Ayele Gugssa

Ayele Gugssa serves as a Primary Instructor for the SEA-PHAGES program at Howard University, teaching multiple sections of biology courses focused on bacteriophage discovery and genomic analysis from Fall 2017 through Spring 2021.

Specializing in microbiology and phage genomics, Dr. Gugssa's instructional work centers on both in situ (laboratory-based phage isolation) and in silico (bioinformatics analysis) methodologies using Mycobacterium smegmatis as the host bacterium. Their curriculum engages undergraduate students in authentic research experiences through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's national science education initiative.

As an instructor, Dr. Gugssa has supervised over 150 freshmen across nine course sections with class sizes ranging from 17-27 students. Each section involved 2 weekly meetings totaling 3-6 instructional hours, requiring significant hands-on guidance in phage characterization techniques. The SEA-PHAGES program represents a major HHMI-funded effort to transform undergraduate science education through course-based research experiences.

Dr. Gugssa's laboratory work operates within Howard University's SEA-PHAGES infrastructure, which connects to the national phage genomics network including PhagesDB and the Genome Exchange. This framework enables student-discovered phage sequences to contribute to broader evolutionary and genomic research databases.