Alaina Weinheimer is a postdoctoral fellow at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences where she examines how bacteria fight viruses in the ocean. She is particularly interested in  jumbo phages, which are phages with really large genomes (> 200 kb). Until recently, they have been largely overlooked in both culture-based and sequencing studies due to their unusually large size that rivals bacteria! 

While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Biology at Penn State, Alaina worked in coral reef ecology labs where she was exposed to the numerous  threats to coral and the potential roles of microbes and viruses in  mediating or exacerbating these threats.  

Alaina was a 5 Minute Genius™ speaker for the 2023 Maine Science Festival; you can watch her talk on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/9GGe6kZfTHI?si=jcD4QnGj8GticN_J

Our conversation was recorded in June 2023.

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The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Discovery Museum. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. The Maine Science Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle.

The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.

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© 2023 Maine Discovery Museum

~~~~~

The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Discovery Museum. It is recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. The Maine Science Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle.

The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.

To support our work: https://www.mainediscoverymuseum.org/donate.  

Find us online:

Maine Discovery Museum

Maine Discovery Museum on social media: Facebook    Instagram   LinkedIn   Bluesky

Maine Science Festival on social media: Facebook  Instagram   LinkedIn

Maine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook   Instagram

© 2025 Maine Discovery Museum