Deborah Jacobs-Sera

Deborah Jacobs-Sera is a Senior Research Instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a leading figure in bacteriophage research, directing numerous genomics and structural projects on mycobacteriophages and actinophages, and co-directing the Pitt arm of the national SEA-PHAGES program that embeds authentic phage discovery into undergraduate curricula.

Research Interests:

• Bacteriophage genomics and evolution
• Cryo-EM structural characterization of phage capsids and infection dynamics
• Phage therapy against drug-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus and related pathogens
• Educational models for course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs)

Her work integrates high-resolution structural biology with large-scale comparative genomics to understand capsid stability, host recognition, and evolutionary relationships among actinobacteriophages. Clinically, she co-designs compassionate-use phage-therapy protocols and adaptive clinical trials such as the POSTSTAMP study for cystic fibrosis patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial infections.

Scientific Output: Over 100 peer-reviewed articles since 2013, with a striking concentration on phage isolation, genome sequencing, and translational phage therapy. Recent trends emphasize structural mechanisms accommodating genome-length diversity, epigenetic phage modifications to evade host restriction, and inclusive pedagogical frameworks for STEM education reform.

Education & Training Leadership: As a co-architect of Pitt’s SEA-PHAGES curriculum, she mentors dozens of undergraduates annually in authentic phage discovery, genomics annotation, and structural analysis, fostering national scalability of the iREC (inclusive Research Education Community) model.

Laboratory & Teams: Jacobs-Sera occupies 304B Clapp Hall, managing a wet-lab/core-facility hybrid environment coupling classical microbiology with next-generation sequencing and cryo-EM pipelines. She collaborates closely with the Hatfull and Hendrix structural phage groups, the University of Pittsburgh Genomics Core, and clinical teams at UPMC for phage-therapy implementation.