Michael H. Walter

Our UNI-Biology lab focuses on basic and applied research. We aim to select phages for potential therapeutic and/or prophylactic applications. The 'cold chain', storage, shipment and field application conditions challenge the stability of vaccines and therapeutics, including phage. We're characterizing the physical durability of 'wild' Bacillus anthracis/cereus phages acquired from Iowa prairie soils. Additionally, we examine the fate of the spore:phage interaction in animal defense cells, with the aim of selecting for phages durable in that environment. In the past we have published on phage structure and continue to probe structural protein characteristics relating to phage durability.