526-321 Molecular Microbiology Techniques
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Include: Subject Information | Generic Skills
Also see:
- Subject Timetable (Student Information System)
- Lecture Schedule (To be added once finalised)
- Quality of Teaching Survey 2008 - Response to student feedback - will be posted when available
- LMS link - link to subject information, lecture notes, etc. (Note: This is a password protected site available only to students currently enrolled in this subject.)
Subject Information
Coordinator:
Credit Points: 12.5
Prerequisites:
Microbiology 526-201 and 526-221.
Corequisites:
At least one of microbiology 526-301 or 526-313.
Semester: 1
Contact:
54 hours of practical work and six hours of lectures in the first six weeks of semester only (total of 10 hours per week)
Description/Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, students should have:
- gained some understanding of the principles and procedures involved in the culture, isolation and identification of bacteria (particularly those of medical and environmental importance) based on principles of microbial physiology;
- used molecular microbiological techniques (eg. PCR, DNA sequencing, western blot probing) to identify important characteristics of bacteria (eg. virulence factors);
- used common bioinformatics methods to analyse DNA and protein sequence data (eg. BLAST searches, translation of DNA sequences, emm virulence types of streptococci); and
- gained expertise in retrieving published scientific data related to the project using computer searches and library facilities (eg. Medline).
This subject covers various aspects of practical and molecular microbiology including conventional isolation and identification methods, PCR and DNA sequencing, and antigen detection using western blots.
Assessment:
Regular written reports of laboratory work, including answers to discussion questions given out in class (50%), and a 2-hour mid-semester written examination (50%).
Generic Skills
Upon completion of this subject, students will be able to handle, grow and identify bacteria safely in the laboratory. This includes the use of aseptic technique, light microscopy and staining, and plating on agar media. Students will understand the principles and practice of PCR (polymerase chain reaction), and use it to identify microorganisms (amplify and sequence the product). Students will be able to analyse raw DNA sequence data (ABI files), edit them to remove sequence errors, and analyse sequences using the international sequence databases (eg BLAST searches, emm-BLAST searches) and search databases of published scientific literature (eg. Medline, Current contents) to retrieve information relevant to the area of study. Students will also be able to write concise reports on the progress of their investigations, including the preparation of figures and tables to summarize their findings.