Inspiring the Next Generation of Phage Hunters

At Flinders University’s FAME Lab, the Phage Hunters program is giving high school/undergraduate students a genuine taste of real-world research with real scientific stakes. As part of the Australian Science and Mathematics School’s interdisciplinary study module X and Why?, students worked alongside Professor Rob Edwards and PhD student Anita Tarasenko to isolate and characterise phages that infect and kill bacteria. With antibiotic resistance rising globally, discovering new phages has genuine clinical relevance, making this far more than a classroom exercise. Students collected environmental samples around Bedford Park, then used university labs to perform phage isolation, plaque assays, sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis. Several novel phages were identified, some with characteristics distinct from those of previously described phages, and these findings now feed into ongoing FAME Lab research. The impact has extended well beyond the bench. Students were invited to present at the COMBINE symposium and are preparing manuscripts for publication, gaining their first experience in authentic scientific communication. Their work was also recently featured in The Advertiser. Programs like Phage Hunters are vital for bridging secondary education and cutting-edge science. These students aren’t just learning, they’re already contributing to one of the most pressing challenges in global health. We’re proud of what they’ve achieved, and excited to see where their discoveries lead.

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