K. Eric Wommack, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
Graduate College of Marine and Earth Studies
University of Delaware
Delaware Biotechnology Institute
15 Innovation Way
Newark, DE 19711
Phone: (302) 831-4362
Fax: (302) 831-3409
E-Mail: wommack@dbi.udel.edu
Web Site: www.virusecology.org
Education
Ph.D., Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland, 1998
M.Sc., Physiology, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1990
B.S. (hons) Biology, Emory University, 1987
B.A. Economics, Emory University, 1987
Research Interests:
The varied research interests of my lab are connected through the creative use of molecular genetic tools to investigate population-level processes occurring in microbial communities. Primary among these interests are investigations on the role of viruses and viral infection in microbial communities. Current projects seek to understand to what extent viral infection influences the composition and diversity of bacterial and phytoplankton host communities. In the course of this research we are examining virus populations in estuarine and coastal waters as well as deep-sea hydrothermal environments. Additional research projects include microbial degradation of chiral organic pollutant compounds in soils and water and development of in situ molecular detection methods for free living nitrogen fixing bacteria. Peer-reviewed publications reporting Dr. Wommack's research can be found in Nature, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Limnology and Oceanography, and Microbial and Molecular Biology Reviews.
Dr. Wommack's doctoral work was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Rita R. Colwell at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Center of Marine Biotechnology. His post-doctoral work was supported through a National Research Council post-doctoral fellowship for research in the laboratories of Drs. David L. Lewis and A. Wayne Garrision at the US EPA laboratory in Athens, Georgia as well as the laboratory of Dr. Robert E. Hodson at the University of Georgia.
