Wildy Prize Lecture, 2020-2021: Who wouldn't want to discover a new virus?

Graham F Hatfull

doi:10.1099/mic.0.001094

Abstract

Innovations in science education are desperately needed to find ways to engage and interest students early in their undergraduate careers. Exposing students to authentic research experiences is highly beneficial, but finding ways to include all types of students and to do this at large scale is especially challenging. An attractive solution is the concept of an inclusive research education community (iREC) in which centralized research leadership and administration supports multiple institutions, including diverse groups of schools and universities, faculty and students. The Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Sciences (SEA-PHAGES) programme is an excellent example of an iREC, in which students explore viral diversity and evolution through discovery and genomic analysis of novel bacteriophages. The SEA-PHAGES programme has proven to be sustainable, to be implemented at large scale, and to enhance student persistence in science, as well as to produce substantial research advances. Discovering a new virus with the potential for new biological insights and clinical applications is inherently exciting. Who wouldn’t want to discover a new virus?

Highlights

It was a truly wonderful honour to be selected as the Wildy Prize recipient in 2020
I’ll recount our forays into bacteriophage discovery and genomics and the role they play in advancing both microbiology and science education
If students can start doing research in their first year of college/university, it provides an opportunity to engage and excite students about doing science, and it prepares them for their future studies, including research. This is a fine idea, but what kind of research project is suitable for first-y ear students, and how can this be done at large scale; not just in one institution, but in many? And how can institutions implement any of this if they do not have a robust research infrastructure? These questions are at the heart of the general concept of an inclusive research education community, and bacteriophage discovery and genomics is an especially appropriate scientific focus [6]

Summary

Introduction

It was a truly wonderful honour to be selected as the Wildy Prize recipient in 2020. I was especially looking forward to being in Edinburgh and meeting up with friends and colleagues. These questions are at the heart of the general concept of an inclusive research education community (iREC), and bacteriophage discovery and genomics is an especially appropriate scientific focus [6]. The programme was started in 2008 but emerged from the Phage Hunters Integrating Research and Education (PHIRE) programme developed previously at the University of Pittsburgh, USA [10].

Results

Conclusion