Description
Micrb 202 Section 001, Spring 2013
Wed and Fri 9-11 AM
Instructors: Sarah Ades and Ken Keiler
TA: Luke Brezovec
Course Description
Microbiology is cool (and important): From the microbial point of view, we are guests in a microbial world. Microbes existed at least 3.5 billion years before humans inhabited the planet. There are more microbial life forms on earth than any other organisms, and they can be found in nearly every environmental niche on the planet. Microbes play integral roles in biochemical cycles required for life on earth. Microbes play integral roles in our health for good and bad. In short, microbial processes shape us and the world around us.
Science is experimentation: Everything we know about biology was discovered by scientists posing important questions, formulating hypotheses, designing strategies to address the hypotheses, and drawing evidence-based conclusions. In this course, you will learn how to practice science, while exploring core concepts of microbiology. The fundamentals of the scientific method you will master in this course will prepare you to perform research throughout the rest of your education, to understand science as a discipline, and to become educated consumer of science beyond the classroom.
You will play an active role in this course. You will develop your own hypotheses and design experiments to test them. We hope that these investigations will help you appreciate the fun and excitement of doing microbiology, instead of just learning about what others have done.
Goal(s)
By the end of this course
* you will have a strong foundation in scientific inquiry and be prepared to apply these skills in future science courses.
* you will be able to evaluate issues in “real-life” making you a life-long educated consumer of science
* you will have the technical skills and fundamental concepts to address important questions confronting microbiologists in a variety of professions from medicine to environmental microbiology.
Wed and Fri 9-11 AM
Instructors: Sarah Ades and Ken Keiler
TA: Luke Brezovec
Course Description
Microbiology is cool (and important): From the microbial point of view, we are guests in a microbial world. Microbes existed at least 3.5 billion years before humans inhabited the planet. There are more microbial life forms on earth than any other organisms, and they can be found in nearly every environmental niche on the planet. Microbes play integral roles in biochemical cycles required for life on earth. Microbes play integral roles in our health for good and bad. In short, microbial processes shape us and the world around us.
Science is experimentation: Everything we know about biology was discovered by scientists posing important questions, formulating hypotheses, designing strategies to address the hypotheses, and drawing evidence-based conclusions. In this course, you will learn how to practice science, while exploring core concepts of microbiology. The fundamentals of the scientific method you will master in this course will prepare you to perform research throughout the rest of your education, to understand science as a discipline, and to become educated consumer of science beyond the classroom.
You will play an active role in this course. You will develop your own hypotheses and design experiments to test them. We hope that these investigations will help you appreciate the fun and excitement of doing microbiology, instead of just learning about what others have done.
Goal(s)
By the end of this course
* you will have a strong foundation in scientific inquiry and be prepared to apply these skills in future science courses.
* you will be able to evaluate issues in “real-life” making you a life-long educated consumer of science
* you will have the technical skills and fundamental concepts to address important questions confronting microbiologists in a variety of professions from medicine to environmental microbiology.
General Information
Laboratory Meetings
Wed. and Fri. 9-11
109 S Frear
109 S Frear
Announcements
drop boxes open
4/24/13 1:18 PM
Drop boxes are now open on ANGEL for the MudWatt data reports, Host-Pathogen Interactions, and P. acnes Antibiotic Resistance Lab Reports. The last 2 lab reports are due by Wed. May 1. If you would like to turn in a hard copy, you can drop it off with Dr. Ades in 408 Althouse or Dr. Keiler in 401 Althouse.
We are not planning to have class on Friday. If anyone wants to meet to go over questions about the lab reports or anything else, let us know!
Also, please let us know through the SRTEs what you thought of the course and if you have any suggestions for things to improve or change.
We enjoyed having you all in class this semester. Have a great summer!
We are not planning to have class on Friday. If anyone wants to meet to go over questions about the lab reports or anything else, let us know!
Also, please let us know through the SRTEs what you thought of the course and if you have any suggestions for things to improve or change.
We enjoyed having you all in class this semester. Have a great summer!
MudWatt - microbial fuel cell assessment
4/18/13 10:13 AM
For the final assessment of the microbial fuel cell unit, each group will give an oral presentation next Wed., April 24. In addition each group must turn in a data report that includes a summary of the major aspects of the experiment and tables with voltage, resistance, and power output that you measured each week.
More information about the data report, oral presentation, and sample data tables are in the attached file. Please include all of the information outlined in the file in your data report and presentation.
More information about the data report, oral presentation, and sample data tables are in the attached file. Please include all of the information outlined in the file in your data report and presentation.
PHAGE!!!
4/16/13 4:27 PM
The TEM images from your samples, including pictures that you took on Friday, are attached. There are some great pictures! Check out image O_001 for an image of phage leaving what I believe is a lysed cell. EKS_010, EKS_016 and LRFM_005 are some great images of the bacteriophage. For comparison, the file mBioFIG 1 shows TEM images of phage that were published by the UCLA researchers in the journal mBio.
Lab Manuals for the final experiments are posted!
4/07/13 10:59 PM
The lab manuals for the final two experiments - antibiotic resistance and host-pathogen interactions - are posted in the resource section of the course page. Please go over the lab manuals so that you will be ready to design the experiments in class this week. You will do the experiments next week.
An ANGEL quiz on this material will be open tomorrow and is due before class on Wednesday.
The teaching staff has posted a new laboratory_notes resource.
Title: Host Pathogen Interactions.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hf91qlsqa181fj
Title: P.acnes Antibiotic Resistance.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hf91rhq33ht36
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
An ANGEL quiz on this material will be open tomorrow and is due before class on Wednesday.
The teaching staff has posted a new laboratory_notes resource.
Title: Host Pathogen Interactions.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hf91qlsqa181fj
Title: P.acnes Antibiotic Resistance.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hf91rhq33ht36
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
MICRB202 for Friday April 5
4/04/13 4:21 PM
In class tomorrow, we will be preparing a mini-lysate of your bacteriophage and then titering the lysate to determine the pfu/ml. The mini-lysate will be your bacteriophage stock to use for scanning electron microscopy next week and for your final experiment of the semester on host-pathogen interactions. Please go over the protocol for preparing and titering the minilysate on pages 23-24 of the Skin Microbiome Lab Manual (in the resource section of course page on Piazza) before class.
A guide to writing the Pet Microbe Lab Report has been added to class homepage under Resources
3/31/13 1:17 PM
A guide on how to write your the pet microbe report is posted in the resource section of the course page. If you have any questions, please post them. We will try to answer as soon as possible.
If you are looking for resources to find information about your pet, some options are listed below.
The teaching staff has posted a new general resource.
Title: PetLabReportGuide.pdf
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
If you are looking for resources to find information about your pet, some options are listed below.
- Search the scientific literature using the NIH resource PUBMED- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
- Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology - available online via the library
- Search the web - look for sites from educational institutions or scientific societies/institutions
- Use the google image search if to find pictures of cells and/or colonies. Go to the actual web pages to verify that the pictures are indeed of the microbe.
- Search microbewiki - http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/MicrobeWiki
The teaching staff has posted a new general resource.
Title: PetLabReportGuide.pdf
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
Background on P. acnes and their phage from the popular and scientific press
3/20/13 4:54 PM
As I mentioned in class, the experiments that you will be doing over the next several weeks are very similar to those that were done by researchers from UCLA and Pitt studying P. acnes. You will get a chance to experience what doing cutting-edge research is like.
The work was recently published in the journal mBio. A pdf is posted with this note in case you are interested. The research also made a bit of a splash in the popular press, because it could lead to a new treatment for acne. A few links to news reports are posted below.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-10/good-viruses-will-fight-acne-as-1915-discovery-is-revived
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57519811-10391704/harmless-viruses-on-skin-a-potential-acne-treatment/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19702511
The work was recently published in the journal mBio. A pdf is posted with this note in case you are interested. The research also made a bit of a splash in the popular press, because it could lead to a new treatment for acne. A few links to news reports are posted below.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-10/good-viruses-will-fight-acne-as-1915-discovery-is-revived
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57519811-10391704/harmless-viruses-on-skin-a-potential-acne-treatment/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19702511
SkinMicrobiomeLabManual.pdf has been added to class homepage under Resources
3/19/13 10:57 PM
On Friday we will start a project that will span the rest of the semester. You will isolate the bacterium Propionibacterium acnes and bacteriophage that infect P. acnes from your faces. Once you have pure cultures of P. acnes and a bacteriophage, we will use scanning electron microscopy to visualize the phage. You will also design two experiments to complete the unit. In one experiment you will test the antibiotic resistance of your P. acnes isolate. In the second experiment you will explore the specificity of host-pathogen interactions between P. acnes isolates and their phage.
The lab manual for the Skin Micriobiome experiments is posted under the resources tab of the course page. Go over the experiments for Day 1 before class on Friday. They can be found on pages 3-7 of the lab manual. If you have any questions, please ask!
A quiz will be posted on ANGEL tomorrow.
The teaching staff has posted a new laboratory_notes resource.
Title: SkinMicrobiomeLabManual.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hehw3czg8jh2o3
Due date: Mar 19, 2013
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
The lab manual for the Skin Micriobiome experiments is posted under the resources tab of the course page. Go over the experiments for Day 1 before class on Friday. They can be found on pages 3-7 of the lab manual. If you have any questions, please ask!
A quiz will be posted on ANGEL tomorrow.
The teaching staff has posted a new laboratory_notes resource.
Title: SkinMicrobiomeLabManual.pdf
http://www.piazza.com/class_profile/get_resource/hb6lqy72end64o/hehw3czg8jh2o3
Due date: Mar 19, 2013
You can view it on the course page: https://piazza.com/psu/spring2013/micrb202/resources
#class-resources #homework
| Name | Office Hours | |
|---|---|---|
Sarah Ades | When? Where? | |
Kenneth Keiler | When? Where? | |
Luke Brezovec | When? Where? | |
Tim Miyashiro | When? Where? |
General Resources
General Resources
Laboratory Notes
Laboratory Notes
Date
Apr 7, 2013
Apr 7, 2013
Mar 19, 2013
Mar 18, 2013
Mar 13, 2013
Mar 13, 2013
Mar 13, 2013
Feb 25, 2013
Feb 17, 2013
Feb 17, 2013
Feb 6, 2013
Feb 6, 2013
Jan 30, 2013
Jan 18, 2013
Jan 8, 2013