08/24/2026
This past spring, Anya Munholand was selected to represent UNH Manchester at the annual all-UNH Undergraduate Research Poster Session, recognizing her outstanding research accomplishments.
Anya conducted her research under the mentorship of Dr. Kyle MacLea, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, on the project titled:
Isolation and Genomic Characterization of Novel Serratia Bacteriophage Northmill
Anya and Dr. MacLea's Research Overview, can be found below:
"Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect and kill a host bacterium. Phages are often very specific to the type of bacteria they infect, although one bacterium could be susceptible to multiple phages. Numerous phages have been discovered and studied, such as those targeting bacterial species of the phylum Actinomycetota, but many millions remain undiscovered. With today’s rising antibiotic resistance crisis, discovering and studying new phages is more important than ever, as they are anti-bacterial agents. The goal of this research was to discover novel phages that infect different types of water bacteria and to provide a functional annotation of their genomes.
Water samples were collected from five different swamps in New Hampshire. One bacterium was isolated and cultured from each sample. Phage isolation attempts were made for each bacterium with all five original water samples, using direct isolation techniques outlined by the Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program. These attempts resulted in the successful discovery of one phage, which was named Northmill after the location at which it was found. This phage only infected one of the five bacterial strains that had been isolated. Both the host bacterium and the phage were sequenced by SeqCoast Genomics using Illumina short-read sequencing. Northmill was found to infect the bacterium Serratia fonticola. Genomic analysis and functional annotation of Northmill using various bioinformatics tools demonstrated similarity to Erwinia phages, with no similar Serratia phages reported. The discovery of Northmill illustrates a method in which phages can be discovered and characterized, expanding our understanding of natural phage diversity and opening the door to further exploration of biomedical phage applications."
This research was conducted in the microbiology lab at the UNHM campus from summer 2025 through spring 2026. Anya thanks Dr. Kyle MacLea for all of his guidance and to NH INBRE for providing funding to the lab.
About Anya Munholand
Originally from the small town of Springfield, New Hampshire, Anya currently resides in Manchester with her cat, Zoe. She is pursuing a degree in biotechnology at the University of New Hampshire Manchester and is working toward a master's degree in biotechnology. Anya aspires to attend medical school and is taking full advantage of the hands-on research opportunities available at UNH Manchester to prepare for her future career in medicine.
About Dr. Kyle MacLea
Dr. Kyle MacLea is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at UNH Manchester. He teaches courses in molecular biology and microbiology, and his research focuses on microbial genetics and genomics, particularly involving bacteria, archaea, and bacteriophages.
https://www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal/blog/2026/07/isolation-genomic-characterization-novel-serratia-bacteriophage-northmill
