Advancing SEA-PHAGES at Northwest Indian College to Promote Indigenous Voices

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the STEM curricular offerings at these institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be culturally significant, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for science and mathematics education.

This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will increase the body of knowledge on the genomics of bacteriophages.

Northwest Indian College (NWIC) students will collect and isolate their own mycobacteriophage (phage) from samples collected on or near campus, with one project focusing on the cyanobacteria of the Salish Sea. Students will purify the elected phage and isolate its genomic DNA, and then conduct a restricted digest analysis of a portion of phage genomic DNA to confirm genomic DNA integrity and to examine if the restriction pattern is similar to previously characterized phages.

Students will also prepare electron microscopy grids fixed with their purified phage and work with NWIC's Salish Sea Research Center to determine their phage morphology. The genome of one phage will then be sent to the University of Pittsburg for genomic sequencing, and during the second half of the course the students will use gene-searching tools to identify and annotate the probable genes.

Students will also compare the results of their gene coding to known, characterized mycobacteriophage genomes before uploading their completed product to GenBank, an online database of genetic sequences maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Presentations at the national SEA-PHAGES conference in Ashland, VA further develop student research skills.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.