Sharon Gusky

Sharon Gusky is a Professor at Connecticut State Community College (Northwestern campus), actively involved in the HHMI Science Education Alliance's SEA-PHAGES and SEA-GENES programs. She teaches undergraduate courses in biology, phage discovery, and bioinformatics, with a focus on integrating research into the curriculum.

Research Interests: Her work centers on bacteriophage genomics, microbiology, and evolutionary science. She employs both in situ (wet-lab phage discovery) and in silico (bioinformatics) approaches, utilizing bacterial hosts like Arthrobacter globiformis and Microbacterium foliorum. Key areas include genomics, molecular genetics, and student-driven phage characterization.

Teaching & Advising: She has instructed 10+ courses since 2019, including:

• General Biology (phage discovery/microbiology)
• Bioinformatics Research (phage genomics)
• Molecular Genetics
• Independent Research (bioinformatics)

She supervises undergraduate research groups (5–24 students per course), emphasizing collaborative phage isolation and genomic annotation.

Program Leadership: As a SEA-PHAGES faculty member, she develops curriculum resources and leads lab sections aligned with national genomics education initiatives.