BIT 210: Phage Hunters

Overview:

• This is a mentored research course for first-year students.
• Students will isolate and characterize naturally-occurring bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria, but not humans) from the environment.
• Students will create a research poster to present their data.
• The genome of (at least) one phage will be sequenced.
• Students have the option to continue in a second semester to annotate that genome, culminating in submission to GenBank.
• Students in the course are part of the Science Education Alliance, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Lab Sessions:

• Phage isolation from soil using direct and enriched methodology
• Purification using plaque assays
• Characterization to determine plaque morphology and titer
• DNA extraction
• Electron micrograph sample preparation and analysis