Seema Bharathan

Seema Bharathan serves as a Lecturer at Indiana University of Pennsylvania within the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. In Fall 2018, she led Section A02 as Primary Instructor for an in situ phage discovery course utilizing Mycobacterium smegmatis as the bacterial host organism.

• Course enrolled 24 undergraduate students: 1 freshman, 16 sophomores, 2 juniors, 3 seniors
• Met weekly for 5.5 hours with exclusive focus on microbiology and genomic analysis

Her research centers on phage biology and microbial evolution, leveraging bacteriophage discovery to advance genomic education through hands-on student research. The SEA-PHAGES program integrates her work into a national network advancing evolutionary science pedagogy.

Dr. Bharathan actively contributes to undergraduate research training through structured phage isolation protocols and genomic annotation frameworks within the HHMI-sponsored initiative, emphasizing practical applications in microbial genetics.