Purpose
In 2018, the UW Microphiles Club started an undergraduate microbiology journal to showcase the diversity of microbiology to all audiences while providing an opportunity for students to develop their skills in scientific writing. Thanks to outstanding work on the part of the entire team, the 5th issue is now available online.
The future of this journal is up to us. The Microphiles Journal is committed to providing support for those who wish to learn more about microbiology or team up to create, write, illustrate and design a microbiology journal. It's a great opportunity to get involved with the community, develop your ability to communicate your findings, and strengthen your resume. We welcome freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and you do not have to be a microbiology major to participate!
The future of this journal is up to us. The Microphiles Journal is committed to providing support for those who wish to learn more about microbiology or team up to create, write, illustrate and design a microbiology journal. It's a great opportunity to get involved with the community, develop your ability to communicate your findings, and strengthen your resume. We welcome freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and you do not have to be a microbiology major to participate!
Letter from the Editor
I am incredibly happy to present the sixth issue of the Microphiles Journal, our largest and greatest issue yet! Each year, the Microphiles Journal is proud to present a fully student-run and created collection of works, and I can proudly say that I believe this issue to be our best yet—we had an unprecedented number of students on our team, as well as more articles than ever before. The Microphiles Journal continues to be a place where students can develop their scientific skills and their passion for microbiology simultaneously, and the improvement in each student’s writings and illustrations has been evident over the course of the year. We are proud to provide a low-stakes space for undergraduates to explore their interests, as well as to create a greater sense of community with students from a wide array of experience levels and disciplines.
This year, we have been able to extend our journal reach to greater lengths than ever before. For the first time since the pandemic, we have re-established official Registered Student Organization (RSO) status and held in-person meetings, proving our dedication to building and transforming the journal with each year that continues. Additionally, through greater use of social media platforms and advertising, we were able to garner interest from undergraduates across the UW and received over 50 applications to the journal team, more than ever before.
This year’s issue of the journal would not have been possible without our incredible undergraduate members. To our writers, whose personal passions are visible in their writing, to our editors, who helped refine and develop each piece you see here, to our illustrators, whose stellar artistry brings this journal to life, and to our publishers, who brought everyone’s work together more beautifully than we could have imagined, I want to extend a huge thank you. It is with these individuals’ hard work and dedication that we are able to present such an outstanding product, and I am proud of every single one of them for the commitment they have shown not only to the journal but to their teams. Our undergraduates have truly used this opportunity to build connections with each other, encouraging their teammates to be the best writers and illustrators they can be.
Furthermore, I want to thank our RSO advisor, Karen Thickman, for her endless guidance and help in facilitating this journal throughout the years, as well as our wonderful graduate editors for volunteering their free time to advise our undergraduate writers. Finally, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to our 2023-2024 student leads, Grace Wallen, Jessica Wang, Lucia Jiang, and Olivia Yau, who were each vital in managing and creating an issue that we are all immensely proud of. Without this wonderful team, I cannot imagine having put out this amazing product, and I am so happy to have had them by my side in this process.
This year’s group of undergraduate writers, illustrators, editors, and publishers has put in an immense amount of time and dedication to make this issue the best that it can be, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Shima Shaporifar
Editor-in-Chief
This year, we have been able to extend our journal reach to greater lengths than ever before. For the first time since the pandemic, we have re-established official Registered Student Organization (RSO) status and held in-person meetings, proving our dedication to building and transforming the journal with each year that continues. Additionally, through greater use of social media platforms and advertising, we were able to garner interest from undergraduates across the UW and received over 50 applications to the journal team, more than ever before.
This year’s issue of the journal would not have been possible without our incredible undergraduate members. To our writers, whose personal passions are visible in their writing, to our editors, who helped refine and develop each piece you see here, to our illustrators, whose stellar artistry brings this journal to life, and to our publishers, who brought everyone’s work together more beautifully than we could have imagined, I want to extend a huge thank you. It is with these individuals’ hard work and dedication that we are able to present such an outstanding product, and I am proud of every single one of them for the commitment they have shown not only to the journal but to their teams. Our undergraduates have truly used this opportunity to build connections with each other, encouraging their teammates to be the best writers and illustrators they can be.
Furthermore, I want to thank our RSO advisor, Karen Thickman, for her endless guidance and help in facilitating this journal throughout the years, as well as our wonderful graduate editors for volunteering their free time to advise our undergraduate writers. Finally, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to our 2023-2024 student leads, Grace Wallen, Jessica Wang, Lucia Jiang, and Olivia Yau, who were each vital in managing and creating an issue that we are all immensely proud of. Without this wonderful team, I cannot imagine having put out this amazing product, and I am so happy to have had them by my side in this process.
This year’s group of undergraduate writers, illustrators, editors, and publishers has put in an immense amount of time and dedication to make this issue the best that it can be, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Shima Shaporifar
Editor-in-Chief