Alexandra Jerby

Alexandra Jerby serves as an Instructor and SEA-PHAGES Coordinator within the Biology Department at Wingate University. She has led multiple sections of Bio 101 L (phage discovery/microbiology) and Bio 201 L (phage genomics/bioinformatics) laboratory courses since Fall 2022 through Spring 2025, teaching over 200 undergraduate students primarily using Microbacterium foliorum as the host organism. As program coordinator, she implements the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science curriculum, guiding students through authentic research from environmental sampling to genome annotation.

Her academic focus centers on Microbiology and Bioinformatics, with specialized expertise in bacteriophage isolation, genomic sequencing, and evolutionary analysis of viral diversity. The curriculum emphasizes hands-on laboratory techniques in microbial genetics and computational genomics, directly contributing to Genomics and Evolutionary Biology research through student-collected phage data. This work bridges fundamental molecular biology with practical bioinformatics applications in microbial ecology.

Dr. Jerby has consistently instructed 2-3 weekly laboratory sessions across 6-8 course sections per academic year, with student cohorts predominantly comprising freshmen (85%) and sophomores (12%), plus occasional upperclassmen in advanced genomics sections. Her role as SEA-PHAGES Coordinator involves program administration, faculty collaboration across multiple sections, and integration with national phage genomics initiatives including PhageDB and GenBank submissions.