Sarah J. Swerdlow

Sarah J. Swerdlow serves as Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, where she directs multiple sections of the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. Since 2019, she has consistently taught microbiology and genetics courses integrating hands-on phage research, mentoring over 300 undergraduate students across freshman to senior levels in both wet-lab and computational approaches.

Her research centers on bacteriophage diversity and host-pathogen interactions, utilizing bacterial hosts including Microbacterium foliorum, Gordonia terrae, and Arthrobacter globiformis. She specializes in dual-methodology instruction: in situ phage isolation with Microbacterium hosts and in silico genomic analysis through the SEA-PHAGES bioinformatics pipeline. Her work bridges classical microbiology with modern genomic techniques to study viral evolution.

Dr. Swerdlow maintains rigorous teaching schedules with 2-4 weekly lab sessions (3-6 hours total), recently expanding to BIOSC 1860 Microbiology Lab for Fall 2024-2025. She actively participates in SEA community events including Phage Discovery Workshops and the annual Symposium, contributing to national science education initiatives through structured undergraduate research experiences.