Charles Hauser

Charles Hauser serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at St. Edward's University, actively contributing to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. His work integrates undergraduate education with authentic research in viral genomics and bioinformatics.

His primary research interests include:

• Bioinformatics algorithm development for genomic analysis
• Bacteriophage discovery and characterization
• Comparative genomics of Mycobacterium-infecting phages
• Evolutionary studies of viral genomes
• Integration of wet-lab and computational approaches in science education

Dr. Hauser has directed multiple SEA-PHAGES course iterations since 2014, teaching both in situ (phage isolation) and in silico (genome annotation) components. He served as primary instructor for Fall 2014 (8 students), Fall 2015 (9 students), and Fall 2017 (0 students) phage discovery courses using Mycobacterium smegmatis, and co-taught Spring 2015 bioinformatics courses (10 students). These 6-hour/week courses provided structured research experiences across sophomore to senior levels.

As a member of the national SEA-PHAGES network, he collaborates with over 100 institutions to advance phage genomics education, utilizing resources like PhagesDB and participating in annual symposia and workshops to expand the collective phage genome database.