BIOL 4014 Microbiology Spring 2008
Mon & Wed, Lecture 8 am – 9:40 am, LSW 444;
Lab 9:00-10:50 am or 2:00-3:50 pm, LSW 546
Instructor: Dr. David F. Gilmore
Office: LSE 418
Phone 972-3263
Email: dgilmore@astate.edu
Web: http://www.clt.astate.edu/dgilmore
Office hours: TBA
other times by appt. or just drop by.
Lab text: Microbiology Laboratory Theory and Application 2nd ed by
Leboffe and Pierce. Required
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Integrated Lab/Lecture course
•Match up of lecture topics and Lab exercises
•Additional time for discussion of lecture material, lecture exams.
•Avoid “is this lab or lecture?” thinking.
•Except for Lab Final, exams cover lecture and lab.
Powerpoint lectures
•Each slide numbered for your reference
•Listen to ME, take smart notes
•Powerpoints will be posted before class, but attendance is expected!
•No textbook, but online reading assignments!
Stuff
•Schedules may change, more likely in lab
•Alteration in points for Lab assignments
•Don’t be a stranger.
•Please no cell phone use or ringing in class.
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Grading
•Four regular exams, 100 points each
•Final (fifth) Exam, 100 points.
•Attendance in lecture: 50 points.
•Lab assignments totaling 450 points, typically
•Two or 3 Lab Reports
•One Lab Final
•One Unknown identification
•Total 1000 points
Student email for official commuication
my web page: study guides, lab report directions, etc.
Cheating
Full syllabus is posted online
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Microbiology: Definitions
• Microbiology: study of living things too small to be
seen w/o a microscope.
– What’s life?
• Highly organized, self replicating, self-adjusting,
capable of evolving, can obtain energy
• Made of cells, comes from pre-existing cells
– Are all microbes that small?
• Epulopiscium and Thiomargarita: visibly large
bacteria
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Classification of Microbes
• Three domains
– Eubacteria: prokaryotic cell structure
– Archaebacteria: prokaryotes, but different
– Eukaryotes: 4 kingdoms
• Plants, animals, fungi, and protists.
• What are microbiologists interested in?
–
–
–
–
Eubacteria and archaebacteria for sure.
Eukaryotes like fungi and protists
Animals (parasitic worms) but not really plants.
What’s missing?
• VIRUSES!
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Divisions of Microbiology
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• By critter type:
– Bacteriology, virology, mycology
– Parasitology (includes protozoa, fungi, worms)
• Other divisions:
– Pathogenic microbiology, Immunology, molecular
biology, microbial ecology
– Applied microbiology: water treatment, natural products,
food microbiology, environmental microbiology
History: Ancient knowledge
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• Recognition of Immunity:
– Variolation and protection from infection
• Intentional contact with minor form of smallpox
– Protected against Variola major
– Edward Jenner and cowpox (1796)
• Milkmaids catch cowpox, seem to be immune to
smallpox.
• Contagion: disease can be spread by contact.
• Exclusion of lepers; burning of plague victims
• Catapulting of disease victims into castles during siege
Satire on Jenner and vaccination
encarta.msn.com/.../ Vaccination_with_Cowpox.html
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History continued
• Microbiology as a biological science
– Robert Hooke, 1665, discovery of cells
– Antony van Leeuwenhoek, father of microbiology
• Dutch amateur lens grinder
• First person to see microbes, late 1600s
– Mid 1800s, microbes taken more seriously and studied
using the scientific method
micro.magnet.fsu.edu/.../ introduction.html
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History: the Golden Age
• From about 1850 to start of 20th century
• Read about significant individuals of this era:
– Louis Pasteur
– Robert Koch
– Ignaz Semmelweis
– Joseph Lister
– Paul Ehrlich
• Major concepts
– Fermentation, other chemical processes due to life
– Germ theory of disease: sicknesses caused by microbes
– Aseptic technique; avoid infection, contamination
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20th
Century Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Use of microbes as model systems for study
• Study of DNA, proteins synthesis
• Tools and processes for recombinant DNA
• Applied microbiology
• Food industry
• Water and sewage treatment
• Bioremediation
• Medicine
– Emerging diseases; antibiotic resistance
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Why Study Microbes?
Major impact on health
•Responsible for disease in humans, animals, plants
•Major impact on environment
•Major decomposers
•Nutrient cycling, elemental cycling
•Microbes are talented
•Live under extreme conditions
•Protect against disease
•Eat oil, toxic waste (bioremediation)
•Make plastic
•Spoil food, make food
•Use light, produce light
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