My study focuses on two main topics:
1) Characterization of molecular, biochemical and microbiological
aspects of microorganisms (Rhodococcus spp.) involved in the
degradation/transformation of environmental organic pollutants. In
particular, my research work is aimed at describing functional and
regulatory genes/metabolic pathways involved in the degradation of
environmental contaminants such as aliphatic and aromatic
hydrocarbons, chlorinated compounds and naphthenic acids. The analysis of complete genomes of Rhodococcus spp. isolated from contaminated sites, the study of the expression of metabolic genes (eg. alkane monooxygenases) and the evaluation of cellular response to different stress conditions are aimed at optimizing bioremediation and biotrasformation processes.
2) The molecular and functional characterization of microbial communities from extreme enviroments (e.g. caves). In this regard, highthroughtput DNA/RNA sequencing technologies are used and the bioinformatic analysis of Next-Generation Sequencing data is performed to study the biodiversity of microbial communities and their interaction with the environments (e.g. biomineralization, methanotrophy, methanogenesis). These studies are aimed at discovering novel microbial genera/species and peculiar metabolic genes for biotechnological purposes.
