Director of the Institute and Professor Tine Rask Licht, Professor and Research Group Leader Frank Møller Aarestrup, and Professor and Centre Director Fredrik Bäckhed, who is also based at the University of Gothenburg, have all been designated by Clarivate as among the most cited researchers in 2025.
Being named a “Highly Cited Researcher 2025” means that their research over the past eleven years has been cited repeatedly by colleagues around the world. Their publications are among the top one per cent most cited within their fields in the Web of Science Core Collection database, which places them among the international elite in terms of scientific impact. In total, DTU has 18 researchers on Clarivate’s list.
- Tine Rask Licht conducts research into how gut microbiome and diet affect health. She is part of the leadership of the Microbiome Health Initiative, a virtual centre funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and anchored at the DTU National Food Institute. This is the first time she appears on the list, where she is included under the “Cross-Field” category, which covers a range of topics, including microbiology.
- Frank Møller Aarestrup is internationally recognised for his research on antimicrobial resistance and global surveillance of resistant bacteria in animals, food and humans. He appears in the 2025 list within two categories, “Microbiology” and “Pharmacology and Toxicology”, and has for several years been included on Clarivate’s list of the most cited researchers.
- Fredrik Bäckhed is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Gothenburg and Professor at the DTU National Food Institute, where he directs the Microbiome Health Initiative together with Tine Rask Licht. The centre aims to identify possible causal relationships between gut bacteria and cardiometabolic diseases. Fredrik Bäckhed has likewise been on the list for several years and appears within two categories, “Microbiology” and “Molecular Biology and Genetics”.
About Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list
In 2025 Clarivate’s list comprises 6,868 researchers, who together receive 7,131 Highly Cited Researcher distinctions across 60 countries and regions.
For the DTU National Food Institute, this demonstrates not only that the Institute publishes extensively, but also that it helps to set the international agenda for how researchers and decision-makers understand the relationships between food, microbiome and health.
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Find out more about the research at the DTU National Food Institute.
