Bio 282 Phage Bioinformatics Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for Fall 2025

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

UTAs will attend all class sessions (MW, 12:20-1:10pm) and assist the instructional team with answering student questions, demonstrating proper technique, discussing experimental design and data analysis, and providing moral support and motivation for students in the course. UTAs will also help to lead Friday discussion sessions (F 12:20-1:10). 

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 Bioinformatics lab
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 participate in annotating novel genomes with the students enrolled in the course and work as a team with course instructors, other UTAs, and GTAs.

Representative publication or further information
labianca-et-al-2023-complete-genome-sequence-of-phi29-like-microbacterium-foliorum-podovirus-phage-pineapplepizza.pdf
Logistics Information:
Subject Category
Bioinformatics/Data Science
Genomics
Microbiology
Student ranks applicable
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications

To become a UTA for this course, you should have completed Bio 282, Phage Bioinformatics in a previous semester. You will be required to attend all course sessions and discussion sessions (MWF 12:20-1:10) as well as periodic TA meetings. You should have an above-average understanding of Bacteriophage Genome Annotation, be enthusiastic about working hard and helping your peers, and have good teamwork and communication skills.

In your application, indicate why you're interested in this position, what strengths you bring to your work, and what you think UTAs in this course should do to help all students succeed. 

Time commitment
5-7 h/wk
Position Types and Compensation
Teaching - Ind. Study Credit
Teaching - Paid, General
Number of openings
6
Techniques learned

UTAs in Phage Bioinformatics will become more proficient with bacteriophage genome annotation using PECAAN, BLAST, HHPred, and other genome analysis tools. UTAs will also learn more about teaching a team-based learning course, the SEA-PHAGES program, and working with student groups. 

Project start
Fall semester, 2025
Contact Information:
Mentor
Jess Rocheleau
jmrocheleau@umass.edu
Principal Investigator
Name of project director or principal investigator
Jess Rocheleau
Email address of project director or principal investigator
jmrocheleau@umass.edu
6 sp. | 6 appl.
Hours
5-7 h/wk
Project categories
Microbiology (+2)
Bioinformatics/Data ScienceGenomicsMicrobiology