Welcome to the Hub of the OMIC-Engine National Hellenic Research Infrastructure at Democritus University of Thrace.

OMIC-Engine is the National Hellenic Research Infrastructure on Synthetic Biology and aims to develop and promote Synthetic Biology in research, education and industry. OMIC-Engine is a distributed Research Infrastructure with four major Hubs operating at Democritus University of Thrace, at the University of Patras, at the National Technical University of Athens and at the University of Thessaly which coordinates OMIC-Engine.

OMIC-Engine was established in 2018, is one of the 28 Research Infrastructures funded by the Operational program "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (NSRF 2014-2020) with a total budget of 4 million euros and its activities focus mainly on the Agro-Food sector.

Ιn the context of the development of the OMIC-Engine Research Infrastructure the Hub of Democritus University of Thrace acquired a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform which greatly enhanced its research potential by introducing a wide range of targeted, microbial and transcriptomic NGS applications.

Visit the OMIC-Engine webpage

• • 8 - 12 October 2021 Five-day Hands-on Training School on Microbiome Sequencing and Data Analysis, Alexandroupolis Greece. Organized by the DUTH Hub of OMIC-Engine.
• • 12th Congress of the Panhellenic Association of BioscientistsNovember 27-29 2020, Athens, Greece. Tsirka, T., Sagropoulou S., Stergioudis, E., Chatzisavva, K., Skavdis, G., Kolovos, P. & M. Grigoriou.“Development of a complete next-generation sequencing protocol and its use for the comparative study of the prokaryotic microbiome of wine grape varieties”.
• • 12th Congress of the Panhellenic Association of Bioscientists November 27-29 2020, Athens, Greece. Tsirka, T., Chatzis, S., Skavdis, G., Kolovos, P. & M. Grigoriou. Analysis of the procaryotic microbiome innovel liquid fermented organicfertilizer”.
• • Researcher’s night at Athena Research Institute, September 19, 2019 Tsirka, T., Kourkoutas I., Skavdis, G., & M. Grigoriou. “Unraveling the local character of wine using tools of the 21st century".
• • Researcher’s night at Athena Research Institute, September 19, 2019. Stylianopoulou, E. Tsirka, T., Avramidou, G., Kirtsios, S., Kourkoutas I.., M. Grigoriou, Skavdis, G., & Palaiologou, K. “Essential oils from greek plants in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases”.
• • 41st Annual Conference of the Hellenic Society for Biological Sciences. 9-11 May 2019, Katerini, Greece. Tsirka, T., Kourkoutas, I., Skavdis, G., Kolovos, P. & M. Grigoriou. “Molecular identification of the grape microbiome in viniculture varieties of Eastern Macedonia - Thrace”.
• • 41st Annual Conference of the Hellenic Society for Biological Sciences. 9-11 May 2019, Katerini, Greece.Stylianopoulou, E., Avramidou,G., Kirtsios, S., Grigoriou, M., Skavdis, G.& Palaiologou, K. “Development of a biosensor for the screening of candidate molecules inhibiting α-synuclein aggregation”.
• • 5th Education & Research Conference of the Medical School of Democritus University of Thrace, 1-18 May 2019 Αlexandroupolis, Greece. M. Grigoriou. “The National Hellenic Research Infrastructure on Synthetic Biology at Democritus University of Thrace: developing new perspectives in research at the hub of OMIC-Engine at Democritus University of Thrace”.
• • DUTH meeting Research in the Region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace: Synergies for Innovation and Knowledge tools of Social Welfare 15 May 2019 Komotini, Greece. M. Grigoriou. “The National Hellenic Research Infrastructure on Synthetic Biology at Democritus University of Thrace and the development of Region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace”.
• • Newsletter with the presentation of OMIC-Engine Hub of Democritus University of Thrace

Our expertise covers a wide range of methodologies of Molecular Biosciences and offers to academic and industrial usersaccess to technologies and services:

• • DNA analysis and molecular identification of species/varieties in agricultural production.
• • Analysis of food quality characteristics (microbiological control, pathogen control, acidity, sugars, organic fatty acids and alcohols, volatile compounds in food, etc.).
• • Antimicrobial activity of natural products for use as bio-preservatives in foodstuffs.
• • Design and development of functional foods using probiotic microbial strains
• • Microbiome Sequencing and analysis in various samples.
• • Monitoring of the resistance of insects to insecticides.
• • Molecular profiling.
• • Small whole genome sequencing and analysis.