomić is a Teaching Assistant and Research Associate at the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad. She has actively contributed to numerous national and international research projects, including those under the FP7, EUREKA, and COST frameworks. Her primary research interests focus on natural products with antimicrobial potential, food safety, and both applied and environmental microbiology. To date, Dr Tomić has authored over 60 scientific papers and has presented more than 40 contributions at national and international conferences. According to the SCOPUS database, she has a Hirsch index of 17 and her work has been cited 868 times.
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