Microbiology (BioSc221) Lab Syllabus Instructors Dr. Dave Westenberg 105A Schrenk Hall (Office), G-6 Schrenk Hall (Lab) Office Hours - MWF 9:00 - 10:00 or by appointment Office phone: 341-4798 e-mail: [email protected] John Macauley Schrenk Hall (Office) Office Hours Office phone: e-mail: [email protected] Course Webpage - All material in this syllabus plus supplemental lecture material can be found at the following URL: http://www.umr.edu/~microbio/Bio221.html Textbook. - Explorations in Microbiology by Hudson and Sherwood Laboratory Procedures Read and understand all the safety precautions on pages ix and x. Good aseptic technique is the key to success in the microbiology laboratory and the successful completion of each exercise depends on strict adherence to good aseptic technique. The Olympus microscopes used in our microbiology laboratory are high quality but are useless if not handled with proper care. Proper use of your assigned microscope is essential and failure to adhere to good laboratory practice will result in the loss of laboratory skill points. Grading The laboratory grade is worth a total of 300 points. There will be no make-up labs. If you miss more than 3 labs your lab grade will be dropped 30 points. Missing more than 5 labs will result in dismissal from the course. The lab grade will be broken down as follows: 25 points - Laboratory skills (conduct, microscope care, attendance) 100 points - Results and reflections 75 points - Lab report parts – Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion and Abstract/Summary 100 Points - End of semester posterLaboratory Skills. Repeated abuse or mishandling of microscopes, unsafe lab practices, excessive absences, late reports will result in loss of all or a portion of these 25 points. Results and reflections. At the end of each lab exercise you will find a RESULTS and REFLECTIONS section. These are to be completed for the laboratory exercises indicated with an *. R&Rs are due by 5pm one week after completion of the exercise. Each results and reflections section will be worth up to 10 points for a total of 100 points. Data Presentation. The remaining 175 points will be based on the development of a poster presentation of an independent project. During the semester you will work on selected parts of a typical poster and for the final report will prepare a poster describing an independent project. The parts of the poster are to include the following sections: abstract/summary, introduction, results, discussion (results and discussion may be combined), references. You will work on individual parts as follows: Materials and Methods (Exercise 8) worth 25 points; Results and discussion: (Exercise 15) worth 25 points; Introduction (Exercise 36) worth 15 points; and Astract/summary (Exercise 31) worth 10 points. The final poster will include all of these parts and will be worth a total of 100 points. Lab Schedule 1/13 Introduction to the microbiology lab, Writing Laboratory reports. 1/15 Aseptic technique Exercise 1* - Culturing microbes on solid surfaces Exercise 3 – Streaking plates for isolation 1/20 Exercises 2* (A, B, C), and 5 (demo) – Microscopy Continue Exercise 1 and complete Exercise 3 (repeat Exercise 3 if necessary) 1/22 Exercise 6* - Staining microbes Plan Exercise 9 Complete Exercises 1 1/27 Exercise 9 – Microbe Safari Exercise 8 – Growth Parameters 1/29 Exercise 4* - Killing microbes Complete Exercise 8 and Exercise 9 2/3 Exercise 20 - Growth measurements Complete Exercise 4 2/5 Exercise 24* – Plasmid isolation Complete Exercise 20, 2/20 Exercise 8 Materials and Methods due 2/10 Exercise 26 – Transformation, 2/12 Exercise 17 –Growing viruses Complete and 262/17 Exercise 22* - Bacterial sex Complete Exercise 17 2/19 Exercise 36 – Who (or what) is to blame? Complete Exercise 22, 2/24 Exercise 15 - Microbial metabolism Continue Exercise 36 2/26 Exercise 11 - Observing protozoa Complete Exercise 15 and continue Exercise 36 2/27 Exercise 36 Introduction 3/2 Exercise 31* – Humans as Habitats 3/4 Continue Exercise 31 and complete exercise 36 3/5 Exercise 15 Results and Discussion due 3/9 Complete Exercise 31 Exercise 27* – Tower of Microbes 3/11 St. Pat's - no lab 3/16 Exercise 14 (A,B,C,D) – Special stains 3/18 Exercises 12 and 13 - Observing algae and fungi Exercise 45 – The problem with packing peanuts 3/19 Exercise 31 Abstract 3/23 Continue Exercises 12 and 13, Exercise 33* - Identifying pathogens 3/25 Complete Exercise 12, Complete Exercise 33 3/30 Spring break - no lab 4/1 Spring break - no lab 4/6 Exercise 37* - Antibiotic resistance 4/8 Field Trip, Wastewater treatment plant Complete Exercise 37 4/13 Exercise 29 (A) - Water microbiology 4/15 Complete Exercise 29, Field trip – PCRMC 4/20 Exercise 44 – Biofilms and spaceflight 4/22 Continue Exercise 44 4/27 Microbes in food (handout) 4/29 Complete microbes in food, Field trip - St. James Winery 5/4 Poster session 5/6 Microlunch If you have any comments or concerns regarding this course or the instructor (good or bad) please feel free to discuss them with me. If you are not satisfied with my response or prefer to speak with someone else, you may contact the Chair of the Biology Department, Dr. Ron Frank ([email protected], 341-4819) or the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Paula Lutz ([email protected],