How does the program work?
Lehigh University is one of only twelve institutions selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance (SEA) to participate in cohort II of the National Genomics Research Initiative. Students selected for the program will participate in a two semester research-focused phage genomics course in which novel bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) will be isolated from local soil samples and their complete genomes characterized by sequencing and gene annotation methods. Students will learn a variety of techniques that span several disciplines, including microbiology, molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics. This phage project is an outgrowth of research interests of Professor Graham Hatfull (University of Pittsburgh) who studies the molecular genetics of mycobacteria and the viruses that infect them.
All institutional members of the SEA and HHMI SEA staff are connected by the Internet, allowing data to be shared and discussed. Lehigh SEA faculty and one student will also present their research findings near the end of the spring semester at an HHMI-sponsored symposium. In this manner, research results from Lehigh students will be disseminated to other faculty and students in the SEA, creating a nationwide community of scholars in pursuit of understanding how mycobacteriophage genomes are organized.
Fall 2009 semester
Students will enroll in a special section of BioS Core II laboratory (BioS 195: Bio Core II: Lehigh in the SEA; 2 credits). This course will meet twice a week and will substitute for the BioS Core II genetics laboratory requirement (BioS 116). Students will also enroll in BioS 115 (Bio Core II: Genetics) as a corequisite for the SEA course.
Students will isolate and purify mycobacteriophages from local soils. Physical features of phages will be determined by electron microscopy and genome profiles will be obtained by DNA analysis. Purified DNA from a novel phage(s) will be sent to the Joint Genome Institute for sequencing.
Spring 2010 semester
Students will continue in the SEA project by enrolling in a new course, BioS 196 (Lehigh in the SEA-2; 2 credits). This course will meet twice a week.
Students will download phage genome sequence files and use bioinformatics tools to annotate phage genes. Novel phage genomes will be compared to those of known phages. Lehigh’s data will be organized for presentation at the SEA Symposium at HHMI’s Janelia Farm Research Campus in Virginia.