People | Stephen Craig Cary

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• Comparative physiology, biochemistry and ecology of microbial communities, with a focus on free-living syntrophic bacterial associations in extreme environments (Deep-sea hydrothermal vents and Antarctic Dry Valleys).
• Use of genomic and metagenomic approaches to resolve biochemical adaptations to life in these extreme geochemical environments.
• Evolution of specific microbial metabolic pathways necessary for survival in specific extreme environments.
• Interfacing new bioinformatic capabilities with genomic technologies in the metagenome analysis of complex microbial communities.
• Transcriptome analysis of complex microbial communities to resolve gene function in response to shifts in environmental conditions.
• Use of molecular technology in the development of biological indices to better assess microbial community structure with emphasis on ecosystem health.
• Assessment and enumeration of harmful algal species in marine systems using quantitative molecular approaches.
• Past research has involved frequent oceanographic cruises, and among these participation in 27 hydrothermal vent expeditions (13 as Principal Investigator and  as Chief Scientist).

• Biogeochemistry of cyanobacterial mats and hyporheic zone microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley glacial meltwater streams.
• Metagenomic exploration of virus-host interactions in deep-sea hydrothermal vent.
• A metagenomic investigation of adaptation to prolonged cold and dark conditions of the Lake Vostok microbial community.
• Protistan abundance, diversity and activity in the Deep-Sea and at Hydrothermal vents.
• EPSCoR Research infrastructure improvement grant in complex environmental systems and ecosystem health.
• Quantitative molecular detection of multiple HAB species.
• Genomic sequencing of two globally ubiquitous members of the epsilon proteobacteria found in hydrothermal environments.
• Assessment and monitoring of harmful algal cysts within high nutrient-rich areas of the Delaware Inland Bays.
• Microbial biodiversity and metagenomics of the Ross Desert, Eastern Antarctica.
• Soil biodiversity and response to climate change:  A regional comparison of Cape Hallett and Taylor Valley, Antarctica.

Kathryn Coyne, Assistant Professor, (Ph.D., University of Delaware) - Development of life-stage specific molecular probes for the toxic dinoflagellate, Pfisteria piscicid.

Kevin Portune, M.S. Student, (B.S. Marquette University, Biology) - Biology of marine larvae and early juveniles.

Julie L. Smith Ph.D. student, Marine Biosciences, (M.S., Biology, West Chester University) - Environmental genomics, microbial ecology.

Comparative Physiology, Advanced Marine Molecular Biology, Methods in Molecular Biology, and The Oceans; an oceanography class for non-majors (Newark). Currently advise two students in the Marine Biosciences Program.

Cary, S.C., I.R. McDonald, J.E. Barrett and D. Cowan.  (invited-in prep.).  The microbiology of the Antarctic's Dry Valleys - the coldest, driest place on Earth.  Nature Microb. Reviews.

Soo, R.M., I.R. McDonald, S.A. Wood and S.C. Cary.  (submitted).  Microbial biodiversity of thermophilic communities in hot mineral soils of Tramway Ridge, Mt. Erebus Antarctica.  Environ. Microbiol.

Wood, S.A., K. Jentzsch, A. Rueckert, D.P. Hamilton and C.S. Cary.  (submitted).  Mapping historic cyanobacterial communities in Lake Okaro.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol.

Grzymski, J., A. Murray, B. Campbell, M. Kaplarevic, G. Gao, C. Lee, R. Daniel, A. Ghadiri, R. Feldman and S.C. Cary.  (in review).  Metagenome analysis of an extreme microbial symbiosis reveals eurythermal adaptation and metabolic flexibility.  PNAS.

Williamson, S.J., S.C. Cary, K. Williamson, R.R. Helton, S.R. Bench, D. Winget and K.E. Wommack. (in press).   Lysogenic Virus-Host interactions predominate at deep-sea diffuse-flow hydrothermal vents.  ISME Journal.  

Wood, S.A., A. Ruecket and S.C. Cary.  (in press).  An automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis assay for monitoring planktonic cyanobacteria communities.  Harmful Algae.

Rueckert, A., S.A. Wood and S.C. Cary.  (in press).  Development and field assessment of a quantitative PCR for the detection and enumeration of the noxious bloom-former Anabaena planktonica.  Limnology and Oceanography: Methods.

Wood, S.A., L.L. Rhodes, S.L. Adams, J.E. Adamson, F.K. Smith, J.F. Smith, H.R. Tervit and S.C. Cary.  2008.  Maintenance of cyanotoxin production by cryopreserved cyanobacteria in the New Zealand culture collection.  New Zealand Jounral of Marine and Freshwater Research 42:277-283.

Smith, J. B.J. Campbell, T.E. Hanson, C.J. Zhang and S.C. Cary.  2008.  Nautilia profundicola sp. nov., a thermophilic sulfur-reduciing e-proteobacterium from deep-sea hydrothermal vents IJSEM 58:1598-1602.

*Handy, S.M. E. Demir, D.A. Hutchins, *K.J. Portune, E.B. Whereat, C.E. Hare, J. M. Rose, M. Warner, M. Farestad, S.C. Cary and K.J. Coyne. 2008.  Using quantitative PCR to study competition and community dynamics among Delaware Inland Bay harmful algae in field and laboratory studies.  Harmful Algae 7:599-613.

Wood, S.A., A. Rueckert, D.A. Cowan and S.C. Cary.  2008.  Sources of edaphic cyanobacterial diversity in the Dry Valleys of Eastern Antarctica.  Nature ISME Journal 2:308-320.

Niederberger, T.N., I.R. McDonald, A.L. Hacker, R.S. Soo, J.E. Barett, D.H. Wall and S.C. Cary.  2008.  Microbial community structures of high and low primary productivity soils of Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica.  Environ. Microbiol. 10:1713-1724.

Lee, C.K., S.C. Cary, A.E. Murray amd R. M. Daniel.  2008.  The eurythermalism of Alvinella pompejana and its episymbionts-an enzymic approach.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74:774-782.

Cary, S.C., B.J. Hicks, K.J. Coyne, A. Rueckert, C.E.C. Gemmill and C.M.E. Barnett. 2007.  A sensitive genetic-based detection capability for Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngbye) M. Schmidt:  Final report.  Client report prepared for MAF Biosecurity New Zealand.  CBER Contract Report No. 62.  Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research, Department of Biological Sciences, School of Science and Engineering, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Wood, S.A, A.I. Selwood, A. Rueckert,  P.T. Holland, J.R. Milne, K.F. Smith, B. Sits, L.F. Watts and C.S. Cary.  2007.  First report of homoanatoxin-a and associated dog neurotoxicosis in New Zealand.  Toxicon 50:292-301.

Lee, C.K., R.M. Daniel, C. Shepherd, D. Saul, S.C. Cary, M.J. Danson, R. Eisenthal and M.E. Peterson.  2007.  Eurythermalism and the temperature dependence of enzyme activity.  FASEB J. 21:1934-1941.

Barrett, J.E. R.A. Virginia, D.H. Wall, S.C. Cary, B.J. Adams and J.M. Aislabie. 2006. Co-variation in soil biodiversity and biogeochemistry in Northern and Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica.  Antarctic Science 18:535-548.

Adams, B.J., R. Bardgett, D.E. Ayres, D.H. Wall, J. Aislabie, S. Bamforth, R. Bagagli, S.C. Cary, P. Cavacini, L. Connell, P. Convey, J. Fell, F. Frati, I. Hogg, K. Newsham, T. O'Donnell, N. Russell, R. Seppelt and M.I. Stevens.  2006.  Diversity and distribution of Victoria lLand biota.  Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38:3003-3018.

Hogg, I., S.C. Cary, A. O'Donnell, K. Newsham, B.J. Adams, J. Aislabie, P. Convey, F. Frati, M. Stevens and D.H. Wall.  2006.  Biotic interactions in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems:  are they a factor?  Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38:3035-3040.

Coyne, K.J., C.E. Hare, D.A. Hutchins and S.C. Cary. 2006. Distritution of Pfiesteria piscicida cyst populations in sediments of the Delaware Inland Bays, USA.  Harmful Algae 5:363-373.

Smith, J.J., Ah Tow, L., W. Stafford, S.C. Cary and D.A. Cowan.  2006.  Bacterial diversity in three different Antarctic cold-desert mineral soils.  Microb. Ecol. 51:

Alison R. Sipe, M.S., 1998.  Thesis: "Bacterial symbiont transmission in the wood boring bivale Bankia setecea (Fm. Teredinidae)."

Benjamin R. Wheeler, M.S., 2006. Thesis:  "A biodiversity study of high temperature mud pool microbial communities:  implications of regional/geographical isolation and endemism."

Carol A. DiMeo, Ph.D., 2001.  Dissertation:  Characterization of the physicochemical microhabitat and epibiotic bacterial communited associated with Alvinella pompejana, a hydrothermal vent annelid."

Elizabeth A. McCliment, Ph.D., 2007.  Dissertation:  "Phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of microbial communities inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystems." 

In the News

"Molecular Biology Reaches New Extremes: Scientists Conduct First DNA Field Tests on Antarctic Soil Microbes"
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"Scientists Succeed at First-Ever Attempt to Sequence DNA at Sea Pioneering technologies allow real-time squencing of organisms from hydrothermal vents in Pacific"
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"Scientists Determine How Chemistry Keeps Weird Worms “Out of Hot Water” at Steaming Deep-Sea Vents" Previous University of Delaware research confirmed that the Pompeii worm is the most heat-tolerant animal on Earth, able to survive an environment nearly hot enough to boil water. Covering this deep-seaworm's back is a fleece of bacteria. These microbes may possess heat-stable enzymes useful in a variety of applications, such as pharmaceutical production, food processing, paper and textile manufacture, and others.
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Video

View Pompeii Worm Video

Research Cruises

Extreme 2000 Voyage to the Deep
January 12 - January 23, 2000
Guaymas, MX - Manzanillo, MX

Extreme 2001 - A Deep Sea Odyssey
October 15 - November 1, 2001
(Puntarenas, Costa Rica - Manzanillo, MX)

Extreme 2002 - Mission to the Abyss
October 20 - November 12, 2002
(San Diego CA - Puntarenas, Costa Rica)