A NEW KIND OF HUNTER FOR THE HI-LINE (A PHAGE HUNTER) Aaniih Nakoda Faculty and students tracking Mycobacteriophages in our local soils
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The college has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant, Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science in Tribal Colleges and Universities (SEA-PHAGES in TCU's ).
The grant was offered in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to the University of Pittsburgh. It is part of a nation wide study involving faculty and students in 141 institutions. Aaniiih Nakoda College was the only Tribal College to receive the award through the Nation Science Foundation.
Bacteriophages (also simply called phages-think of them as parasites of bacteria) flourish in just about every environment on Earth, and together these particles would outnumber all other forms of life.
There is little known about their role in health and or disease, due to so few of them having been isolated. But the newly found knowledge in the fields of genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics has made this venture a reality and scientists and their students the world over are on the hunt for these small particles that infect bacteria.
Two faculty members at ANC have embarked on their own hunting expedition as they are now equipped with the sophisticated techniques and complex methods needed to isolate, identify, sequence and analyze newly discovered soil mycobacteriophages.
They have just returned from University of Maryland-Baltimore (another HHMI site). Mr. Dan Kinsey and Ms. Chelsea Morales, STEM faculty, will head up this project with their students in hot pursuit of setting their sites on a discovery of an unknown phage or phages. This is a world class teaching and research project for our ANC students.
Introducing them to cutting edge techniques, and evolving methodologies here in our frontier environment, and at a Tribal College which will allow them to be with the best of the young emerging scientists of today.
There is also a contemporary curriculum development on the SEA-PHAGES that will ground STEM students as well as paper and poster presentation they will share with the others from all over North American and Internationally. These are exciting times for STEM faculty and students at ANC and the network established and opportunities offered will help our students to make positive contributions in the STEM workforce when they graduate at the local, state, national and now international level.
