The research activity of the laboratory, is related not only to issues of quality of life control but also epidemiological studies concerning the issues of quality of life as well as risk assessment for Public Health. Indicatively some of the research programs that are implemented in the laboratory are:
– Archimedes III, Wastesafe: Waste Reuse – Development of a Public Health Risk Assessment Model
– Alternative food disinfection techniques and risk assessment for Public Health

FOOD:
-Birmpa Angeliki, Vantarakis Apostolos, Paparrodopoulos Spyros, Whyte Paul and Lyng James, «Efficacy of three light technologies for reducing microbial populations in liquids”, BioMed Research International, Volume 2014, Article ID 673939, 9 pages, 2014.
– P.A. Kokkinos, P.G. Ziros, M. Bellou, A. Vantarakis, «Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) for the Detection of Salmonella in Food», Food Analytical Methods, 7: 512-556, DOI 10.1007/s12161-013-9748-8, 2014.
WATER:
– A. Vantarakis, M. Smaili, I. Detorakis, G. Vantarakis, M. Papapetropoulou. “Diachronic long-term surveillance of bacteriological quality of bottled water in Greece (1995-2010)”, Food Control, 2013; 33:63-67
– Apostolos Vantarakis, Kassiani Mellou, Georgia SpalA, Petros Kokkinos and Yiannis Alamanos. “A Gastroenteritis Outbreak Caused by Noroviruses in Greece”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2011, 8, 3468-3478
ENVIROMENTAL SAMPLES:
-Panos G Ziros, Petros A Kokkinos, Euaggelia Legaki and Apostolos Vantarakis. “Development of an optimized method for the detection of airborne viruses with real-time PCR analysis”, Virology Journal 2011, 8:369
-P.A.Kokkinos, P.G.Ziros, D.Meri, S.Philippidou, S.Kolla, A.Galanis and A.Vantarakis “Environmental surveillance. An additional/alternative approach for the virological surveillance in Greece?” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8, 1914-1922
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES:
– A.Papachatzopoulou, A.Kourakli, E.F.Stavrou, E.Fragou, A.Vantarakis, G.P.Patrinos, A.Athanassiadou “Region-specific genetic heterogeneity of HBB mutation distribution in South-Western Greece” 2010, Haemoglobin 34 (4), pp. 333-342
– Vantarakis A, Nearxou A, Pagonidis D, Melegos F, Seretidis J, Kokkinos P, Zarkadis I, Parasidis T, Alamanos Y. An outbreak of hepatitis A in Roma populations living in three prefectures in Greece. Epidemiol Infect. 2010:138(7):1025-1031.

The Environmental Microbiology Unit of the Hygiene Laboratory of the Department of Medicine of the University of Patras maintains important collaborations with many individuals, associations [i.e. Patras Swim School, Agrolab RDS], private companies [i.e. Loux, Krinos, Health & Life Waters Filters] and public bodies [i.e. EFET, DEYAP]