Bio 153 Phage Discovery Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Spring 2026

Undergraduate TAs for Phage Discovery will learn teaching techniques and increase their understanding of Phage Discovery Laboratory course material by assisting with lab sections, offering direct student support, and meeting weekly with undergraduate and graduate TAs to discuss and implement best practices in the lab.

UTAs will attend one or two lab sections each week and assist the graduate TA with locating supplies, answering student questions, demonstrating proper technique, discussing experimental design and data analysis, and providing moral support and motivation for students in their section. An atmosphere of enthusiasm for biology and the work at hand can motivate students and improve the lab experience.

Name of research group, project, or lab
Phage Discovery labs
Website
https://seaphages.org
Why participate in this opportunity?

Being an undergraduate teaching assistant will allow you to gain confidence, learn more about teaching, share knowledge, connect with other students, and prepare for other leadership roles. This experience will require you to re-learn the material covered in the course in order to explain and teach it to others. You will get to know graduate students in different graduate programs at UMass as well as laboratory staff and faculty members.

Logistics Information:
Subject Category
Biology
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Student ranks applicable
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications

To become a UTA for this course, you should have completed the Phage Discovery curriculum at UMass in a previous semester. You will be required to attend the lab section(s) every week as well as a weekly TA meeting on Fridays. You should have an above-average understanding of the Phage Discovery project, be enthusiastic about working hard and helping your peers, and have good teamwork and communication skills.

  1. Apply for this position through the PROPEL site between November 7 and November 17. See https://propel.umass.edu/propel-information-students for instructions. If you applied during a previous round and were not accepted, you will need to apply again.
  2. In your PROPEL application materials, indicate why you're interested in this position, the strengths you bring to your work as a UTA, and what you think UTAs in this course should do to help all students succeed.
  3. For your application to be complete, you must also fill out this form by November 26 to indicate your availability, answer supplemental questions, and upload a short video. 

All UTAs (new and returning) will receive 1 credit for supporting 1 lab section (~3-4 hrs of work each week) or 2 credits for supporting 2 lab sections (~6-7 hrs of work each week). 

No late applications will be accepted for any reason.

Time commitment
1-4 h/wk
5-7 h/wk
Position Types and Compensation
Teaching - Ind. Study Credit
Number of openings
80
Techniques learned

Undergraduate TAs in Phage Discovery will become more proficient at plaque assays, serial dilutions, collecting and determining the titer of phage lysates, preparing grids for electron microscopy, extracting phage genomic DNA, laboratory course teaching methods, the SEA-PHAGES program, and working with student groups.

Project start
Spring semester, 2026
Contact Information:
Mentors
Jess Rocheleau
jmrocheleau@umass.edu
Principal Investigator
Elizabeth Punska
epunska@umass.edu
Lab manager
Name of project director or principal investigator
Jess Rocheleau
Email address of project director or principal investigator
jmrocheleau@umass.edu
80 sp. | 0 appl.
Hours
1-4 h/wk (+1)
1-4 h/wk5-7 h/wk
Project categories
Molecular Biology (+2)
BiologyMicrobiologyMolecular Biology