Adopt a microbe presentation

4/6/2016

Two days before today was the day we presented our adopted microbe. That day I was very nervous because my slide was very simple and I'm afraid that without any reference I will forgot what I was planning to present.

I was the first one to present because we went according to the sequence in the blendspace. I didn't know why my slide was the first one as when I handed in through blendspace it was placed 18th or further. I was quite nervous while waiting for the judges to came in and only hope that I can present smoothly later. After a while the judge and Dr. Fairol were there and we started the presentation. I kept myself talking for the entire 3 min and didn't notice that there was a sign given by Dr. Fairol indicating that 3 min was over. I only realized it when Dr. Fairol keep looking at me and then I tried to sum up in a very short time. In my opinion, I have performed well by conveying the message I planned to. It was a new experience to adopt a microbe and I have gained a lot of knowledge through this. To me, this was the most interesting assignment out of so many given assignments. I enjoyed in the process and lastly thanks to Dr. Fairol for treating us cakes.

My adopted microbe was Helicobacter pylori. It is spherical in shape and lophotrichous. Its a gram negative and microaerophilic bacteria. It lives in the stomach of human by burrowing its flagella into the epithelial layer of the stomach and destroys the mucus layer at the same time. It causes apoptosis of the epithelial cell and triggers immune response. This causes the secretion of more gastric juice and inflammation. The inflammation will then develop into ulcer and eventually cancer. However, not everyone infected with H. pylori will develop cancer as some show no effect at all and some only experience acute gastritis or nausea. They can be transmitted through contaminated food and drink, so to protect yourself you should practice good hygiene habits.

BMY 3001

1/6/2016

Tuesday was the last class of microbiology with Dr. Fairol. It made me happy and sad because I am going to miss both Dr. Fairol and Dr. Wan but at the same time I am moving forward approaching my dream. Its really a pleasure to study under both Dr. Fairol and Dr. Wan because they are very patient and good- tempered teachers. they never scolded us but only gave us advice. They taught us a lot of knowledge that are very valuable. I have also learnt many skills out of microbiology such as the skill to make use of latest software to prepare video, the skill to present in front of everyone and the skill to cooperate with the group members in discussion.Tomorrow will be the 3MT adopt a microbe presentation. It really drives me nervous as it makes me feel like its the final mission that is really really important. However, I will prepare myself to face this challenge. Lastly, I really want to thank Dr. Wan and Dr. Fairol for changing the presentation time so that  I can go home after the presentation although it would be very rush for them as they have event to attend after that.

BMY 3001

20/5/16
Yesterday our lesson continued on Microbial Genetics and Genetic Engineering. Dr. Fairol taught us on mutation. There are different types of mutation that causes different effect. For example, missenese mutation which one of the base of the codon is mutated and different amino acid is produced.  Moreover nonsense mutation causes a stop codon to be formed. Other than that, there are also other types of mutation.

After that, each group were given a topic to work on and to do presentation. Our group got the topic Spontaneous Mutation. We were allowed to go to the computer lab to prepare the mind map for presentation. Then, all of us have to gather in the classroom after 20 min. My group used popplet to work on the mind map.

The class ended with presentation of our group and another group. the remaining 4 groups presentation will be postponed to Monday.

Yakult Trip

16/5/2016
Today we went to Yakult factory in Seremban. We gathered at faculty biotech at 8.00am and started our journey around 8.30am.

When we reached there, another university also held a trip to Yakult factory and it was University Technology Mara.

First of all, we listened to a short talk regarding of the Yakult founder, probiotics as well as the benefits of drinking  Yakult daily. The founder of Yakult was Shirota, a Japanese man. The bacteria used in Yakult is Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain. It is used rather than other bacteria because its the most resistant to gastric juice among Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Its one of the probiotics. Not all good bacteria is considered as probiotics but all probiotics is bacteria. A bacteria which stay in intestine and still alive in the intestine and has proved good effect on health is considered as probiotics.

We were advised to drink Yakult because it can increase the count of probiotics in the intestine and reduce the bad bacteria which produce toxin. Probiotics can strengthen our immunity, reduce certain cancer cells, prevent constipation and improve diarrhea.
After that, we were brought to visit the production and processing units of Yakult.

Firstly, the Lactobacillus casei was brought from their mother company and multiply in the multiplying room. Sugar, water, L. casei and skim milk powder were added in a machine and cultured. Then they were let to ferment in fermentation room and diluted. They were then stored and packaged. I think the whole process was quite easy but the products were very tasty. We ended the visit by taking a lot of pictures.

BMY 3001

13/5/16
Yesterday the class was on Microbial Genetics and Genetic Engineering. We were divided into 3 groups to present conjugation, transduction and transformation. The 1st group was combined with the 2nd group, 3rd with the 4th group and 5th with the 6th group. My group and 2nd group presented on bacterial conjugation topic. Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two cells.It is a type of horizontal gene transfer. 

The plasmid transferred to recipient is also beneficial to recipient as its antibiotic resistant and xenobiotic tolerant. The plasmid also causes the recipient to be able to use new metabolites.  

Before the class ended, we were reminded on that next Monday morning we are going to pay a visit to Yakult factory. we would have to gather at 8.00am and begin our journey.This made all of us so excited.

BMY 3001

6/5/2016

Yesterday class was taken over by Dr. Wan . It was very glad to see Dr. Wan after so long. We did some activities where each of us were required to explain a part of the topic to other groups. We were given 10 min to prepare and another 10 min to explain to the next group. I was in group 1 so my group was the first group to start the activity. My part was on definition of ecology and hierarchy. I searched on some website to know more about that.



Initially I was not very sure with what is biosphere but I found that it means the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. It is a closed system where it is apart from the cosmic radiation and the high temperature in the interior of the Earth. All in all, it ,means the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors on the surface of  the Earth.



In the end, the last group came to us and told us the extra information that they have gathered from other groups. However, I found out that the information was almost the same. So it was disappointingly unproductive and non-informative. The class ended with the explanation on the topic by Dr. Wan.

BMY 3001

29/4/2016

On Tuesday Dr. Fairol gave us a lecture on Microbial Systematics and Nomenclature. The taxanomy is divided into 3 parts which are classification, identification and nomenclature. In nomenclature, the microbe is named according to binomial nomenclature which are Genus and species. The name should be italicized or underlined. The first Genus letter  should be in capital letter while the rest are i lower case. A microbe is also classified according to phylum, class, order, family, order, genus and species.
On thursday, we taught us on Microbial Genetics and Genetics Engineering. However, we have studied before in the course molecular Biology. So, the class was quite boring and Dr. Fairol decided to give us some activities to present what we have learnt. We were divided into groups and given a topic. my group's topic was DNA replication. we did a mindmap with some videos and pictures inside and handed in the link in padlet. The class then ended with some briefing.