Luke Daniels

Luke Daniels is a faculty member at the College of Idaho, serving as Primary Instructor for the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. He taught BIO210 (Phage Discovery) in Fall 2014 with 41 students and BIO395 (Research Methods) in Spring 2015 with 6 students, utilizing Mycobacterium smegmatis as a host organism across both courses.

His research focuses on bacteriophage discovery, genomic analysis, and bioinformatics, integrating wet-lab techniques with computational approaches. This work supports undergraduate engagement in authentic scientific research through the national SEA-PHAGES initiative, emphasizing hands-on training in microbial genetics and genomic annotation.

Daniels has supervised 47 undergraduate students across multiple academic levels, from freshmen to seniors, in research-intensive coursework combining laboratory experiments (3 meetings/week, 6 hours) and bioinformatics analysis (1 meeting/week, 2 hours). His teaching methodology bridges experimental microbiology and genomic data interpretation within course-based undergraduate research experiences.