Spring, 2006
| Classes | MWF | 10:30-11:20 | Cunn 155 |
| Labs | T | 1:00-4:00 | Dana 256 or |
| W | 1:30-4:30 | Dana 256 |
Dr. David Wessner
Watson 218
x2846
Office Hours: T 10:00-11:00
F 2:00 - 11:30
Required Reading Material
Salyers and Whitt. Microbiology: Diversity, Disease, and Environment. Wiley (2001).
Kidder. Mountains Beyond Mountains. Random House (2004).
Kolata. Flu. Touchstone (2001).
As with so many subdisciplines within the field of biology, microbiology is too broad a topic to cover completely and in depth in a single semester. Also, as is true for all subdisciplines of biology, 'microbiology' means different thinbgs to different people. To the physician, microbes may be disease-causing orgnaisms. To the chemical engineer, microbes may be organisms used to clean up oil spills. Top the cell biologist, microbes may be wonderful tools for understanding how our cells function. To the brewer, microbes may be the most important component of a good pint of beer.
During this course, we will focus on microbiology within a medical context. We will gain a general understanding of prokaryotes and viruses. We also will learn how these agents cause disease in humans and about our immune response to foreign invaders. Additionally, we w ill cover three special topics: treatment of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings, emerging infectious diseases ands global public health, and, in the laboratory portion of the course, microbiology education at the elementary school level.
Grades, as outlined below, will be based on one review, five papers, two oral presentations, class discussions, and a final exam. I do not take attendance in lecture. Attendance during scheduled lab sessions, however, is mandatory.
Grades
| Mystery Microbe Paper |
10%
|
| Mystery Microbe Oral Presentation |
5%
|
| Midterm Review |
20%
|
| E. coli Lab Report |
15%
|
| Davidson Elementary Lab Activity |
15%
|
| Mountains Beyond Mountains Discussion |
5%
|
| Flu Discussion and Paper |
10%
|
| Final Exam |
20%
|
Grading Scale
| A 100-96 | A- 95-90 | B+ 89-87 | B 86-84 | B- 83-80 | C+ 79-77 |
| C 76-74 | C- 73-70 | D+ 69-67 | D 66-61 | F £ 60 |
Schedule of Lecture Topics
| Dates | Topic | Pages |
| Jan 9 | Introduction to Microbiology |
Chpt. 1 & 2 |
| Jan 11 | The Bacteria | Chpt. 4 |
| Jan 13 | The Archaea |
On reserve |
| Jan 16 | NO CLASS | |
| Jan 18 | The Viruses | Hand-out |
| Jan 20 | NO CLASS | |
| Jan 23 | Use of Sequence Databases Mystery Microbe paper assigned |
The Microbial Pan-genome |
| Jan 25 | Bacterial Energetics | Chpt. 8 |
| Jan 27 | Bacterial Replication | Chpt. 5 |
| Jan 30 | Bacterial Replication Mystery Microbe paper due |
|
| Feb 1 | Transcription and Translation | Chpt. 6 |
| Feb 3 | Transcription and Translation | |
| Feb 6 | The Lac Operon | |
| Feb 8 | The Trp Operon | |
| Feb 10 | Horizontal Gene Transfer | Chpt. 7 |
| Feb 13 | Treatment in Resource-limited Settings | |
| Feb 15 | Mountains Beyond Mountains | |
| Feb 17 | Mountains Beyond Mountains |
|
| Feb 19 | Paul Farmer Lecture | |
| Feb 20 | ||
| Feb 22 | Discussion Hand out Review |
|
| Feb 24 | NO CLASS Review due by 5:00PM |
|
| Feb 27 | Spring Break | |
| Mar 1 | Spring Break | |
| Mar 3 | Spring Break | |
| Mar 6 |
Microbes and the Human Body |
Chpt. 11 |
| Mar 8 | Introduction to Infectious Diseases | Chpt. 15 |
| Mar 10 | Epidemiology | |
| Mar 13 | Bacterial Pathogenesis | Chpt. 15 |
| Mar 15 | Viral Pathogenesis | |
| Mar 17 | Viral Pathogenesis | |
| Mar 20 | Immune Response | Chpt. 12 and 13 |
| Mar 22 | Vaccines | Chpt. 14 |
| Mar 24 | NO CLASS | |
| Mar 27 | Flu | |
| Mar 29 | Flu | |
| Mar 31 | Resurrection of the 1918 flu | |
| Apr 3 | Viral Replication | |
| Apr 5 | Viral Replication | |
| Apr 7 | Viral Genetics | |
| Apr 10 | Avian Flu | |
| Apr 12 | Avian Flu | |
| Apr 14 | Avian Flu Flu paper due |
|
| Apr 17 | NO CLASS | |
| Apr 19 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| Apr 21 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| Apr 24 |
Emerging Infectious Diseases |
|
| Apr 26 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| Apr 28 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| May 1 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| May 3 | Emerging Infectious Diseases | |
| May 5-10 | Final Exam |
Schedule of Laboratory Topics
| Week of: | Topics |
| Jan 9 | NO LAB |
| Jan 16 | Safety issues, Sterile technique, Streaking for isolated colonies |
| Jan 23 | Introduction to microscopy, Gram staining, Observation of plates |
| Jan 30 | Mystery Microbe Oral Presentations |
| Feb 6 | Biochemical tests Discuss independent projects |
| Feb 13 | Independent projects |
| Feb 20 | Independent projects |
| Feb 27 | NO LAB |
| Mar 6 | Independent projects |
| Mar 13 | Independent projects Davidson Elementary proposals due |
| Mar 20 | Independent projects Review Davidson Elementary proposals |
| Mar 27 | Test Davidson Elementary activities E. coli reports due |
| Apr 3 | Davidson Elementary activities |
| Apr 10 | Trip to Davidson Elementary |
| Apr 17 | NO LAB |
| Apr 24 | Davidson Elementary presentation Davidson Elementary final reports due Laboratory clean up |
Lab handouts will be posted on the Web throughout the course of the semester. Please read the appropriate handouts before the lab period. Many of the protocols will require you to be in the laboratory outside of the normally scheduled sessions.