Dr. Eric Schott

PROGRAM DIRECTOR (UMCES-IMET)

Associate Research Professor, Institute of Marine & Environmental Technology (IMET)
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES)

Phone: (410) 234-8881 | Email: schott@umces.edu | Fax: (410) 234-8896

Website | Curriculum Vitae 

Serves on the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission,  2010 – present

Education

Harvard University Medical School, Boston, MA (1993)
Ph.D., Genetics

Reed College, Portland OR (1985)
B.A., Biology

Research Interests

  1. Molecular parasitology and biotechnology
  2. Development and application of molecular tools to discover and monitor marine pathogens, with a focus on viruses of invertebrates
  3. Novel approaches to discovering marine and aquaculture pathogens
  4. Science communication with nonscientists in urban and fishing communities 

Selected Publications

  1. Flowers, E.F., Bachvaroff, T.R., Warg, J.V., Neill, J.D., Killian, M.L., Vinagre, A.S., Almeida, A., Zhan, Y., Schott, E.J. 2016. Genome sequence analysis of CsRV1, a pathogenic reovirus that infects the blue crab Callinectes sapidus across its trans-hemispheric range. Frontiers In Microbiology. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00126.
  2. Flowers, E.F., Simmonds, K., Messick, G.A., Sullivan, L., Schott, E.J. 2015. PCR-based prevalence of a fatal reovirus of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun (1896), along the northern Atlantic coast of the USA. J Fish Disease. DOI: 10.1111/jfd.12403.
  3. Rogers H., Taylor S., Hawke J., Schott E., Anderson Lively J. 2015. Prevalence of blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) diseases, parasites, and commensals at shedding facilities in Louisiana, USA. Dis. Aquat. Org. 112: 207–217.
  4. Pié, HV, Schott, EJ, Mitchelmore, CL. 2015. Investigating physiological, cellular and molecular effects in juvenile blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, exposed to field-collected sediments contaminated by oil from the Deepwater Horizon Incident. Sci of the Total Env. 532:528-539.
  5. Chung JS, Pitula JS, Schott E, Alvarez JV, Maurer L, Lycett KA. 2015. Elevated water temperature increases the levels of reo-like virus and selected innate immunity genes in hemocytes and hepatopancreas of adult female blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Fish Shellfish Immunol. 47:511-520.
  6. Gandy, R., Schott, E.J., Crowley, C., Leone, E.H. 2015. The correlation of temperature with annual changes in prevalence of Hematodinium perezi in blue crab Callinectes sapidus in Florida Dis. Aquat. Org. 113:235.
  7. Schreier, H. and Schott, E. J. 2015. Draft genome sequence of the shellfish bacterial pathogen Vibrio sp. strain B183. Genome Announcements.2 (5), e00914-14.
  8. Schreier, H. and Schott, E. J. 2014. Draft genome sequence of the oyster larval probiotic bacterium Vibrio sp. strain OY15. Genome Announcements. 2 (5), e01006-14.
  9. Small, H.J., Miller, T.L., Coffey, A.H., Delaney, K.L., Schott, E. and Shields, J.D. 2013. Discovery of an opportunistic starfish pathogen, Orchitophrya stellarum, in captive blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus. J Invert Pathol. 114:178-185
  10. Hanif, A., Dyson, D., Bowers, H., Messick, G., Jagus, R. and E. Schott. 2013. Variation in temporal and spatial incidence of the crustacean pathogen Hematodinium perezi in environmental samples from Atlantic coastal bays. Aquatic Biosystems. 9:11
  11. Lim, H. J., Kapareiko, D., Schott, E. J., Hanif, A., and G. H. Wikfors. 2011. Isolation and evaluation of a new. Probiotic bacteria for use in shellfish aquaculture hatcheries: I. Isolation and screening for bioactivity. J. Shellfish Res.30:609-615
  12. Kapareiko, D., Lim, H. J., Schott, E. J., Hanif, A., and G. H. Wikfors. 2011. Isolation and evaluation of a new, probiotic bacteria for use in shellfish aquaculture hatcheries: II. Effects of a Vibrio sp. probiotic candidate upon survival of oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) in pilotscale trials. J. Shellfish Res. 30:617-625
  13. Bowers, H. A., Messick, G., Hanif, A., Jagus, R., Carrion, L., Zmora, O., and Schott, E.J. 2010. The physicochemical properties of double stranded RNA used to discover a reo-like virus from blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), Dis. Aquat. Org. 93:17
  14. Sandeep J. J., Fernández-Robledo, J., Gardner, M.J., El-Sayed, N.M., Kuo, C-H, Schott, E.J., Wang, H, Kissinger, H.C., and Gerardo R. Vasta. 2010. The Alveolate Perkinsus marinus: Biological Insights from EST Gene Discovery BMC Genomics, 11:228.

Biosketch

Dr. Eric J. Schott received his B.A. from Reed College, Portland OR and his Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University Medical School, Boston, MA. Dr. Schott began his work with the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in Baltimore, Maryland in 1997. He assumed his present position in 2010 as Research Assistant Professor for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET).

Dr. Schott is active in science education and watershed preservation, and has served on the boards of related nonprofits since 2006. Over the summer of 2016 he hosted local high school teachers learning about biodiversity in Baltimore Harbor and mentored a high school intern who studied blue crab health. Recent outreach activity includes science fair judging in the Baltimore City Schools (May 23, 2016), a “Bay Day” Blue crab demonstration (May 14, 2016) at the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center in Tilghman Island, and a public lecture (April 12, 2016) at the Chesapeake Biological Lab: “Why do blue crab numbers change from year to year?” He has made presentations to state legislative committees on matters related to Bay health in 2014 and 2016. Dr. Schott has served on the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission since 2010.

NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Lead Institution)
(410) 651-7870
Award numbers: FY 2021 Award #NA21SEC4810005
Funding Agency: NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI)

Scroll to Top