James Mullet
jmullet@umich.edu
Environmental Engineering PhD Student
Advisors: Krista Wigginton & Melissa Duhaime
2023, B.S. Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, Virginia Tech
Research Interests:
I am interested in understanding the ecology of viruses in the environment and using them to improve water treatment and public health. I analyze phage-host interactions using ‘omics and PCR-based approaches, often with large computational datasets. I hope to leverage these interactions to improve water-based surveillance systems and phage biocontrol in environmental systems. Outside of research, I really enjoy public speaking, outreach, and science communication. I also enjoy hiking, drinking tea, reading, and going to concerts!
Publications:
Brown CL, Mullet JI, Hindi F, Stoll JE, Gupta S, Choi M, Keenum I, Vikesland P, Pruden A, Zhang L. 2022. mobileOG-db: a Manually Curated Database of Protein Families Mediating the Life Cycle of Bacterial Mobile Genetic Elements. Appl Environ Microbiol 88:e00991-22.
Coe A, Mullet JI, Vo NN, Berube PM, Anjur-Dietrich MI, Salcedo E, Parker SM, VonEmster K, Bliem C, Arellano AA, Castro KG, Becker JW and Chisholm SW. 2025. A curated protein dataset for taxonomic classification of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus in metagenomes. Sci Data 12, 1895.
Mullet JI, Zhang L, Pruden A, and Brown CL. 2026. Phage-plasmid-like elements are found throughout diverse environments and encode niche-specific functional traits. PLoS One 21(5): e0350027. In Press.
Outreach/Teaching:
2026 Science Communication Fellow
Tabled at 2026 Detroit River Youth Career Expo