# Heather Hendrickson on Reddit (u/Heather_Hendrickson)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/heather-hendrickson

Heather Hendrickson: Microbiologist studying phages.

- Reddit account: [u/Heather_Hendrickson](https://www.reddit.com/user/Heather_Hendrickson/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2016 r/science AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5blwfu/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/science (39)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2016 to 2016
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Hendrickson

## Moments

### u/Heather_Hendrickson in r/science, Nov 7, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> Furthermore, what are some of the options that are not currently being explored that may prove to hold some interesting results in the near future?

> One of the ideas that I really like in this arena is actually an old one that has been in use in Russia and Georgia for decades. They still use viruses. These are called bacteriophages, the viruses that specifically attack particular bacterial strains. Bacteriophages are highly targeted in the bacteria that they destroy so I like to compare them to ninjas or trained assassins. Once in a complex system like a microbiome (the trillions of bacteria that live inside us and support our health) a bacteriophage army would only destroy that bacteria that are making us ill. This is very different from broad spectrum antibiotics that can be more like a nuclear bomb going off in our internal ecosystem: many casualties!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5blwfu/comment/d9q34pa/ · 5 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/Heather_Hendrickson in r/science, Nov 8, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> What's to stop a virus that's been implanted from mutating such that it's no longer beneficial, or perhaps even now harmful to the host?

> Bacteriophages have had 2 billion years to start infecting humans and they haven't yet. To be honest, this isn't a big surprise ... there are WAY more bacterial cells on the planet to attack than there are human cells! Also, taking over a bacterial cell is relatively easy, the DNA and all of the working machinery is just sitting in the cell. Eukaryotic cells (like ours) have the DNA wrapped up and hidden in an extra organelle. Too complicated! Infecting bacteria is a pretty great job (if you can get it). At least , that is what the bacteriophages tell me.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5blwfu/comment/d9qkxqs/ · 4 points as of Nov 7, 2026