Zac Cranston ’14 and “CremePhraiche”, a bacteriophage he discovered on the H-SC campus

The Molecular Biology class took a field trip to the University of Mary Washington to use their electron microscopy facility as part of the class’ ongoing participation in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance.  This marks the second year of H-SC’s participation in a nationwide study focused on the collection and characterization of new bacteriophages, or viruses that infect bacteria, from the environment.  UMW Drs. Lynn Lewis and Kathy Loesser-Casey kindly gave the class their time and expertise in helping them to take electron micrographs of their bacteriophages which they will use to better understand the properties of each strain.  Representative DNA samples from the class’ collection have been sent to the University of Pittsburgh for sequencing, and analysis of the sequence will take place at H-SC over the spring semester.