Swati Agrawal

Swati Agrawal serves as an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Mary Washington and is an active instructor in the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. This national initiative integrates bacteriophage research into undergraduate curriculum through hands-on discovery and genomic analysis.

Her research focuses on:

• Microbial genomics and phage evolution
• Bioinformatics-based phage annotation
• Bacteriophage-host interactions using Bacillus thuringiensis
• Undergraduate research pedagogy in microbiology

She has led two SEA-PHAGES course sections:

• BIOL126 (Spring 2020): In silico phage genomics course with 18 students (8 freshmen, 10 sophomores) involving 6 weekly hours of bioinformatics analysis
• BIOL125 (Fall 2022): In situ phage discovery course with 16 freshmen meeting 3 times weekly for 6 hours of microbiological laboratory work

As a SEA-PHAGES primary instructor, Dr. Agrawal guides students through complete phage characterization pipelines from isolation to genomic annotation. Her work connects to the broader SEA network participating in national events including the 2025 Phage Genomics Workshop and 2026 SEA Symposium. The program provides authentic research experiences that advance both microbial science and science education methodology.