Dan Russell

Dan Russell is a Senior Research Instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, where he bridges large-scale phage genomics research and national science-education reform through the HHMI SEA-PHAGES and PHIRE programs. He directs day-to-day genome sequencing operations, curates the global PhagesDB and SEA-PHAGES.org web portals, and mentors undergraduates in authentic discovery-based research.

Education:

• B.A. in Molecular & Cellular Biology, Cornell University (2000)
• M.S. in Science Education, University of Missouri

Research interests: Russell’s work spans experimental and computational phage biology—high-throughput Sanger, 454, Illumina and Nanopore sequencing of bacteriophages infecting Mycobacterium, Gordonia, Microbacterium and related Actinobacteria; genome finishing, annotation and comparative genomics; development of online databases and bioinformatics tools; and scholarship of teaching and learning focused on course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) that broaden participation in STEM.

His recent publication record (2021-2025) reveals two dominant strands: (i) clinically oriented mycobacteriophage studies exploring phage therapy for Mycobacterium abscessus infections and the genetic basis of host resistance, and (ii) educational research evaluating the impact of the SEA-PHAGES program on faculty identity, student learning and institutional change, both producing sustained outputs in high-impact journals.

Scientific awards & honours: None explicitly listed in supplied text.

Advising & grants: While specific grants are not enumerated, Russell is central to the multi-institutional HHMI SEA-PHAGES infrastructure that has involved >200 colleges, thousands of undergraduates and continuous NSF/HHMI funding streams. His laboratory provides sequencing services and bioinformatics support to this national network and he routinely collaborates on genome announcement papers with student co-authors.

Labs & teams: He operates within Graham Hatfull’s phage biology group (University of Pittsburgh) and co-manages the day-to-day activities of the Actinobacteriophage Database (PhagesDB.org) together with a distributed team of programmers, curators and student annotators.