Tsvetan Bachvaroff

• DNA sequence analysis from data collection, assembly, annotation and phylogeny
• Culture independent methods such as single cell PCR, sequencing, and sequence analysis
• Establishing dinoflagellate cultures

In addition to receiving his Certificate in Emergency Medical Services and serving as a Paramedic with the Baltimore City Fire Department for four years, Tsvetan Bachvaroff received his B.A. degree from Johns Hopkins University and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland College Park. He was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center of Marine Biotechnology and subsequently with the Smithsonian Institution. He assumed his present position in 2013 as Research Assistant Professor for the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) at The University System of Maryland.

Dr. Bachvaroff has received numerous academic awards, including the William Trager Award from the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology / International Society of Protistologists, Best Graduate student poster / Bioscience day / University of Maryland College Park, the Marsho award for best student presentation / Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Society for Plant Biology, the Outstanding Teacher’s Assistant Award / Center for Teaching Excellence / University of Maryland College Park, and the Chemistry Prize / Trinity School / New York.

Presently his research is focused on dinoflagellate evolution with special emphasis on the parasitic dinoflagellates, using large scale sequencing and phylogenetic methods to describe the evolutionary history of different types of genes in dinoflagellates.