BIOL 370 Introduction to Microbiology (fall)
This class covers a range of topics fundamental to microbiology, including the structure and function of microbial cells, how microbes function and interact with their environments, and how interactions between microbes and their hosts (including humans) shape our world. By the end of this class, students will be able to:
- Describe how microbes are classified and categorized, and explain why different systems of classification are useful for describing microbial diversity
- Explain how microbes are identified in clinical settings, and differentiate microbes based on observable traits
- Use publicly available databases and tools to classify and compare microbes based on sequence data
- Explain how bacteria grow, what resources they require, and how they interact with their environment
- Describe bacterial genome organization and control of gene expression, and explain how bacteria control their physiology to allow infectiveness and survival
- Explain how bacteria respond to antibiotics, and how antibiotic resistance arises and spreads
- Describe how a pathogen invades a host and causes disease and how transmission between hosts occurs, and explain how infectious disease dynamics are studied
BIOL 470W/IBS 539 Microbiome Ecology (spring)
This course covers the ecology of species interactions, with a focus on microbial and microbiome ecology. Students will become familiar with theories and models of inter- and intra-species interactions, including interactions between microbes and their hosts, and the issues with extrapolating these ideas into the microbial realm. This course will provide a conceptual introduction to mathematical modeling as a tool for understanding ecological systems; a basic familiarity with college-level calculus is recommended but not required.
We rely heavily on the primary literature. Students will learn to read and critically review scientific papers; short homework assignments will be assigned based on readings, and students will write multiple peer reviews for published and pre-printed articles. The final project will be a Current Opinions-style review paper on a topic relevant to microbial ecology and/or the microbiome. Quizzes will be given every few weeks on Canvas; as the focus of evaluations in this class is on comprehension of the material as demonstrated through writing, there are no exams.
Prerequisites Foundations of Modern Biology (BIO 141/142); co-requisites Introduction to Microbiology (BIO 370) OR Ecology (BIO 247)
Students who complete this course successfully will be able to:
- Describe major concepts in community ecology and explain how they apply to microbial communities
- Read, understand, and summarize primary literature on the microbiome
- Critique research papers in the field based on their scientific merit and innovativeness
- Understand how quantitative methods and modeling contribute to our understanding of the microbiome
- Navigate research papers that use modeling as a tool for understanding a biological process