Students in this course will become part of a national crowd sourcing initiative to isolate and identify novel bacteriophage. Students will design experiments to initially isolate phage (bacterial viruses) from environmental samples they have collected, then characterize and determine their DNA sequence. The DNA sequences will be used in the follow-on bioinformatics course BB 3526 Phage Hunters: The Analysis. Students in this course will make significant contributions to the field of genomics while gaining skill in the process of scientific inquiry, including hypothesis generation and testing, and practice in common microbiologic techniques. Students enrolled in this course may wish to consider enrollment in BB 3526 (Phage Hunters: The Analysis). Students that have already received course credit for BB 29IX or BB 2916 may not also receive credit for BB 2917.
A working knowledge of biotechnology or microbiology (BB 1035 or BB 2003, or equivalent).