Category: Natural science : Microbiology

For the Final Project, you will use the Microbiology article that you have selected (Module 6) and evaluate it by writing an essay with a minimum of 800 words.  The essay should be written in your own words and should address the following aspects of the article.
What did the authors investigate and what was the hypothesis that they stated?
 How did the authors use experimental design in order to answer the question they were asking?
 Explain in detail the microbiological techniques that they used and comment on what your thoughts are on the experimental design.
 Analyze the data that the study obtained and write about the conclusions that the scientists drew from the data.
 How is this study important in the field of Microbiology and what are the future prospects?
 Did the experimental design include control, variable and replicates? Explain
 Did the data support the authors’ conclusions.
You should provide the full citation of the article in APA format and attach the pdf copy of the article with your post. 
Below are some sources where you can find articles related to Microbiology. Your article should be at least 3 pages long and it should be an original article not a review.
The following are some helpful sources to find Microbiology peer reviewed journal articles
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
 https://journals.asm.org/
 https://academic.oup.com/jid
 https://jcm.asm.org/
 https://jb.asm.org/

Instructions
In Module 8, you will be working on a Final Project.  For the final project, you are required to do a literature review of a scientific journal article related to one of the following topics in Microbiology
 Biofilms
 Bacterial Diseases 
 Viral Diseases
 Parasitic Diseases
 Biosensors
 Fungal diseases
 Environmental Microbiology
In order to prepare for your final project, you will begin by writing an outline of the topic of your choice and the article that you have chosen. If you are choosing diseases, then choose only one disease of your interest in that group. For example, if you would like to focus on bacterial diseases, then choose one disease (such as Anthrax) in this group that you want to focus on.
The outline should be at least 200 words in length.  Following are the instructions on how to write the outline.
 Select a topic of your choice from the list above
 Do a search for a primary scientific article that is related to the topic. You cannot choose a review article. It has to be a primary research article from a peer reviewed journal (greater than 3 pages long).
 Write a minimum 200 word essay on the article that you have chosen.  Include in your outline, an introduction to the topic, question/hypothesis that is being investigated in the article, summarize the experiment and conclusions.
 Provide the full citation of the article in APA format.
The following are some helpful sources to find Microbiology peer reviewed journal articles
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
 https://journals.asm.org/
 https://academic.oup.com/jid
 https://jcm.asm.org/
 https://jb.asm.org/

Question 1:Go to this link on antibiotic action. Pick one of the three antibiotics that are shown in the animation. Go through the animation and describe in detail and in your own words how this antibiotic affects the growth of microbes. Highlight the action of the antibiotic on certain types of bacterial cell walls. Give examples of bacterial infections that can be treated with these antibiotics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5672523/
Question 2:Miya fell in the playground and a splinter got stuck in her arm. Describe in your own words and in detail how Mia’s immune system will react to the splinter in her arm. What is this reaction called and what are the immune cells and proteins/molecules involved.
Question 3:John was affected by a cold virus. His symptoms started with difficulty in breathing, runny nose and fatigue. The symptoms worsened at the beginning of the infection and after about 4 days, he started to feel better. His immune system was successful in combating the cold virus.  Explain in your own words and in detail which immune system will be activated (humoral or Cell mediated). Describe how John’s immune cells were able to kill the virus infected cells. If John is infected by the same virus in the future, how will his immune system react to the virus? And what will be the strength of the immune response?
Question 4:Marc checked in to the urgent care with symptoms of fever, sore throat and fatigue. His strep test turned out to be positive. Streptococcus is an extracellular pathogen.  Describe in detail which immune system will be activated in Marc’s body and how will his immune cells fight the bacterium. (name all the molecules, cell structures and cells involved).  
Question 5:Choose a disease in history that was an epidemic or pandemic and explain how vaccines have helped in eradicating the disease. Describe how this vaccine was discovered and write about the type of vaccine and how it helps to protect our body.
All your answers should be detailed and written in your own words. It will be graded on the quality of your essays.  A minimum of 3 citations are required for your written assignment. Scientific journals should be cited in APA format. You can include images/drawings where needed but provide the reference for the image.

You will write a research paper on the topic for which I have given my approval. The paper is to follow APA format guidelines and the Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html. Font is to be 11 pt Arial, or 12 pt Times New Roman. 
You should aim for a minimum 5-6 pages for the main body of the paper. A minimum of 4 sources is required and one of them may be your textbook. Online resources such as the websites for CDC and WHO may be used, but refrain from citing Wikipedia as it is not considered a reliable source in this instance. However, Wikipedia may prove useful as a means to find additional resources for your paper by browsing the references and further reading listed at the bottom of the page for whatever you are researching.
Your paper will consist of the following sections as detailed in the outline below:
I. Title page
II. Abstract: A one paragraph summary of the key points of your paper and list of keywords
III. Main body
  a. Introduction: general background information; discovery of disease and/or etiologic agent
  b. Organism characteristics: organism type, structure, culture methods if applicable and any identification methods
  c. Disease characteristics: signs and symptoms, duration, etc.
  d. Epidemiological data: geographic distribution, mechanisms of transmission, prevalence and incidence
  e. Diagnosis of disease: provide details of methods (e.g., culture, PCR, antigen detection, immunoassay, etc.)
  f. Prevention: what measure may be taken to reduce disease probability (avoidance, vaccination, etc.)
  g. Treatment: provide details of mechanims such as antimicrobial action, if applicable; treatment duration and patient prognosis
  h. Current research (optional): provide brief description of research findings relevant to your topic
  i. Conclusion
IV. Appendix: Maximum of two pages featuring color, high resolution images with figure numbers and description for each. All figures must be referenced in the body of the paper
V. Bibliography

I. Title page
II. Abstract: A one paragraph summary of the key points of your paper and list of keywords
III. Main body
  a. Introduction: general background information; discovery of disease and/or etiologic agent
  b. Organism characteristics: organism type, structure, culture methods if applicable and any identification methods
  c. Disease characteristics: signs and symptoms, duration, etc.
  d. Epidemiological data: geographic distribution, mechanisms of transmission, prevalence and incidence
  e. Diagnosis of disease: provide details of methods (e.g., culture, PCR, antigen detection, immunoassay, etc.)
  f. Prevention: what measure may be taken to reduce disease probability (avoidance, vaccination, etc.)
  g. Treatment: provide details of mechanims such as antimicrobial action, if applicable; treatment duration and patient prognosis
  h. Current research (optional): provide brief description of research findings relevant to your topic
  i. Conclusion
IV. Appendix: Maximum of two pages featuring color, high resolution images with figure numbers and description for each. All figures must be referenced in the body of the paper
V. Bibliography
must have 4 sources

How to Guide to Characterizing your Unknown

For your unknown, you should find all of the following information before your start writing your report:
– Gram reaction
– Shape and arrangement of organism
– Catalase test (for Gram + only)
– All media needed for ID (use the Gram + and – ID labs) and descriptions of any color changes

Checklist for your Unknown Report:
This is your original work – Show off what you have learned this semester! 🙂 Please don’t copy and paste passages from the internet/books/articles. Plagiarism (or more then 40% similarity) will result in at least 10 point deduction. Reports that have a higher than 50% similarity will receive 25 points deduction. This report should be in full sentences (Methods excluded)

Title (5 Points)
– Describes in a few words what was done
– Is short and precise (no longer than one sentence)

Introduction/Background (20 points)
– Describe the purpose of Microbiological Testing
o Why is testing important in the medical field?
o What is the goal of microbiological testing?
– Background on Gram negatives and Gram positives
o Differences between Gram + and – (color doesn’t count…)
o Give some examples of each
o Describe at least two diseases for each, signs, symptoms

Methods (15)
– Describe the Gram staining procedure
– Describe how catalase test would have been done (if this test was used)
– Name all media that should have been inoculated to ID your unknown and why

Results (20 points)
– Describe results for Gram reaction, cell shape and arrangement (look up information)
– What color changes were observed for each test? Any zones of inhibition (for antibiotics only)?
o Use pix of media found in the Gram + and – powerpoints for this
– Choose a good microscopic picture (e.g. Gram stained organism) found on the web but you must reference the source.

Discussion (20 points)
– Explain how your organism’s tests differed from the other gram – or +
– Write at least two paragraph about the significance of your organism
o e.g. Diseases it causes, Interesting facts etc. (The information can be collected from sources such as your text book, lab manual, or internet.)

References (5 points).
– Contains a list of sources you used for your report. You should always give credit to a source.

Overall organization (5 points)
– Report is easy to follow and contains all the subcategories in a logical order.
– Grammar and spelling counts

Submit electronic copy on due date (5 points)
– Late reports will receive 0/5 points in this category.

How to Guide to Characterizing your Unknown

For your unknown, you should find all of the following information before your start writing your report:
– Gram reaction
– Shape and arrangement of organism
– Catalase test (for Gram + only)
– All media needed for ID (use the Gram + and – ID labs) and descriptions of any color changes

Checklist for your Unknown Report:
This is your original work – Show off what you have learned this semester! 🙂 Please don’t copy and paste passages from the internet/books/articles. Plagiarism (or more then 40% similarity) will result in at least 10 point deduction. Reports that have a higher than 50% similarity will receive 25 points deduction. This report should be in full sentences (Methods excluded)

Title (5 Points)
– Describes in a few words what was done
– Is short and precise (no longer than one sentence)

Introduction/Background (20 points)
– Describe the purpose of Microbiological Testing
o Why is testing important in the medical field?
o What is the goal of microbiological testing?
– Background on Gram negatives and Gram positives
o Differences between Gram + and – (color doesn’t count…)
o Give some examples of each
o Describe at least two diseases for each, signs, symptoms

Methods (15)
– Describe the Gram staining procedure
– Describe how catalase test would have been done (if this test was used)
– Name all media that should have been inoculated to ID your unknown and why

Results (20 points)
– Describe results for Gram reaction, cell shape and arrangement (look up information)
– What color changes were observed for each test? Any zones of inhibition (for antibiotics only)?
o Use pix of media found in the Gram + and – powerpoints for this
– Choose a good microscopic picture (e.g. Gram stained organism) found on the web but you must reference the source.

Discussion (20 points)
– Explain how your organism’s tests differed from the other gram – or +
– Write at least two paragraph about the significance of your organism
o e.g. Diseases it causes, Interesting facts etc. (The information can be collected from sources such as your text book, lab manual, or internet.)

References (5 points).
– Contains a list of sources you used for your report. You should always give credit to a source.

Overall organization (5 points)
– Report is easy to follow and contains all the subcategories in a logical order.
– Grammar and spelling counts

Submit electronic copy on due date (5 points)
– Late reports will receive 0/5 points in this category.