Application form for InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship ...

!Dr. Debbie MiltonInterRidge CoordinatorNational Oceanography Centre, SouthamptonUniversity of Southampton Waterfront CampusEuropean WaySouthampton SO14 3ZHUKMarch 31 st , 2011Re.: Letter of support for Mr. Donato GiovannelliDear Dr. Milton,It is a pleasure to write a letter of support for Donato Giovannelli’s application for an InterRidge fellowship. Donato is a PhDcandidate from CNR – ISMAR Ancona, Italy, who contacted me about a year ago expressing his intention to join mylaboratory to work on the microbiology of hydrothermal vents as part of his PhD research. In November, 2010, after securingsufficient funding, Donato traveled from Italy to Rutgers University and joined my laboratory for a few months.I was immediately impressed by Donato’s ability to work independently and think critically. He arrived with his own set ofsamples that he collected during an expedition on the shallow water hydrothermal system of Milos Island, Greece. After justa few weeks, Donato succeeded to isolate a microaerobic, chemolithoautotrophic bacterium that belongs to a new genusand, at the same time, he carried a study to characterize the composition of the microbial communities associated with theMilos vent system using culture-independent approaches. This study will become part of his PhD thesis.Donato is now applying to the InterRidge Fellowship Program to request funds to spend a few more months in my laboratoryin the near future to carry out a study on chemosynthetic microbial biofilms from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The studythat he is proposing in his application will focus on the active microbial communities that colonize “bare basalt” vents alongthe 9 to 13°N section of the East Pacific Rise (EPR), and the resulting data will be compared to the shallow-water systemdataset.I will be glad to provide Donato with the laboratory space, samples, equipment and supplies, along with my supervision andexpertise, necessary to carry out the proposed project. In my laboratory we store biofilm samples that were collected fromthe EPR during a series of oceanographic expedition, and we maintain a culture collections of over 400 bacteria isolatedfrom deep-sea environments.Donato is a hard working, independent, extremely motivated student and, based on my previous experience with him, I haveno doubts that he will succeed in carrying out the proposed work. I am looking forward to continue to work with Donato.Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information.Sincerely,Costantino VetrianiAssociate ProfessorDirector, Microbiology Undergraduate ProgramInstitute of Marine and Coastal Sciences andDepartment of Biochemistry and MicrobiologyRutgers University71 Dudley RoadNew Brunswick, NJ 08901Phone: (732) 932-6555x373 (Office)Fax: (732) 932-6557http://marine.rutgers.edu/deep-seamicrobiology/R U T G E R S, T H E S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W J E R S E Y