I am a postdoc working with Dr. Eric Wommack at the University of Delaware. This is my first opportunity to participate in a hydrothermal vent cruise, and I will be primarily investigating the viral communities that inhabit diffuse-flow hydrothermal vent fluid and the interactions that exist between viruses and host cells in hydrothermal environments.
What kinds of questions will you try to answer, and why?
There are several questions that I plan to address regarding hydrothermal vent viral communities including (1) Do vent viral communities differ from viral communities indigenous to other (less extreme) marine environments; morphologically, genetically, or both? (2) Is viral infection an important mechanism of bacterial mortality in hydrothermal vent environments?, and (3) Is lysogeny (a type of virus-host interaction whereby a stable coexistence is established between the virus and host cell upon integration of the viral genome into the genetic material of the host) an important alternative to lytic infection in vent environments?
Why is this research important? What are the benefits?
It is now known that viruses are the most abundant organisms in the marine environment as a whole, outnumbering all other forms of life by at least an order of magnitude. Viruses are believed to play a critical role in shaping marine microbial ecosystems by influencing bacterial growth and diversity, ultimately impacting the flow of carbon and other nutrients in the marine environment. Viruses that enter into lytic and lysogenic interactions with host cells have the potential to influence microbial communities by mediating the transfer of genes from one host cell to another by a mechanism called transduction. Additionally, the establishment of a lysogenic interaction between a virus and host cell is known to impart many benefits to the host such as increased cellular fitness, homoimmunity (the resistance to superinfection by similar strains of viruses), antibiotic resistance, and toxin production.
What’s your background and what lured you into marine science/education?
I remember reading an issue of Ranger Rick, a science magazine for kids, when I was about eight years old and marveling over an article on deep-sea lantern fish. The pictures fascinated me, and I knew from that moment on that I wanted to become a marine scientist “when I grew up.” I grew up in Pennsylvania, where I attended West Chester East High School. I received my B.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, where I first became interested in marine microbiology. I completed my doctoral work at the University of South Florida, where I focused on the study of virus-host interaction in the marine environment. Although my research interests focus primarily on the microbial ecology of marine environments, I have spent many years as an active volunteer for marine mammal stranding programs. I have had the pleasure of assisting in the rehabilitation of everything from seals to a baby sperm whale.
