Catherine Mageeney

Biography

Catherine Mageeney is a molecular biologist with a focus on bacteriophages – viruses infecting bacteria. Bacteriophages exist for every known bacterial species and are readily found through metagenomic studies. Bacteriophages can be use in therapeutic, environmental, and bioproduction applications. She is interested in using computational and experimental approaches to understand bacteriophage genomics and gene function, bacteriophage resistance mechanisms, and build bacteriophage engineering pipelines for isolated bacterial or bacteria in communities. Mageeney’s previous work at Sandia involved computational identification of genomic islands (including prophages – bacteriophages integrated into bacterial genomes) in bacterial and archaea genomes. This computational work was the basis of identification and engineering prophages for therapeutic applications. Prior to coming to Sandia, she focused on characterization of mycobacteriophage genomes with an emphasis on prophage-mediate defense mechanisms.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Biology, Cabrini College (2007- 2011)

Doctoral Degree: Cell and Molecular Biology, Lehigh University (2012- 2018)

Postdoctoral Fellowships: Sandia National Laboratories (2018- 2020)

Research Interests

• Bacteriophages
• Prophage biology
• Bacterial genetics
• Synthetic biology
• Functional genomics

Selected Publications

1. Yu S, McClain HM, Torrance E, Schoeniger JS, and Mageeney CM, Williams KP. The TIGER/Islander resource for genomic islands. (2025). Accepted to Microbiology Resource Announcements. July 2025
2. Anand A, Arkin A, Dukes F, Mageeney C, Mukundan H, Mutalik V. Bridging the gap: pathway programs for inclusion and persistence in microbiology. (2025). Trends in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2024.12.007
3. Jaryenneh J, Krishna R, Schoeniger J, and Mageeney CM. Complete Genome Sequence of Rhodococcus qingshengii Phage Perlina. (2024). Microbial Resource Announcements 0:e00869-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00869-24
4. Yu SL, Mageeney CM, Shormin F, Ghaffari N, Williams KW. (2024). Speeding genomic island discovery through systematic design of reference database composition. PLoS One. 2024 Mar 13;19(3):e0298641. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298641.
5. Jaryenneh J, Schoeniger JS, Mageeney CM. (2023). Genome sequence and characterization of a novel Pseudomonas putida phage, MiCath. Scientific Reports 13, 21834. Doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48634-z
6. Mohammed HT, Mageeney CM, Korenberg J, Graham, Ware V. (2023). Characterization of Novel Recombinant Mycobacteriophages derived from Homologous Recombination between two Temperate Phages. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 13(12). doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad210
7. Tommasini D, Mageeney CM, Williams KP. (2023). Helper-embedded satellites from an integrase clade that repeatedly targets prophage late genes. NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics 5(2):lqad036. doi: 10.1093/nargab/lqad036
8. Mageeney CM*, Trubl G*, Williams KP. (2022). Improved mobilome delineation in fragmented genomes. Frontiers in Bioinformatics 2:866850. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fbinf.2022.866850
9. Mageeney CM*, Mohammed HT*, Dies M, Anbari S, Cudkevich N, Chen Y, Buceta J, Ware VC. (2020). Mycobacterium phage Butters-encoded proteins contribute to host defense against viral attack. mSystems 5(5) e00534-20; doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00534-20.
10. Mageeney CM, Sinha A, Mosesso RA, Medlin DL, Lau BY, Rokes AB, Lane TW, Branda SS, Williams KP. (2020). Computational basis for on-demand production of diversified therapeutic phage cocktails. mSystems 5(4):e00659-20. doi: /10.1128/mSystems.00659-20.
11. Mageeney CM*, Lau BY*, Wagner JM*, Hudson CM, Schoeniger JS, Krishnakumar R, Williams KP. (2020). New candidates for regulated gene integrity revealed through precise mapping of integrative genetic elements. Nucleic Acids Research, gkaa156. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaa156
12. Mageeney CM, Ware VC. (2019). Specialized eRpL22 paralogue-specific ribosomes regulate specific mRNA translation in spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 30(17):2240-2253. Doi:10.1091/mbc.E19-02-0086.
13. Mageeney CM*, Kearse MG*, Gershman BW, Pritchard CE, Colquhoun JM, Ware VC. (2018). Functional interplay between ribosomal protein paralogues in the eRpL22 family in Drosophila melanogaster. Fly, 12(3-4):143-163. doi: 10.1080/19336934.2018.1549419
14. Dedrick R* , Jacobs-Sera D*, Guerrero C, Garlena R , Mavrich T, Pope W, Cervantes Reyes J, Russell D, Adair T , Alvey R, Bonilla JA, Bricker J, Brown B , Byrnes D, Cresawn S, Davis W, Dickson L, Edgington N, Findley A, Golebiewska U, Grose J, Hayes C, Hughes L, Hutchison C, Isern S, Johnson A, Kenna M, Klyczek K, Mageeney CM, Michael S, Molloy S, Montgomery M, Neitzel J, Page S, Pizzorno M, Poxleitner M, Rinehart C, Robinson C, Rubin M, Teyim J, Vazquez E, Ware V, Washington J. Prophage-mediated defense against viral attack and viral counter-defense. (2017). Nature Microbiology, 2:16251. doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.251.