We’re excited to celebrate Norah Hom, an undergraduate researcher in our lab, for publishing her article “Phage Warfare: Mechanisms of Bacteriophages and Clinical Applications” in the Undergraduate Berkeley Scientific Journal (Spring 2025 Edition).
Norah’s piece dives into the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance and explores how bacteriophages could help turn the tide. She explains how these phages have spent billions of years evolving alongside bacteria and how their ability to hijack and lyse bacterial cells can be repurposed as a powerful therapeutic tool.
Her article also highlights advances in phage therapy, including engineered phage cocktails and CRISPR-enhanced phages that directly target antibiotic resistance genes. By connecting the ecological role of phages with their medical potential, Norah captures both the urgency and promise of this research.
We’re incredibly proud of Norah for contributing to the public conversation on microbial innovation and for representing the curiosity and rigor that defines the Koskella Lab.
Koskella Lab at UC Berkeley 