University of Connecticut students involved in a unique learning experience are getting their hands dirty \u2014 literally.<\/p>\n
Six UConn freshmen pursuing science-related majors enrolled in a brand-new course this semester titled \u201cVirus Hunters.\u201d The aim is to get an up-close perspective on working both in the field and in a laboratory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of freshmen get that opportunity,\u201d freshman Callie Burke says. \u201cWe have two professors and six students. Being at such a big school, that\u2019s not something we\u2019re going to get very often, especially as freshmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Led by Carolyn Teschke and Simon White, professors in the UConn Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, students were tasked with hunting for new viruses, according to Jessica McBride, manager of research communications for the UConn Office of the Vice President for Research.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey start out by simply digging in the dirt, then examine samples to find new viruses, and eventually progress to a variety of microbiology techniques, complex genome annotation, and bioinformatic analyses,\u201d McBride says.<\/p>\n
Burke says different techniques, like direct isolation and enriched isolation, were used to see if there were any bacteriophages present in the collected samples.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re putting a concentration of the phages onto really tiny electron microscope (EM) grids, then putting them into the EM so we can see them in high resolution and actually get pictures of our phages,\u201d freshman Presley Bird says.<\/p>\n
While college students typically spend the first day of class reviewing the syllabus with the professor, that wasn\u2019t the case for this course.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the first day, we went out to get soil samples and then tested it for phages,\u201d freshman Humza Rashid says.<\/p>\n
The course structure is one these students hadn\u2019t seen before and they\u2019ve found the curriculum to be more engaging than the typical science class.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two labs a week \u2014 both three hours long \u2014 and in every single lab we\u2019re actually doing science,\u201d freshman Rachel Grella says. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool, ongoing experiment. It\u2019s not like you\u2019re doing one thing one class and another thing the next. Throughout the entire semester, you have one goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe each have our own phages that we found in the dirt and they\u2019re each different, so you get really invested in it,\u201d Bird says. \u201cYou\u2019ve found it, watched it through purification and now seeing it in the EM. It\u2019s just really cool to follow something all the way through and work with it for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
The course is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s SEA-PHAGES (Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science) program<\/a>, which serves to better engage students in introductory courses.<\/p>\n In this particular course, according to McBride, students learn by doing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the program is still new at UConn, other institutions with SEA-PHAGES classes show that this hands-on, experiential learning is not only more fun for students, it launches them into science (and) research-based careers as academics (and) doctors,\u201d McBride says.<\/p>\n The in-depth learning experience has encouraged the students to deeply consider pursuing further research endeavors during their undergraduate and potential graduate careers in college.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time I actually feel like I\u2019m doing real science,\u201d Grella says. \u201cI\u2019m wearing a lab coat. I\u2019m using a pipette. It\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe aspects and the perspectives of being in a lab is interesting,\u201d Rashid says. \u201cIt\u2019s a different experience and it\u2019s something I\u2019d want to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published in The Chronicle<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n Follow the \u201cVirus Hunters\u201d @pphinders, <\/em>Brett Donovan @BDonovanTC, and <\/em>UConn Research on <\/em>Twitter<\/a><\/em> & LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through the SEA-PHAGES program administered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, six UConn freshmen have the unique opportunity to hunt for new viruses and gain valuable hands-on experience in the lab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":144062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2076],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-144061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-research"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 14:27:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/144062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144061"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=144061"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}