Kayla Fast

Kayla Fast is an instructor at the University of West Alabama affiliated with the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. She taught 8 course sections between Fall 2016 and Spring 2020 across phage discovery and bioinformatics curricula.

Her research interests focus on:

• Phage genomics and evolutionary analysis
• Bioinformatics pipeline development for viral annotation
• Undergraduate pedagogy in microbiology
• Host-phage interaction mechanisms using Mycobacterium smegmatis

Course instruction involved both in situ wet-lab phage isolation (BY307/BY103L sections) and in silico genomic analysis (BY408), mentoring 54 students total across freshman to senior levels. Teaching formats included 2-4 weekly contact hours with cohorts ranging from 1-12 students per section.

As part of the SEA-PHAGES network, she contributed to national phage genomics education initiatives through structured lab curricula and student research integration.