Phage Genomics RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Program Overview
The Phage Genomics Research Initiative is an exciting and innovative opportunity for freshmen biology majors entering UC San Diego to acquire hands-on research experience.
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Participation in the program is by invitation only. Freshmen who are invited to apply will be contacted individually and given the website information for application.
Students accepted into the Phage Genomics Research program will learn how to approach research problems creatively. Research will focus on bacteriophage, rapidly evolving viruses that infect bacteria. Students will isolate new bacteriophage from the environment and sequence and characterize their genomes. A goal is for the results to be published in scientific journals with the students listed as co-authors.
Selected students who participate in the program for will earn course credit toward their Biology degree. Participation in the program will count for biology majors' BILD 4 requirement as well as their upper-division biology lab requirement.
UC San Diego is one of only 12 universities nationwide previously selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to offer this program to our students through HHMI's Science Education Alliance (SEA).
Student Testamonial
I was chosen from my class to go to the Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, VA to present research from my phage class in June 2019. As a freshman, I’d never thought I would ever have such an opportunity to attend a research conference that early on in my academic career. The class itself was incredible for me to learn about a field I knew almost nothing about (I work in Dr. Pogliano’s lab now, studying jumbo phage!) but the conference really expanded upon that. I got to hear from dozens of other students and quickly learned how we all approached phage isolation and characterization differently. We all had wildly different projects, but every single one showed me something I hadn’t considered I met dozens of students from all over the country and world - one of the first international programs from Nigeria participated in my cohort and presented incredible findings. I had the chance to network with world class scientists, explore a state of the art medical research facility, and develop my own research and speaking skills far beyond what they had been previously. I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. To anyone considering the phage program, I highly recommend it.
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- Avani Mylvara, Class of 2022