Course Description:
Microbiology is a course that will allow the student an appreciation of organisms that are invisible to the unaided eye. Through lecture and laboratory, the student will become familiar with the basic principles and terminology of microbiology. Topics covered in the lecture portion will include bacterial structure, genetics, metabolism, and environmental microbiology. Laboratory exercises will emphasize procedures and techniques used to study this organisms.
Course Objectives:
We will provide the student with the opportunity to understand the basic principles of modern microbiology and to view these organisms in some depth by studying the organisms primarily in the Kingdom Monera. It is hoped the student will gain some appreciation of the overall scope of the subject and cone to identify how microbiology interacts with all aspects of the environment and plant and animal life.
Course Requirements:
Grades: The grade for this course will be calculated in the following manner;
3/4 of the grade will be from lecture, 1/4 will be from laboratory.
There will be three 1-hour exams during the course of the semester worth 100 points each. On the last day of the week (either Friday or Thursday depending upon the class schedule) there is the possibility of a quiz. The total point value of the quiz will depend upon the amount of material and the importance of that material to the course. The final exam will be cumulative for the entire semester and will be given during final exam week. You will be responsible for at least one primary journal article summary. The summary will cover a topic within the scope of the course and will be a non-review article. In laboratory there will be a midterm and final laboratory exam that will cover the material from the laboratory. Each lab exam will be worth 50-100 points each. Laboratory continued:
Since we will be working with microorganisms, there is the potential to become ill.
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE RULES AT ALL TIMES TO PREVENT ANY CONTAMINATION FROM OCCURING
All exams will be announced one week in advance of the actual date. Make-up exams will be given if a valid excuse is provided. Exams must be made up within one week of the exam. If the exam is not made up within that time then a grade of (0) zero will be recorded.
Text: The text for this class is Bauman, R.W. 2004. Microbiology. Benjamin Cummings Pulishers, with handouts for laboratory from various Microbiology Lab Manuals.