The Phage Genomics Lab courses ,sponsored by the HHMI Science Education Alliance, offers introductory biology students an authentic research experience. Students isolate novel bacteriophage from the environment and characterize those phage using current research techniques including electron microscopy and DNA analysis. The genomic DNA from some of the novel phages are sequenced and students use bioinformatics tools to annotate the phage genomes. Student results are archived in the mycobacteriophage database and the annotated genome sequences are published in GenBank. Students involved in this course often go on to complete research in faculty labs and complete honors theses.