La!DOM was born from an idea of Alfredo Seritti, who together with Luciano Nannicini, began studying the dynamics of the DOM in the Mediterranean Sea in 1998, filling a huge gap in the understanding of the carbon cycle in the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2009, after Alfredo retirement, Chiara Santinelli has been the coordinator of the group.
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La!DOM in brief
La!DOM, research group at the Institute of Biophysics (CNR), was the first group in Italy to develop the method for the treatment of samples and the analysis of the concentration of DOC in seawater. Since 2000, we have collected more than 10,000 samples from all over the Mediterranean Sea reaching waters as deep as 5 km. Today, La!DOM expertise in the study of the dynamics of the DOM in the Mediterranean Sea is internationally recognized.
Our research activities in brief:
- Role of the Mediterranean Sea in the global carbon cycle
- DOM biological lability
- DOM dynamics in rivers
- Atmospheric deposition of DOM
- Optical properties (absorption and fluorescence) of CDOM
- Use of fluorescence as an indicator of organic contamination
- Fluorescence sensor for DOM detection
- Extracellular enzimatic activity
- DOM release from bioplastics
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“When someone says the DOM is not important!” The name of the group was born from a meme on Chiara’s birthday card. In Italian, DOM is feminine so we should say “La DOM”, but everybody says “il DOM” (masculine), and this makes Chiara furious!
Chiara Santinelli
I am a marine biologist, I love the sea and I'm making true my dream to coordinate a research group of beautiful people with whom I study the ocean and the climate change.