Link to this post | posted 29 Jan, 2026 02:41

NWCiowaSEAPHAGE

Northwestern College seeks to fill a full-time tenure-track assistant professor position in the department of biology beginning in August of 2026. Ideal candidates will be well rounded in biology and have the ability to teach a broad range of courses. The successful candidate will teach upper-level courses in microbiology, cell biology, or molecular genetics, depending on the expertise of the candidate, as well as introductory courses in anatomy and/or physiology. There may also be opportunities to teach courses in the candidate’s areas of specialization. The teaching load for this position is 24 credit hours per academic year. The successful candidate will also be responsible for scholarship and service, including recruiting and advising biology students. Northwestern enjoys a strong reputation in the sciences. The career accomplishments of our faculty and graduates affirm our reputation. Our new health and natural sciences building is a testimony to our commitment to courageous and confident inquiry, exploration, and discovery of God’s truth as revealed through the natural world. Required Qualifications: Applicants must have a Ph.D. in biology or a closely related field to be considered for a tenure track position (ABD will also be considered). However, a master’s degree with extensive experience would qualify candidates to be instructors or professors of practice. Candidates will exhibit a love of Christ, an embrace of the Gospel, and support the college’s mission as expressed in our Statement of Christian Identity, Vision for Learning and Vision for Diversity. Northwestern identifies as Reformed in commitment, evangelical in engagement and ecumenical in spirit. We view these Christian theological perspectives as complementary and draw from the strengths of each perspective in fulfilling our mission. We seek faculty invested in teaching, a program of scholarly activity, and the mission of excellence in the liberal arts, as a vital expression of commitment to Christ’s redemptive work in the world. Preferred Qualifications: Preferred candidates will have demonstrated teaching experience in higher education and research interests conducive to student involvement. Applicants that can contribute to departmental responsibilities and demonstrate strong communication and interpersonal skills are desirable. Northwestern College seeks candidates with an authentic Christian faith who will embrace and live out our mission & values, including our Reformed, evangelical and ecumenical identity as stated in our Christian Identity Statement, Mission Statement, Vision for Learning and Vision for Diversity. We view these statements as complementary and draw from each in fulfilling our mission. Apply online below and send a letter of interest in which you (1) describe your teaching experience and (2) scholarly trajectory; and (3) discuss how the following statements would inform and shape your teaching and scholarship: our Statement of Christian Identity, Vision for Learning and Vision for Diversity. Include a current curriculum vitae/resume and send to vpaa@nwciowa.edu. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Apply online https://www.nwciowa.edu/employment/openings/407/biology-faculty

Link to this post | posted 06 Nov, 2025 21:50
NWCiowaSEAPHAGE	Here's an example of a phage stained with UranyLess in our lab. - sara

Link to this post | posted 06 Nov, 2025 21:50
NWCiowaSEAPHAGE	Here's an example of a phage stained with UranyLess in our lab. - sara

Link to this post | posted 06 Nov, 2025 21:50
NWCiowaSEAPHAGE	Here's an example of a phage stained with UranyLess in our lab. - sara

Link to this post | posted 06 Nov, 2025 16:17

NWCiowaSEAPHAGE

We have recently resumed imaging our phages with TEM. We are a small insitution without a radioactive license so cannot use uranyl acetate. We used UranyLess stain and Lead Citrate enhancer (see photo attached. We put drops of each solution on Parafilm then floated grids on: HTL 10-20 minutes, water 1 min, Uranyless 1 min, water 1 min, Lead Citrate 2 min, water 1 min. I've also attached an image to a reply to this post that we got using these reagents and this protocol (full transparency–it was one of our best images). - Sara Tolsma 2.35Mb

Link to this post | posted 11 Sep, 2025 18:18

NWCiowaSEAPHAGE

NWCiowaSEAPHAGE The attached spreadsheet reports on the host range of 12 phages: JacoRen57, DrLupo, Quesadilla, and Knocker (isolated on M. smegmatis), Challenger, RedRaider, BlueWizard, and KoBear (isolated on G. terrae), DoDo, IndiRoo, Exploradora, A3Wally (isolated on M. foliorum. Exploradora was able to infect M. smegmatis as well as M. foliorum, its isolation host. I've attached a data card to a subsequent post that includes experiments to confirm this. 643Kb

Link to this post | posted 11 Sep, 2025 18:14

NWCiowaSEAPHAGE

The attached spreadsheet reports on the host range of 12 phages: JacoRen57, DrLupo, Quesadilla, and Knocker (isolated on M. smegmatis), Challenger, RedRaider, BlueWizard, and KoBear (isolated on G. terrae), DoDo, IndiRoo, Exploradora, A3Wally (isolated on M. foliorum. Exploradora was able to infect M. smegmatis as well as M. foliorum, its isolation host. I've attached a data card to a subsequent post that includes experiments to confirm this. 1.89Mb

Link to this post | posted 06 Oct, 2024 00:55
NWCiowaSEAPHAGE	We're looking for protocols and reagents folks have used successfully for TEM that are not radioactive. Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!

Link to this post | posted 03 Jun, 2023 15:30

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We recently annotated two EM phages. The auto-annotations for both produced many many false positive genes. We saw reverse genes without BLAST hits without much coding potential completely overlapping forward genes with good CP and BLAST hits. We had to delete nearly half of the auto-annotated genes. Debbie added: Note when you review this in DNA maser, you will find the GeneMark has called all of the forward genes and Glimmer has called all of the reverse genes. this is based on how these 2 programs call this differently OR is it because there is a big open reading frame in the same location and the programs discriminate which one to pick differently. If you simply discard one of the sets of data, are you discarding possible genes. if all of these genes are in PECAAN, always good to see if you are throwing away anything with a functional…. Edited 06 Jun, 2023 02:05 521Kb

Link to this post | posted 14 Mar, 2022 15:10
NWCiowaSEAPHAGE	Thanks! Very helpful!