BIOL 1910
Ampersand: Phage Hunters
A research-based laboratory class for First-Year students. Students join a national experiment organized by HHMI, with the goal of isolating and characterizing bacteriophage viruses found in the soil in the St. Louis area. Laboratory work includes isolation and purification of your own phage, DNA isolation and restriction mapping, and EM characterization of your phage. Several WU phage are selected for genome sequencing over winter break, and are annotated in the spring in BIOL 1920, Phage Bioinformatics. Students who successfully isolate and annotate a phage may become co-authors on a scientific paper. High school courses in biology and chemistry recommended. One hour lecture, one hour discussion, and 3 hrs lab per week. Course is for first-year students in the Phage Hunters Program only.
Instructors
Reviews
If you ask a simple question prepare for 15 minutes of cyclical explanation. Very passionate about bioinformatics, so his lectures were fairly interesting, but his individual interactions need work.
9/23/2025
I love love loved Dr. Hafer. She was always willing to help us out and she also has a great sense of humor! Phage Hunters was my favorite class freshman year. The class was a good experience as someone who has never done research, but it's definitely important to stay on top of everything, especially second semester!!
5/1/2025
Overall, he's generally okay. But if you dare ask a question, he we get super exasperated that you don't know the answer and proceed to lecture you for an extended amount of time. If you're a woman, prepare to double that lecture time and be talked over. Made second half of phage hunters insufferable.
4/18/2025
Had her for phage hunters. Class is difficult but doable. Hafer's lectures aren't great but very important so pay attention to them and take notes. There aren't many lectures in phage hunters so the few lectures there are heavily affect quiz scores.
1/23/2025
2-4 hrs/week
Good class if you’ve never done research before. There’s no tests… the majority of your grade comes from participation, 2 quizzes a semester, and a big paper you write at the end of the semester. There’s also 4-5 writing assignments a semester where you read a scientific paper and do a summary/proposed next experiment. Both professors are pretty good instructors; people complain about Hafer in 2960 but she’s pretty nice in Phage Hunters.
5/22/2024
I enjoyed both semesters of phage hunters. Prof. Shaffer is very nice.
2/11/2023
Phage Hunters was overall a good experience. Basically everyone gets an A, and I found the content interesting. Hafer, however, is blatantly rude to students and did not treat the AI with respect. Her lectures were easy to follow, but I couldn't stand how she treats others.
12/19/2022
Dr. Shaffer is an amazing professor. He cares about his students and always gives clear and helpful feedback. Moreover, he also gives useful advice for your career development (like research opportunities in the biology department). I genuinely enjoy this phage hunter program experience with Dr. Shaffer.
6/6/2022