To Clarify: Andrea turned 40 this year but his latest post graduate title is lass than 7 years and he had two paternity leaves. For this reasons I'm supporting his candidacy

1. His research focused on the development, validation and evaluation of molecular tools and approaches based on the detection of genetic mutations for rapid diagnosis of DR-TB. He performed key original work on technologies for NGS/WGS and and contributed to several multicenter studies addressing the performance and feasibility of rapid assays from MTB clinical isolates and patient samples to inform their use under surveillance or routine conditions in settings at different burden of DR-TB.

2. His research also addressed the investigation of the molecular mechanisms associated with the emergence of phenotypic resistance to first, second line and new/repurposed anti-TB drugs, and the validation of genetic mutations predicting resistance profiles. The generation of large-scale and standardized mutation databases would then inform the development of comprehensive and accurate rapid tools for DR-TB detection.

Since 2013 he has been directly involved in the Global Project on Anti-TB Drug Resistance Surveillance coordinated by the WHO through country supporting and capacity building activities under SRL Milan and external consultancies to the Global TB Programme, and also other international agencies. He assisted country programmes and laboratories in the implementation and optimal utilization of emerging DR-TB detection approaches, such as genetic sequencing. To date sequencing technique has been incorporated into national drug resistance surveys