Christopher Sinigalliano, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Scientist, SERC/Environmental Molecular Biology/Microbiology

Dr. Sinigalliano's research interests involve the application of molecular genetic methods such as nucleic acid amplification, geneprobes, etc. to microbial ecology. His research has primarily focused on genetic investigations of nitrifying bacteria, particularly ammonium-oxidizing bacteria. He has investigated variations in the genes encoding the enzyme ammoma monooxygenase among populations of nitrifying bacteria in a variety of South Florida habitats, including open ocean waters, coastal and estuarine waters, and fresh waters of the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. He is also involved in adapting molecular methodologies such as flourescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and prokaryotic in situ PCR (piPCR) to study ecological processes such as nitrification, denitrification, nitrogen fixation, and carbon fixation at the level of individual microorganisms in marine microbial communities. He is the FIU Co-PI of a multi-institutional research project titled "In situ activity and Functional Diversity of Microbes Linking Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in Marine Ecosystems: Tandem Application of in situ PCR and Biogeochemical Measurements", funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Biotechnological Investigations-Ocean Margins Program (BI-OMP).