Madison Arrighi ’21: Honoring MB Teacher with Scientific Discovery of MrAaronian the Bacteriophage

Moses Brown science teacher Eric Aaronian’s annual quip to his 9th grade biology class inspired MB alumna Madison Arrighi ’21 to take him at his word and name a unique scientific discovery after him. Madison’s research as a human biology major at Marist College led her and her lab partner to find a new bacteriophage they named MrAaronian in his honor. 

“Bacteriophages are the most abundant and diverse biological entities in the world,” explains Madison about these viruses that infect bacteria. “Their importance is growing rapidly in the medical field as a potential alternative to antibiotics for multi-drug resistant bacteria.” 

The discovery is also contributing to research that may have applications in selective bioremediation. Her finding has been published in the National Library of Medicine and in the Microbiology Resource Announcements database, an impressive accomplishment given her age and experience in the field.

Madison credits her 9th grade biology experience at Moses Brown School for fostering a love for science that continues to grow. 

“I had such a strong foundation that began in Mr. Aaronian’s biology class,” recalls Madison. “My experience in that class was amazing. I remember sitting in his classroom, struggling with the Hardy Weinberg equation, and he was the one who really got it in my head. I was able to take that from high school straight into my upper level classes in college.”

“I’m so proud of Madison,” states Eric Aaronian, upper school Science teacher and the source of the joke and inspiration behind the recently named MrAaronian bacteriophage. “I want to say how impressive it is that as an undergrad Madison published as a co-author. It’s an amazing achievement and not one that a lot of undergrads get a chance to experience.”

Diving into biology and the phages lab at Marist changed the trajectory of what Madison was studying, from general biological sciences to human biology, and she is now looking forward to career and future education options in that field. And it was that beginning biology phages lab that led to her discovery. 

“It's not that hard to find a bacteriophage, but to find one as unique as what we found is really interesting,” shares Madison. “It was my first year at Marist, and my biology professor’s first assignment was for us to fill up a ziplock bag with dirt. So, my lab partner and I ran outside, scooped up some dirt from a random flower bed outside the science building. We filtered it, isolated it, purified it, and sent it off for electron pictures. We then submitted everything to the Microbiology Resource Announcements database, ran it through the DNA bioinformatics sites, and our bacteriophage was unique.” 

When it came to name the bacteriophage, Madison remembered Mr. Aaronian’s tongue-in-cheek suggestion that if any of his students discovered something new, they could name it after him. She shared the story with her lab partner, which resulted in the class voting and approving the idea to name the newly discovered bacteriophage, MrAaronian. 

“So, here we are. Our finding is published in the microbiology resource announcements and it all started over a little joke from my freshman year at Moses Brown.”