Michael A. Thomas, Ph.D.

Summary: Dr. Thomas leads a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate student researchers into investigations of bacteriophage biology and genomics. They explore questions involving bacteriophage host range, evolution and host invasion. Bacteriophages have potential utility for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and phage are a promising source of novel materials for biological engineering.

Minimum Classes: No minimum classes, but a strong preference for students who have taken BIOL 1111/1112 Bacteriophage Discovery & Genomics Labs

Projects: Independent projects conducted by undergraduate researchers range from lab-based to bioinformatics-intensive, and generally build on work conducted the previous year in BIOL 1111/1112. These include discovery of novel phages, annotation of phage genomes using bioinformatics tools to determine the putative function of phage genes, analysis of the range of hosts that a given phage can infect, and in-depth explorations of novel phage genes.