PhD student Julia Andronache from the University of Vienna has been awarded the prestigious “Testing for Life” Student Award by AOAC INTERNATIONAL and the Eurofins Foundation.

Andronache holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Food Chemistry from the University of Vienna. Her doctoral research is supervised by Prof. Margit Cichna-Markl at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry, in collaboration with Mag. Rupert Hochegger and Dr. Stefanie Dobrovolny from the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). The research is conducted at AGES’ Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology within the Institute for Food Safety Vienna.

Her work focuses on advancing analytical techniques to ensure food authenticity and safety, addressing the growing issue of food fraud, particularly in the seafood sector. By developing innovative DNA metabarcoding methods, she enables the simultaneous identification of multiple seafood species – even in highly processed or mixed products. The goal is to integrate these molecular approaches into regulatory control systems, thereby protecting consumers and providing legal certainty for producers.

The award was presented during the AOAC INTERNATIONAL Annual Meeting 2025 in San Diego, where Andronache shared her research findings with an international audience.

"Reliable analytical methods are crucial, as food fraud is becoming an increasing global concern. I’m truly honored that AOAC International and the Eurofins Foundation have recognized our project with this award,” said Julia Andronache.