Near the beginning of the semester, all around the UMass Amherst campus, undergraduates can be seen digging in the dirt. Well over a thousand first-year students in the life sciences participate in this exercise each year in search of novel viruses, which they will go on to investigate using scientific research methods in UMass's Introductory Biology Lab.

Over the span of the semester, the students in this course, colloquially known as SEA-PHAGES (Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science), will learn a variety of scientific skills and lab techniques as they work to isolate and characterize a novel bacteriophage—part of a massive, relatively understudied population of viruses that infect bacteria in soil. In contrast to a typical first-year lab experience, students in the course explore scientific questions with answers that are not already known, and success is not guaranteed, says Jessica Rocheleau, senior lecturer in biology, who oversees the SEA-PHAGES program at UMass.

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“For many years, the way we’ve traditionally taught intro labs is, ‘Perform these steps and the experiment will work,’” she explains. “In this course, students realize that scientific research doesn’t work a lot of the time, or that we may get unexpected results or findings that require further exploration to explain. That’s an important perspective for students to develop as they learn to be scientists.”

SEA-PHAGES is an undergraduate course-based research experience administered around the globe that seeks to improve undergraduate retention and success in the biological sciences through early immersion in authentic research. UMass Amherst initiated its SEA-PHAGES program in 2019, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Today, SEA-PHAGES at UMass enrolls around 1,300 students from multiple life sciences majors each year—magnitudes more than at any other university hosting the program. SEA-PHAGES is the largest example of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) at UMass—one of a growing number of CUREs offered in many different disciplines across the College of Natural Sciences (CNS), as well as in the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, Riccio College of Engineering, and School of Public Health & Health Sciences. 

Improving Outcomes, Leveling the Playing Field

The UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences aims to give every undergraduate student a STEM-based experiential learning opportunity during their time on campus. While many students seek out independent research experiences in the lab of a professor, the ratio of students to faculty in the college makes this unattainable for all. CUREs help by offering authentic research experiences to students at scale, says CNS Dean Michael Fox. Currently, UMass offers CUREs in disciplines including biology, chemistry, microbiology, veterinary and animal sciences, marine science, biochemistry and molecular biology, astronomy, kinesiology, chemical engineering, and computer science, with offerings continuing to grow each year. In fall 2025, the UMass Success in Science project, with funding from HHMI, is hosting a series of workshops to support faculty in integrating authentic research experiences into their undergraduate courses, further expanding student access to CUREs.

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“To train young people to be scientists, we want them to actually do science, which means exploring the unknown. In CUREs, we’re asking questions that have never been answered,” says Elizabeth Connor, CNS associate dean for undergraduate education. “Careful studies have shown that these kinds of experiences have a number of significant impacts on students: validating their view of themselves as scientists and improving retention in STEM majors and at universities overall. Such experiences also resolve differences we often see in the performance of select student populations by helping to level the playing field.”

For example, first-generation students may face disadvantages when it comes to knowing how—and why—to seek out an independent research experience with a professor, says Connor.  

“CUREs can help students to feel personally invested in their scientific studies—they learn how science works and are able to actually contribute to the progress of science,” says Amy Springer, senior lecturer in biochemistry and molecular biology, who received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2021 to expand CUREs at UMass. “This can be very important in helping them believe that they, too, can belong in STEM.” 

Working Together and Learning from Failure

In the SEA-PHAGES course, students carry out a multistep scientific investigation, starting with collecting a soil sample and identifying a new virus before characterizing the virus and using microscopic imaging to see it. They then extract DNA from the virus, and the class sequences the genomes of select viruses. These are preserved and used as the raw material for a second, upper-level SEA-PHAGES course, in which students use computer tools to study the genes present in these newly discovered viruses.  

“The students learn about teamwork, communication, and persistence, as well as the importance of attention to detail and documentation. They come to realize that science takes repetition and requires you to frequently overcome obstacles,” says Rocheleau. “That’s part of the scientific process.”

The information students uncover about the novel viruses is added to a central SEA-PHAGES database. Because the viruses infect and kill bacteria, Rocheleau says some of the viruses discovered in SEA-PHAGES have been used to treat patients with antibiotic-resistant infections.

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Sam Schneeloch, an undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology major who has assisted with the SEA-PHAGES course as a TA for six semesters since completing it herself, recalls coming into the lab as a first-semester freshman with little laboratory experience. “My biggest initial surprise was that the work was very team-oriented, since the ‘picture of a scientist’ in my head was of someone who worked in a lab by themselves,” she says. “This emphasis on teamwork, however, set me up for success in later upper-level laboratory courses, most of which also rely on teamwork for project success.”

Jada Rosario, a chemistry major and another undergraduate TA, found the SEA-PHAGES course to be a valuable introduction to using lab equipment like micropipettes and centrifuges, and she learned skills such as scientific documentation. She found she gained “a deeper STEM understanding overall” as well as “a solid understanding of what it means to work in a team, and what is required of [her].” 

Contributing to Impactful Research

Undergraduates participating in CUREs not only experience personal and academic growth but also make meaningful contributions to ongoing research at UMass. For example, Li-Jun Ma, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, teaches a CURE course focused on fungal effectors, proteins secreted by a destructive pathogenic fungus that devastate plants. “By studying this group of proteins, students are connected to real-world problems and participate in the search for potential solutions,” Ma wrote in an article about the CURE protocol she has developed.

Students in Ma’s course contribute materials to her group’s research, cloning about 100 of the effector proteins. Moreover, she says, “The independent investigation of undergraduate students brings a breath of fresh air into the research. Students with their untamed creativity come up with many stimulating ideas, even though not all hypotheses proposed through the CURE class can be tested.”

According to Ma, some undergraduates are motivated to conduct further independent research in the semesters after completing the CURE course.

For Maria Basta, a senior biochemistry and molecular biology major who is participating in Ma’s CURE course, the experience “has been truly inspiring and solidified [her] decision to pursue research in the future.”

“I have truly felt engaged in the whole process, from forming hypotheses to seeing how my findings support or challenge them. Watching everything come together has been both thrilling and motivating, and I have found myself eager to come to the lab each week to learn more and continue experimenting,” Basta says. “Overall, this course has deepened my appreciation for plant biology and strengthened my passion for research that I plan to carry forward in both my academic and professional journey.”

This story was originally published in November 2025.