Congratulations to Phage Foundry undergraduate researchers Isabella Murray and Madeline Svab, who have been selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program!
The DOE SULI program awards will support Murray’s and Svab’s ongoing research during the Fall 2025 term at PI Vivek Mutalik’s lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
During her SULI fellowship, Svab will be isolating bacteriophage on the host bacteria Pseudomonas viridiflava, an agricultural pathogen that causes significant economic damage in the United States. She hopes to explore the host-range of Pseudomonas viridiflava phages and explore how bacteriophages can be potentially applied to plant pathogens in DOE-relevant energy crops.
Murray will be working on a bacteriophage genome engineering project under her SULI fellowship. This project aims to further understand phage evolution and architecture, as well verify the use of a bioengineering technology.
About the SULI Program
The prestigious SULI program provides full-time undergraduate students and recent graduates with paid research internship opportunities in various fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at one of the 17 DOE National Laboratories.
The highly-competitive program evaluates applicants based on their performance in completed academic coursework, particularly coursework in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM); strength of recommendation letters; expressed scientific interests; and the applicant’s background, experience, accomplishments, and interests as they relate to the research programs at the host laboratories.
The SULI program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in collaboration with the DOE National Laboratories.
Read more about LBNL’s SULI program or learn more on the SULI website.
Watch DOE’s “What is it like to intern at a DOE national lab?” YouTube series.