Dr. Andrew Giguere
My research interests are focused on the environmental factors driving the in-situ function of soil microbial communities. My current research is focused on investigating the ecophysiology of acidobacteria in both soil systems and in pure culture isolates from soil. Acidobacteria are present in most soils and frequently among the most abundant bacteria, however the reasons for their ubiquity and success remain unclear. My research examines the influence of hydrogen (H2) utilization by pure cultures of mesophilic heterotrophic acidobacteria isolated from soils, and the potential for H2 utilization to for generating maintenance energy during periods of starvation. I am also currently investigating the distribution of high affinity acidobacterial hydrogenases across diverse soil environments and determining how potentially widespread acidobacteria hydrogenases are in soils.
Additionally, I have research interests related to my previous work examining the factors influencing the relative contributions of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea as well as nitrite oxidizing bacteria to nitrification in diverse soil environments.
