Rate My Professor Heather Hendrickson

Hendrickson's research centers on microbial evolution, encompassing bacteriophage isolation and genomics, bacterial cell shape transitions, horizontal gene transfer, and chromosome architecture. Her laboratory integrates experimental evolution, cell biology, genetics, and genomics to develop bacteriophage-based biocontrols for pathogens threatening New Zealand's primary industries, such as Paenibacillus larvae causing American foulbrood in honeybees and bacteria affecting salmon. She has secured major funding, including a 2025 Marsden Fund grant of $941,000 for genetic tools to protect honeybees and biotechnology advancement, and serves as Co-Science Lead on the $8.9 million MBIE Endeavour Programme, Adaptable Phage Solutions. Key publications include 'The Lion and the Mouse: How Bacteriophages Create, Liberate and Decimate Pathogens' (2012), 'In Vitro Evolution to Increase the Titers of Difficult-to-Propagate Bacteriophages' (2023), 'Paenibacillus larvae and their phages' (2023), 'Co-evolution and Gene Transfers Drive Speciation Patterns' (2024), and 'Evolutionary rescue of spherical mreB deletion mutants' (2025). With over 1,560 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions advance phage therapy against antibiotic resistance. She holds leadership positions as President of the New Zealand Microbiological Society and Co-Convenor of the 2027 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Population Biology, and engages in public outreach through lectures and media.