Curtis A. Suttle is a Canadian microbiologist and oceanographer who is a faculty member at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. Suttle is a Distinguished University Professor who holds appointments in Earth & Ocean Sciences, Botany, Microbiology & Immunology and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. On 29 December, 2021 he was named to the Order of Canada. His research is focused on the ecology of

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are found in almo ...

in marine systems as well as other natural environments.

Biography

Suttle completed both his bachelor's and doctoral degrees at the

. He worked in several positions at the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

from 1987 to 1988 before joining the faculty at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

's Marine Science Institute. In 1996, he returned to the

as a tenure-line faculty member, where he currently holds the rank of Professor and Distinguished University Scholar. Suttle was the Associate Dean for Research of the Faculty of Science from 2001 to 2013.

Research

Suttle completed his doctoral studies under the guidance of Paul J. Harrison. Suttle's research focused on nitrogen and phosphorus as well as grazing effects on freshwater phytoplankton. He published his first paper on viruses in marine systems in 1990 – the paper was co-authored by Amy Chan and then graduate student Matt Cottrell and focused on the lysis of eukaryotic

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

. Since then, he has published numerous paper on viruses infecting

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

, phytoplankton and invertebrate grazers. In 1999, he co-authored the first paper to describe the

viral shunt The viral shunt is a mechanism that prevents marine microbial particulate organic matter (POM) from migrating up trophic levels by recycling them into dissolved organic matter (DOM), which can be readily taken up by microorganisms. The DOM recyc ...

with his former postdoctoral fellow Steven Wilhelm. This work was awarded the John H Martin Award from the

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as the Limnological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, is a scientific society established in 1936 with the goal of advan ...

(ASLO) in 2021, in recognition for the paper establishing the importance of viruses in

biogeochemical cycles A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cyc ...

. Along with this work, he has contributed high-profile publications in the journals ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', and ''

Nature Reviews Microbiology ''Nature Reviews Microbiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 2003. The journal publishes reviews and perspectives on microbiology, bridging fundamental research and its clinical, ind ...

''. From his publications, Suttle has an

Erdős number The Erdős number () describes the "collaborative distance" between mathematician Paul Erdős and another person, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers. The same principle has been applied in other fields where a particular individual ...

of 3 (having published with

Eugene Koonin Eugene Viktorovich Koonin (Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Ку́нин; born October 26, 1956) is a Russian-American biologist and Senior Investigator at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). He is a recognis ...

). Suttle's interests continue to focus on viruses, and include the continued development of biomolecular tools to study virus diversity and function in natural systems. His lab (work led by graduate student Matthias Fisher) was the first to describe the ''

Cafeteria roenbergensis virus ''Cafeteria roenbergensis'' virus (CroV), scientific name ''Rheavirus sinusmexicani'', is a giant virus that infects the marine bicosoecid flagellate ''Cafeteria roenbergensis'', a member of the microzooplankton community. History The virus was ...

''. In 2019 his research team uncovered a series of viruses in endangered

Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'', from Ancient Greek ὄγκος (''ónkos''), meaning "bend", and ῥύγχος (''rhúnkhos''), meaning "snout", is a genus of ray-finned fish in the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae, native to coldwater tributarie ...

populations.

Awards and honors

Suttle received NSERC undergraduate (1982–1984) and postdoctoral (1988) awards as part of his training. He was elected as a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life" ...

in 2008, appointed to

The Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2021, received the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science in 2010, the Timothy R Parson Medal for Excellence in Ocean Sciences in 2011, and the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for excellence in limnology or oceanography. He was elected to the

American Academy of Microbiology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in 2014, and named a sustaining Fellow of ASLO in 2016. In 2004, he was given the Teaching Award in Environmental Earth Sciences from the University of British Columbia Department of Earth & Ocean Sciences.

References

Canadian microbiologists Canadian oceanographers Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Scientists from British Columbia Members of the Order of Canada 20th-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Canadian biologists {{DEFAULTSORT:Suttle, Curtis Year of birth missing (living people) Living people