Natalie McGuier

Natalie McGuier serves as a Special Lecturer in Undergraduate Laboratories within the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, actively contributing to the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. She has instructed multiple sections of bacteriophage research courses for freshmen since 2016, utilizing bacterial hosts Arthrobacter sp. and Microbacterium foliorum across experimental and computational modules.

Her research focuses on integrating wet-lab phage discovery with genomic analysis, guiding students through full research cycles from isolation to hypothesis testing. This work spans microbiology, bioinformatics, and evolutionary biology, emphasizing authentic undergraduate research experiences in viral genomics and host-pathogen interactions.

Dr. McGuier consistently taught 22-student cohorts across four semesters (Fall 2016–Spring 2018), with biweekly 6-hour laboratory sessions covering phage sequencing, annotation, and genomic characterization. Her instructional approach blends in situ microbiology techniques with in silico bioinformatics analysis.

As part of the national SEA-PHAGES network, she collaborates on large-scale phage genomics education initiatives that contribute to public genomic databases while training future scientists in cutting-edge molecular techniques.