A Research Road Trip to #RetrieverNation
The fall semester PhageHunters group pose with UMBC’s mascot, True
Grit. L-R: Joy Freidenbloom, ACM Science Lab Coordinator; Christian
Speir, ACM freshman; Kemi Sowoolu, ACM freshman; Dr. Donna Brunelli,
ACM Professor and Interim Chair of the Science Department; Steve
Heninger, ACM Professor; Tallen Conway, ACM freshman; Michéle Barmoy,
ACM Associate Professor; and Addison Long, ACM freshman.
What is ACM’s PhageHunters programs?
ACM’s two-semester PhageHunters experience is a discovery-based undergraduate research program
open to prospective and current ACM students with little or no laboratory experience. ACM is the only
community college in Maryland to offer PhageHunters through the international Science Education
Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science program or SEA-PHAGES, for short.
Through PhageHunters labs, students have the chance to potentially discover a previously unknown
phage, learn cutting-edge molecular biologic techniques, apply bioinformatics (the use of computer
software and scientific methodology to understand data) to identify genes in DNA sequences, and possibly
co-author a scientific publication.
SEA-PHAGES is administered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of
Pittsburgh. With an emphasis on project ownership, it hopes to increase undergraduate interest and
retention in the biological sciences through immersive, accessible, and authentic research.
Born in Nigeria, Oluwafikemi “Kemi” Sowoolu has been living in the United States since 2015. A resident
of Frostburg, Kemi attended Mountain Ridge High School before choosing ACM. Drawn to a career in
the healthcare industry, her dream is to become a Physician’s Assistant. After visiting UMBC as part of
the PhageHunters program, Kemi is considering the college as an option after ACM.
Spring 2020 \ ACCESS ACM 4
Last November, four
ACM freshmen, three
instructors, one lab
coordinator, a grad student, a
writer, and a Styrofoam cooler
of test tubes headed west from
Cumberland. With Professor
Steve Heninger at the wheel, they
would arrive two and half hours
later at the University of Maryland
Baltimore County (UMBC) in
Arbutus for a date with a TEM – a
Transmission Electron Microscope.
As Professor Dr. Donna Brunelli
called shotgun and Associate
Professor Michéle Barmoy offered
drinks and snacks, a slight nervous
energy was also present for the
ride. The PhageHunter students,
Tallen Conway, Addison Long, Kemi
Sowoolu, and Christian Speir, were
uncertain if they would find what they
hoped to discover in their samples:
microscopic bacteriophages.
Throughout the semester, they
had learned real-world lab skills and
processes guided by an intensive
Science Education Alliance-Phage
Hunters Advancing Genomics and
Evolutionary Science program
(SEA-PHAGES) curriculum and
specially trained ACM faculty
members. Early in the fall, the
students collected environmental
samples (read: soil) from locations
of their choosing, which included
the track at ACM and a streambank
in Bowman’s Addition. During
weekly PhageHunters labs
associated with their Biology
101 courses, they spent months
isolating bacteriophages, commonly
called phages.
They used a plaque assay to
detect the presence of a phage
within their samples. Once the
presence of a phage was confirmed,
they named their phage samples
Merlin18, Mueller, and Tonka, after
a video game character, a famous
soccer player, and a beloved dog
respectively, following the University
of Pittsburgh Actinobacteriophage
Database’s naming conventions.
An interesting aside, the first rule
of naming prohibits the naming
of a bacteriophage after the actor
Nicholas Cage.
The students used serial dilutions
to purify, amplify, and titer their
phages before growing their phages