What's new!
April 2024
Over the last while we welcomed new lab members: graduate students Cierra Ord and Ani Chouldjian!
We also dropped a few preprints:
Recent graduate Caroline Boyd determined how our favorite satellite virus PLE inhibits phage genome packaging
Kishen Patel discovered sporadic phage defense in epidemic Vibrio cholerae is mediated by the toxin-antitoxin system DarTG and our favorite phage ICP1 counters this defense with a phage-encoded antitoxin mimic
July 2023
Welcome to our newest lab members, graduate student Marize Rizkalla and postdoc Yamini Mathur
Farewell and congratulations to recent PhD graduates Dr. Drew Dunham and Dr. Zoe Netter, we will miss you both!
Check out our dive into the RNA-RNA interactome between a phage and its satellite virus published in Molecular Microbiology led by Drew Dunham
Caroline Boyd determined how our favorite satellite virus PLE manipulates phage capsid assembly - check it out in eLife and read the Research Highlight in Nature Reviews Microbiology
Interested in phage (and satellite) genome evolution? Zach Barth and Drew Dunham investigated the role of homing endonucleases in this fascinating topic - check out the work here
We’ve always wondered how interactions between Vibrio cholerae and phages may be influenced by the gut environment. Zoe Netter discovered that changes to phage receptor availability in conditions relevant to the gut context can provide V. cholerae with transient protection from phage attack, read the paper here
October 2022
Want to learn more about how a phage can fight back against the mobile elements that parasitize it? Check out Maria Nguyen’s paper “A phage weaponizes a satellite recombinase to subvert viral restriction”
June 2022
Welcome to our newest lab member, graduate student Tansu Bagdatli!
May 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Kristen LeGault who graduated and will be moving on to a postdoc this fall, we will miss you Dr. LeGault!
February 2022
Check out Angus Angermeyer’s paper “Evolutionary Sweeps of Subviral Parasites and Their Phage Host Bring Unique Parasite Variants and Disappearance of a Phage CRISPR-Cas System” in mBio!
What's new!
April 2024
Over the last while we welcomed new lab members: graduate students Cierra Ord and Ani Chouldjian!
We also dropped a few preprints:
Recent graduate Caroline Boyd determined how our favorite satellite virus PLE inhibits phage genome packaging
Kishen Patel discovered sporadic phage defense in epidemic Vibrio cholerae is mediated by the toxin-antitoxin system DarTG and our favorite phage ICP1 counters this defense with a phage-encoded antitoxin mimic
July 2023
Welcome to our newest lab members, graduate student Marize Rizkalla and postdoc Yamini Mathur
Farewell and congratulations to recent PhD graduates Dr. Drew Dunham and Dr. Zoe Netter, we will miss you both!
Check out our dive into the RNA-RNA interactome between a phage and its satellite virus published in Molecular Microbiology led by Drew Dunham
Caroline Boyd determined how our favorite satellite virus PLE manipulates phage capsid assembly - check it out in eLife and read the Research Highlight in Nature Reviews Microbiology
Interested in phage (and satellite) genome evolution? Zach Barth and Drew Dunham investigated the role of homing endonucleases in this fascinating topic - check out the work here
We’ve always wondered how interactions between Vibrio cholerae and phages may be influenced by the gut environment. Zoe Netter discovered that changes to phage receptor availability in conditions relevant to the gut context can provide V. cholerae with transient protection from phage attack, read the paper here
October 2022
Want to learn more about how a phage can fight back against the mobile elements that parasitize it? Check out Maria Nguyen’s paper “A phage weaponizes a satellite recombinase to subvert viral restriction”
June 2022
Welcome to our newest lab member, graduate student Tansu Bagdatli!
May 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Kristen LeGault who graduated and will be moving on to a postdoc this fall, we will miss you Dr. LeGault!
February 2022
Check out Angus Angermeyer’s paper “Evolutionary Sweeps of Subviral Parasites and Their Phage Host Bring Unique Parasite Variants and Disappearance of a Phage CRISPR-Cas System” in mBio!
The Seed Lab
Our research centers on the interactions between bacteria and their viral predators (bacteriophages), and how these interactions impact human health and disease.
What are Phage?
Phages are viruses that specifically infect bacteria and they are found wherever bacteria reside. Like all viruses, phages are obligate intracellular parasites: they are metabolically inert in their extracellular form and they need to hijack a bacterial host in order to replicate. Phages employ diverse strategies to exploit bacteria for their own replication, phages can attack and kill a target bacterium within minutes of infection, or they can establish long-term symbiotic relationships with their bacterial hosts. The interactions between bacteria and phages are central to the evolution of microbial communities, including those that contribute to our health (the microbiome) and those that cause disease.
What are Phage?
Phages are viruses that specifically infect bacteria and they are found wherever bacteria reside. Like all viruses, phages are obligate intracellular parasites: they are metabolically inert in their extracellular form and they need to hijack a bacterial host in order to replicate. Phages employ diverse strategies to exploit bacteria for their own replication, phages can attack and kill a target bacterium within minutes of infection, or they can establish long-term symbiotic relationships with their bacterial hosts. The interactions between bacteria and phages are central to the evolution of microbial communities, including those that contribute to our health (the microbiome) and those that cause disease.
Our lab investigates the impact of phages on the evolution and epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae, which is the causative agent of the severe diarrheal disease cholera. As a waterborne disease, cholera is a serious threat in areas of the world where sanitation is poor and access to safe drinking water is limited. Cholera is endemic in over 50 countries and also causes devastating epidemics; alarmingly, the incidence of cholera is steadily increasing and the global disease burden is currently estimated to be 3-5 million cases annually.
Our focus
Phages that specifically infect and kill V. cholerae are thought to modulate the inter-epidemic persistence of V. cholerae in the environment, thus impacting the occurrence and severity of outbreaks; however, uniquely, these phages also travel with V. cholerae into the human host and continue to prey on their bacterial host during infection. Therefore, phages have the unique potential to impact all aspects of the V. cholerae life cycle (including environmental persistence, infectivity and dissemination), on both a short and long-term evolutionary scale.
Our focus
Phages that specifically infect and kill V. cholerae are thought to modulate the inter-epidemic persistence of V. cholerae in the environment, thus impacting the occurrence and severity of outbreaks; however, uniquely, these phages also travel with V. cholerae into the human host and continue to prey on their bacterial host during infection. Therefore, phages have the unique potential to impact all aspects of the V. cholerae life cycle (including environmental persistence, infectivity and dissemination), on both a short and long-term evolutionary scale.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Kimberley Seed, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology
Education and Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular Biology & Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine
Ph.D. Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Alberta