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.

BMY 3001

22/4/2016

This week was all about presentations. I was in the 3rd group and the tittle was HIV. Although it sounded common to others but we did explain in details. We talked about the introduction, structures, mechanism, symptoms and so on. We also cleared the doubts from our classmates by answering their questions.

There was a group who presented in a very interesting way which their topic was Insomnia. They started off with a video of their friend who was experiencing insomnia. They had great acting skills and from that we can see that they really put in a lot of effort. In that video they also talked about the symptoms.

Other than that, there was a group presented on Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease. I didn't came across this disease before but after their presentation I did acquire some knowledge on that. In short form it was called CJD which was a neurological disease. It was caused by the high level of prions in the brain that resulted in damaging in nerve cells. The symptoms included loss of memory, slurred speech, blindness and jerking movements.

I also found out that Malik's group presentation was very interesting and informative. They acted in the class about how a cow was infected with Mad Cow Disease or so called Bovin Spongiform EncePhalopathy. This disease was also caused by prion which was initially transmitted from sheep. It can also be transmitted to human which became the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease if human accidentally ate the infected steak.

All in all, I have gained a lot of knowledge from the presentations as well as enjoying it.

Microbiology

24/3/2016

Today there was a new lecturer who taught us microbiology. The topic was Acellular Organism which is virus. Dr. Fairol explained to us the topic using slides and showed us some models made by the previous students. The models were fascinating and they showed us that different types of virus have different shapes. They were not considered as cells because they couldn’t reproduce on their own but depended on the host. We also learnt the virus reproductive methods. The new stuff I have learnt in the class was the yellow or green mucus produced during flu was caused by bacteria but if it was colourless it was caused by virus.

Other than that, we also learnt about viroids and prions. Viroids only occur in plant while prions are misfolded proteins that are infectious. 

BMY 3001

21/3/2016
Today is the best lesson ever because we don't have to study but play games for the whole lesson. I'm from group one and we created a kahoot game for the classmates to answer. Although our game is not creative enough but I think some of the questions are quite challenging. Everyone was very nervous and trying to compete with other groups for the first place. Some groups even lost internet connection and missed some marks as they couldn't answer the questions. However, the game ended smoothly with the cooperation of the classmates.

Then we continued with the other games carried out by other groups like crossword,bingo, flip card, musical chair and racing with organelles. I like crossword game the most because some of the questions were quite challenging and we were competing with other groups for the speed to figure out the answer. I was quite happy that my group managed to win the first place for the crossword game and flip card game and second place for racing organelles and we got lots of chocolates and tidbits as the rewards. In the end, we have tie with group four.

However, I felt sad because its the last class with Dr. Wan. I really enjoyed Dr. Wan lessons as I can play and learn something new at the same time. I'm looking forward to Dr. Wan upcoming lesson.

BMY 3001

17/3/2016
 There was nothing special during this week. Dr. Wan went through the slides with us for chapter 3 Prokaryotes. I have studied the slides before but still there are some information that I have forgotten. Dr. Wan gave us a quiz on Monday and I managed to answer quite well although I didn't answered all correctly. I think the quiz was great as it helped me to refresh my memory. From the lecture, I remembered that cilia is mostly found in eukaryotes but not prokaryotes which is the first time I know this.

On Thursday, it was a normal lesson.Dr. Wan explained the slides and answered our questions.The thing that I remembered the most was Dr. Wan treat all of us a piece of brownies because one group won the kahoot game on Monday. The brownies was very nice and thanks a lot to Dr. Wan! The lesson ended happily.

Microbiology BMY 3001

11/3/16

This week we have learnt chapter 2 microscopy and some parts of chapter 3 prokaryotes. Microscopy was really a boring chapter that we had to know the parts of microscope. 

So, Dr. Wan ask one of the groups to explain this chapter in an interesting way . Well, it ended up in a quite interesting way but I couldn’t really get the message they were trying to convey. However, Dr. Wan did go through those slides with us and gave us an online quiz. It was really fun because it was like a game and we have very short time to think. 

Other than that, we also learnt about prokaryotes. This chapter was taught in a different way where I have to study the slides and drew a mind map first. During the class, we were required to drew a mind map as well as we were not allowed to discuss. So, everyone was running out to the front to write on the board.  However, everyone was trying to wrote down what they can remember so the outcomes were quite massive and not very informative. 

Dr. Wan then continued the class by discussing the information on board as well as  some slides. What I like for that class was we were introduced hydrothermal vent. Actually,  I saw that before in natural geography or documentary but I didn’t know what was that. There were some Archaea living there such as Desulfuvibrio vulgaris, Sulfolobus and others. 

 Desulfuvibrio vulgaris 

Microbiology- Reflective Journal

3/3/2016

I have learnt a lot of things in microbiology class although its just the first week of the semester. What was unexpected was we don’t study solely from the slides but we studied something around us and Dr. Wan always keep us updated. Dr. Wan used every single advanced technologies to make the lessons interesting like using tablet and camera to record the lessons and made full use of the learning spaces online for us to share our thoughts and learn new stuffs. Dr. Wan also never stop to amaze us by introducing a lot of new terms and organisms that we might never heard before. What impressed me were the watermelon snow and Thiomargarita namibiensis.

The watermelon snow looked incredible like a cluster of bloodstain on the snow but it tasted like watermelon. However, I have a question. Since it tasted like watermelon, can I eat it and will it cause any effects to me if I do so?

I’m also quite amazed when I know Thiomargarita namibiensis can be seen by our naked eyes. This is because we were told that bacteria were small enough that we can only see them under microscope. 

I really like microbiology class and I believe that in the future I will gain more knowledge than what I think I will. However, there were some feedbacks that the Wi-Fi in the classroom and hostel are too bad that we can’t access to the internet to search info, log in to certain learning spaces and watch video as we wish to. So, I hope that there will be some improvement to ease the learning process.