BIOL 251
Spring 2013
1
BIOL 251 Microbiology
(20426 & 20427)
Spring 2013 WNC
T 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM DCSL
Th 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM DC 112
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Tattersall
Email: eat@wnc.edu
Office hours: M, W 12:00-12:45, Tu, Th 1:30-2:15 PM, Th 8:30-9:15 AM, or by
appointment
Office: Douglas Rm 102
Office phone: 775-782-2413 x 5228
Fax: 775-782-2415
Note: when emailing or leaving a phone message, please indicate which course
you are contacting me about.
Prerequisite: BIOL 190/190L or BIOL 223 or CHEM 121 with a grade of C of
better.
Course description: Emphasizes the distribution, form, structure and physiology
of microorganisms in the laboratory. Develops the student’s skills in aseptic
procedures, isolation and identification. Recommended for all allied health
majors.
Course Objectives:
1. Gain factual knowledge (terminology, classifications, methods, trends)
about Microbiology.
2. Learn fundamental principles, generalizations, or theories of Microbiology.
3. Learn to apply course material (to improve thinking, problem-solving, and
decisions) in Microbiology.
4. Develop specific skills, competencies and points of view needed by
professionals in the field most closely related to Microbiology.
5. Acquire an interest in learning more by asking questions and seeking
answers about Microbiology.
Required materials:
Microbiology: principles & explorations, 7th ed. Jacquelyn G. Black, Wiley, 978-0470-10748-5
The Microbe Files: Cases in Microbiology for the Undergraduate, Cowan,
Marjorie Kelly, Benjamin Cummings (2007). ISBN: 0-8053-4928-6
Symbiosis custom lab manual, Pearson Benjamin Cummings, ISBN: 126906665X
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Lab coat & safety glasses or goggles
Recommended text:
Microbiology: a photographic atlas for the laboratory, Steve K. Alexander &
Dennis Strete, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0805327320
Reading Primary Literature, Gillen, Pearson, 080534599X
Methods of Instruction: Lecture, video, demonstrations, laboratory exercises.
This is a Web enhanced course. You will need to use a computer to access
WNConline regularly to obtain class materials. The lecture outlines will be posted
on WNConline for you to download and print prior to class. Some assignments,
announcements and supplemental learning materials will be posted on
WNConline. Some quizzes will also be on WNConline. Check WNConline often
for new course materials.
Exams, Assignments and Grading:
Quizzes: There will also be a 20 point weekly quiz on the lecture material, given
either online or at the beginning of the lecture.
Tests: There will be 2 exams on the lecture material during the course of the
semester. The midterm will be worth 100 points. The final exam will be worth
150 points, and will be comprehensive. Spelling matters in this field, so
misspelled answers will be marked wrong.
Lab exercises:
For most lab exercises, you will turn in a mini-report worth 5 points that consists of
results and questions. Typically, you will start a lab exercise one week, and
finish it the following week. You should answer the questions at home between
the two labs, so that you will be prepared to turn in the lab at the end of the 2 nd lab
period.
Attendance and participation in the laboratory exercises also count toward your
grade.
Each lab group is limited to no more than 4 students.
You will write two formal lab reports using the basic format of a scientific paper.
One will be on the hand-washing exercise, and the other will be on your
independent research project. More information on the format of formal lab
reports is available on WNConline. Each of these lab reports is worth 40 points.
You will also do a powerpoint presentation on your independent experiment,
which is worth 30 points. Grading criteria for this presentation are posted in
WNConline.
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Spring 2013
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Due to the nature of the organisms that we work with in microbiology, you will
need to visit the lab at times outside of the scheduled lab class in order to monitor
your experiments.
Lab quizzes:
Each week that a new lab exercise will be started, there will be an online quiz
worth 5-10 points. This quiz must be taken between 1 AM Sunday and 9:30 AM
on Tuesday. These quizzes are open lab manual, and cover topics related to that
week’s lab exercises. You will have 15 minutes to complete each lab quiz.
.
Case studies: With a partner, you will orally and informally present three case
studies from The Microbe Files during the second half of the semester; each of
these will be worth 5 points.
Lab practical exam: There will be one lab practical exam in which you will identify
microorganisms, their characteristics and the tests we use to identify them from
slides, assays, pictures or diagrams. Lab practical exams cannot be made up.
Paper presentation: Each student will select a scientific paper from a peerreviewed journal and give an oral presentation to the class on that paper. Papers
should be recent (published within the past 2 years), and relate to a topic we are
studying in class this semester. Papers must be approved by me at least two
weeks in advance of your presentation. Once your paper has been approved,
you must turn in a copy of the paper’s abstract, journal name, title and authors.
Your presentation should include the title, authors and journal, and how the paper
relates to a topic from this semester. What was the objective of the study?
Present the authors’ methods, data, results & their conclusions. Give any
background necessary for the class to understand the work. Your presentation
should be 8-12 minutes long, and in it you should present the key information
from the paper, including the authors’ conclusions. You must use visual aids (eg.
Overheads or PowerPoint) to present the data. If you use Powerpoint, you must
save your presentation on a flash drive or CD.
Each student must also ask at least one question on another student’s
presentation (5 pt).
The best place to look for papers is NCBI’s PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Use the advanced search link to restrict your search results to papers published in
the last 2 years, and those with free full text. The WNC library website has access
to a number on online journal resources. You can visit the library at UNR and get
access to all their online journals through a library computer. UNR has access to
a much larger set of journals than WNC.
This project is worth 60 points. If you would like me to review your presentation
slides in advance, please make an appointment with me.
Details on how your oral presentation will be graded are posted on WNConline.
Extra Credit: You may earn extra credit by turning in news articles that deal with
microbes (from newspapers, magazines or internet news sites). Write a two
paragraph typed summary of the article (400 words or less). These articles
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Spring 2013
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should be from the popular press, not from scientific journals. Encyclopedia
entries are not appropriate. In your summary, state how the article topic relates to
microbiology. Staple the summary in front of the article, and include your name
and the class (BIOL251). You must include the source of the article and the date
published. These are due by the end of class on 5/9/12. Each paper is worth up
to 10 points of extra credit, and you may turn in up to two papers, for a total of up
to 20 points extra credit.
Study tips: To do well in microbiology, you should attend class, and keep up with
the material. You should plan to study every day. Rewriting your notes and
preparing flash cards are good ways to learn the material.
Miscellaneous
Attendance will be taken in lab and lecture. Poor attendance will affect your
grade.
Any student caught cheating on any test or assignment will receive an F in the
course. This includes but is not limited to: looking at notes, books or another
student’s paper during an exam, and plagiarizing the work of others.
I encourage any student needing to request accommodations for a specific
disability to please meet with me or the DSS coordinator (445-3275) at your
earliest convenience to ensure timely and appropriate accommodations. If
special accommodation is needed during testing, please ensure you have a note
from the DSS.
You are expected to be in class each day. Assignments must be turned in on
time. You will lose 10% of the possible points per day or fraction of a day for late
assignments. Once papers have been returned to students, late assignments will
no longer be accepted.
If you have not taken EPY150: College Success, I recommend that you take it.
This class will help you with study skills and college success strategies.
You must take tests and exams as scheduled. Lab practical exams cannot be
made up. Tests and exams can only be made up under the following conditions,
and make up tests must be taken no later than 6 days after the originally
scheduled test date:
1. You are gravely ill, you notify Dr. Tattersall that you are ill before the start
of the test, and you bring a doctor’s note.
2. A death in the family. A copy of the death certificate is required.
3. Military orders. A copy of the orders is required.
When you use laptops during class, the use should be directly related to the
class. Do not use laptops for entertainment during class and do not display any
material on the laptop which may be distracting or offensive to your fellow
students.
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Recording of lectures: You may record audio of the lectures, but you must notify
Dr. Tattersall that you will be doing so. You may not take video of class without
express permission on each specific occasion. Audio and video recordings of
class may not be posted to the web in any form. Audio recordings may be shared
directly between members of the class.
Dr. Tattersall’s test-taking rules (these apply to quizzes, tests and exams):
 Remove all books & bags from the tables.
 Keep your test paper on the table/desk.
 Keep tests folded so that only one page is showing.
 Tests are distributed upside down. You may not begin work until all
students have received a test and you have been told to begin.
 If you leave the room during a test, you are done taking the test.
 If you touch a cell phone or other communication device during a test, you
receive an F (0 points) on the test. If your cell phone rings during a quiz or
exam, you will lose 10% of the points possible. Leave your cell phone in
the car.
 No food, gum, or drinks allowed in DCSL. No eating or gum chewing
during tests.
 For exams and tests, seating is every other seat (does not apply to
quizzes).
 If you finish a test early, you may turn in your paper and leave the room
QUIETLY. You may not reenter the room until all students have turned in
their test papers.
 You may not open your bags nor access any books or materials while
other students are still working on their tests.
 You may use pen or pencil, but not red ink nor glitter pens.
 Put your full name (first and last) on your paper.
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Spring 2013
Grading Scale
Grades are earned by students and recorded by faculty. Grades are based on
the points earned by the student during the semester. There are approximately
700 points possible in this course. You can track your progress in WNConline.
Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
% points possible
93-100
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
77-79
73-76
70-72
67-69
63-66
60-62
59 or less
grade points
4.0
3.7
3.3
3.0
2.7
2.3
2.0
1.7
1.3
1.0
0.7
0
Students are responsible for dropping the class if they wish to receive a grade of
“W”. The last day to apply for a grade of W is Friday 3/29.
6
BIOL 251
Spring 2013
Tentative class lecture schedule
week Date
Topic
1
1/24
Microbiology overview
Th
Biochemistry
Microscopy/staining
2
1/31
Prokaryotes
Th
Eukaryotes
Metabolism
3
2/7
Metabolism
Th
Bacterial culturing
4
2/14
Bacterial culturing
Th
Genetics
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
2/21
Th
2/28
Th
3/7
Th
3/14
Th
3/183/22
3/28
Th
4/4
Th
4/11
Th
4/18
Th
4/25
Th
5/2
Th
5/9
Th
5/14
Tu
Genetic engineering
Bacteria
Viruses
Eukaryotes
Microbial control
Antimicrobial therapy
Host-microbe relations
7
Reading
Ch 1
Ch 2
Ch 3
Ch 4
Ch 5
Ch 5
Ch 6
Ch 6
Ch 7
Ch 8
Ch 9
Ch 10
Ch 11
Ch 12
Ch 13
Ch 14
Quiz 1
Quiz 2
Quiz 3
Quiz 4
Quiz 5
Quiz 6
Midterm
NO CLASS Spring Break
Epidemiology
Immunology
Skin & Eye infections
Ch 15
Ch 18
Ch 19
Quiz 7
Urogenital infections
Ch 20
Quiz 8
Respiratory
Ch21
Quiz 9
GI infections
Ch 22
Quiz 10
Cardiovascular infections
Ch 23
Quiz 11
Nervous infections
Environmental microbiology
Ch 24
Ch 25
Quiz 12
Final exam
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Tentative Laboratory schedule
week Date
1
1/22
Tu
2
1/29
Tu
3
2/5
Tu
4
2/12
Tu
5
2/19
Tu
6
2/26
Tu
7
3/5 Tu
8
3/12
Tu
3/19
9
3/26
Tu
Topic
Syllabus, Lab safety
Read p. 1-10
Environmental samples- (handout)
Finish environmental sample
Read p. 27-30
Culture transfer read p. 11-16
Isolation of pure culturestreak/spread plate p. 17-24
Continue Streak/spread plate
Microscopy p. 33-40
View spores, flagella on prepared
slides (see p. 67-75)
Finish Streak/spread plate
Smear p. 45-50
Simple stain p. 51-56
Negative stain p. 46-49
Gram stain p. 57-60
Read p. 41-75
Read p. 27-30 & 77-85
Differential & selective media p. 8594
Anaerobic culture p. 95-100
Prepare TSA solid media (handout)
Finish Differential & Selective
Media, Anaerobic
DNA digest p. 169-178
Handwashing experiment
Read p. 181-187
DNA gel electrophoresis p. 169178
Carbohydrate fermentation p. 102107
Read p. 101-102
Finish handwashing
Finish carb ferm
Finish Gel analysis p. 169-178
IMViC p. 129-140
H2S test p. 125-128
No Class
Spring Break
Type of report & due date
Env samples data page &
questions from handout
due end of class 1/29 (5 pt)
Streak/spread plate due
2/19 (5 pt)
Microscopy due 2/19. (2 pt)
Staining lab due start of
class 2/26. (5 pt)
Differential & selective due
3/5 (5 pt)
Anaerobic due 3/5 (5 pt)
Introduction to scientific
methodology due start of
class 2/19 (5 pt)
Molecular biology lab
(p.169-178) due 3/26 (5 pt)
Formal lab report on
handwashing due Fri 3/15
at 3 PM.
Carb fermentation due end
of class 3/12 (5 pt)
IMViC/H2S due 4/2 (5 pt)
Finish IMViC
Catalase,/oxidase due 4/9
Extracellular enzymes (starch, milk, (5 pt)
BIOL 251
10
4/2
Tu
11
4/9 Tu
12
4/16
Tu
4/23
Tu
4/30
Tu
5/7
Tu
5/10
Fri
13
14
15
15
Spring 2013
gelatin) p. 103-108 Read p. 115120
Catalase test p. 145-148
Oxidase test p. 149-152
Review for lab practical
Amino acid use p. 143-148
Urease p. 141-144
Review for lab practical
Lab practical exam
Finish Amino acids
Read p. 169-170
Independent experiment design
Independent experiments
9
Extracellular enzymes due
4/9 (5 pt)
Amino acids/urease due
4/16 (5 pt)
Lab practical exam
Independent experiments
Independent experiments
Independent experiments
powerpoint presentations
Independent experiment lab writeup due 3 PM
Independent experiments
powerpoint presentations
Independent experiment
lab write-up due 3 PM
Douglas Science Laboratory Safety Rules:
1. No eating, drinking, smoking, handling contact lens, gum chewing or applying
cosmetics will be allowed in the laboratory. Do not bring food or beverages into
the lab classroom.
2. Long hair must be restrained. Dangling jewelry must be removed. Closed-toe
shoes shall be worn during all laboratory exercises (eg. no sandals, crocs, ballet
flats or bedroom slippers). Wear sensible clothing and shoes that will cover and
protect your body, and not interfere with your lab work.
3. Work surfaces will be decontaminated at the beginning and the ending of the class
and whenever a spill occurs.
4. Safety glasses will be used in experiments involving liquids, aerosols, vapors, and
gasses.
5. Personal protective equipment (lab coat and gloves) will be worn when doing
experiments where contamination is possible. All protective equipment will be
removed when leaving the laboratory.
6. When working with human blood and other body fluid samples, you are to handle
only your own sample unless otherwise directed.
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7. Laboratory work areas will be cleaned up at the end of class and all equipment and
materials returned to the proper location. If you don’t know where it goes, please
ask.
8. Report all spills or accidents, no matter how minor, to the instructor.
9. Hands will be washed after cleaning work surfaces, when hands become
contaminated and when leaving the laboratory.
10. Dispose of any broken glass, disposable slides, etc in the red sharps container.
11. Books and bags, other than those that will be used during the class, will be stored
in the corner of the room. Only those materials needed for that day’s exercises
will be allowed on the laboratory work areas during the laboratory portion of the
class.
12. Any disposable materials contaminated with potentially infectious matter must be
disposed of in the “to be autoclaved” bin. Nondisposable supplies must be
disinfected with bleach and washed. Be sure any labels have been removed from
washed items.
13. WNC does not have insurance to cover students on campus. All students should
carry personal medical insurance.
14. A first aid kit is located near the door. A fire blanket is located in the corner of the
lab, and by the fridge. Material Safety Data Sheets are located in the corner of the
lab, along with a chemical spill cleanup kit. A fire extinguisher is located near the
door.
15. In the event of an evacuation of the lab, proceed in an orderly manner to the door,
exit the building, and assemble in the parking lot.
General rules for Micro lab cleanup:
 When you are done with plate cultures, put them in the “to be autoclaved” bin.
When you are done with slants and with liquid cultures in plastic tubes, put them
in the “to be autoclaved” bin.
 For liquid cultures in glass tubes, add bleach to kill the organisms, then wash. Be
sure any labels have been completely removed from the glassware.
 Any pipets, toothpicks or other disposable items that have touched bacteria should
be placed in the “to be autoclaved” bin.
 Disinfect your table before and after lab.
 When you take your lab coat home, wash it in hot water with bleach. If you carry
your lab coat with you, fold it inside out and store it in a plastic bag.
 Clean and put away any equipment used.
 Do not discard empty reagent bottles. Give them to Dr. Tattersall for proper
handling.