Schedule fall 2025

PDF Version of Schedule
Week 1
To-Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 1
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 1

 

By the end of lecture 1.1 on Introduction to Microbes, students will be able to…
  1. Understand the concept of microorganisms and how tiny they are.
  2. Describe microbial pathogenesis and the techniques to fight them.
  3. Identify the differences between pathogens and non-pathogen microbes.
  4. Differentiate prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and viruses.
  5. Understand the importance of light and its properties for microscopy.
By the end of lecture 1.2 on Prokaryotes & Eukaryotes, students will be able to
  1. Understand how prokaryotes are differentiated from eukaryotes.
  2. Identify eukaryotic cells and the differences across eukaryotic species.
  3. Describe the major external features of bacteria.
  4. Recognize cell morphology, arrangement, and gram-positive vs gram-negative.
  5. Differentiate the various internal features of bacteria.
Week 2
To-Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Quiz #1
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 2
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 2

 

By the end of lecture 2.1 on Microbial Genetics I, students will be able to…
  1. Describe nucleic acids and how they bind to each other.
  2. Recognize how DNA is transcribed to RNA.
  3. Identify the RNA sequence to produce proteins.
  4. Explain the formation and structure of proteins.
By the end of lecture 2.1 on Microbial Genetics II, students will be able to…
  1. Recognize how DNA is represented and drawn.
  2. Explain how DNA is replicated.
  3. Differentiate leading and lagging strands.
  4. Identify how DNA is passed on to daughter cells.
Week 3
To-Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 3
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 3

 

By the end of lecture 3.1 on Bacterial Genes Regulation, students will be able to…
  1. Describe how bacterial genes are regulated.
  2. Recognize how lac operon is regulated with lactose and glucose.
  3. Interpret various lac operon scenarios to determine transcription level.
By the end of lecture 3.2 on Applications of Microbial Genetics, students will be able to…
  1. Understand the purpose of restriction enzyme in making recombinant DNA.
  2. Describe the steps of molecular cloning.
  3. Recognize the role of PCR in identifying successfully cloned colonies.
  4. Identify the impacts of plastic on the environment.
  5. Explain how enzymes from I. sakaiensis can breakdown plastics.
Week 4
To-Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Exam #1

 

By the end of lecture 4.1 on CRISPR Technology & Ethics in Microbiology, students will be able to…
  1. Identify each step of the phage life cycle.
  2. Understand how bacteria use CRISPR-Cas9 to defend against phage.
  3. Recognize the role of CRISPR-Cas9 in the context of gene editing.
Week 5
To-Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 5
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 5

 

By the end of lecture 5.1 on Microbial Metabolism I, students will be able to
  1. Identify the main unit of energy for organism metabolism.
  2. Understand activation and Gibbs free energy for exergonic and endogenic reactions.
  3. Describe the role and structure of enzyme.
  4. Explain how enzymes are controlled and affected by temperature and pH.
By the end of lecture 5.2 on Microbial Metabolism II, students will be able to
  1. Recognize how substrate and enzyme concentration affect the rate of reaction.
  2. Understand the importance of enzymes in breakdown sugar.
  3. Explain how sugar molecules are broken down to pyruvate through glycolysis.
  4. Identify the purpose of the Krebs cycle / TCA cycle.
  5. Recognize how electron transport chain can produce ATP.
Week 6
To-Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Quiz #2
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 6
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 6

 

By the end of lecture 6.1 on Microbial Growth & Control, students will be able to…
  1. Describe bacterial growth in optimal environments.
  2. Understand how to count bacterial cells using spectrophotometry.
  3. Explain how bacterial cells form biofilms and their effect on healthcare.
  4. Describe the physical and chemical methods used for microbial control.
By the end of lecture 6.2 on Antimicrobial Drugs: Antibiotics, students will be able to…
  1. Identify the appropriate laboratory biological safety levels for lab work.
  2. Define the terms cleaning, sanitizing, disinfection, and sterilization.
  3. Describe the physical methods used for microbial control.
  4. Explain the mechanisms by which chemical agents control microbial growth.
Week 7
To-Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 7
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 7

 

By the end of lecture 7.1 on Antibiotic Resistant Infection, students will be able to…
  1. Explain the significance of “opportunistic pathogen”.
  2. Understand how S. aureus becomes antibiotic resistant.
  3. Define hospital-acquired infections.
  4. Recognize the causes of hospital-acquired infections. 
By the end of lecture 7.2 on Viruses & Vaccines, students will be able to…
  1. Describe the features and life cycle of viruses.
  2. Recognize how influenza evolves and can be detected.
  3. Understand how SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is transmitted.
  4. Identify the various treatments possible against COVID-19.
  5. Explain the mechanisms behind mRNA and traditional vaccines.
Week 8
To-Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Exam #2, Starting at 11:30 AM

 

By the end of lecture 8.1 on Viral Infections & Bacteriophages, students will be able to…
  1. List the different types and lengths of infections.
  2. Identify the impact of HIV infection and viral latency.
  3. Describe the lytic and lysogenic cycle of bacteriophages.
  4. Understand how bacteriophages attach and penetrate the host cells.
  5. Explain how viral proteins are made and how virions are released.
  6. Recognize the benefits of bacteriophage therapy.
Week 9
To Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 9
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 9

 

By the end of lecture 9.1 on Person-to-Person Microbial Diseases, students will be able to…
  1. Understand how respiratory diseases can spread among people.
  2. Describe how SARS-CoV-2 evolve and its implications on human infection.
  3. Recognize the importance of vaccines to fight against measles virus.
By the end of lecture 9.2 on Nonspecific Host Defenses, students will be able to
  1. Explain how the microbiome protects the body from pathogens.
  2. Identify the main physical barriers that prevent pathogen entry into the body.
  3. Describe how chemical secretions help destroy or inhibit pathogens.
  4. Recognize how the inflammatory response helps recruit immune cells.
Week 10
To Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Quiz #3
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 10
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 10

 

By the end of lecture 10.1 on Nonspecific Host Defenses, students will be able to
  1. Explain the various cellular defenses against microbes.
  2. Understand how the cellular defenses act against a pathogen.
  3. Recognize that an overreaction of cellular defenses can lead to cytokine storms.
By the end of lecture 10.2 on Adaptive Host Defenses, students will be able to
  1. Compare the characteristics of innate and adaptive immunity.
  2. Explain how dendritic cells initiate the adaptive immune response.
  3. Describe the role of CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells.
Week 11
To Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 11
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 11

 

By the end of lecture 11.1 on Adaptive Host Defenses II, students will be able to…
  1. Explain the functions of helper T (Th) cells in activating B cells.
  2. Describe CD8+ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity.
  3. Recognize the structure and roles of antibody.
  4. Identify how B cell activates and differentiate.
  5. Understand the lymphatic system and how it keeps the host from infections.
By the end of lecture 11.2 on Human Microbiomes & Allergies, students will be able to…
  1. Understand how sequencing is used to identify genome of microbiomes.
  2. Recognize the importance of studying microbiomes.
  3. Recognize how the hygiene hypothesis may result in allergies.
  4. Understand type I hypersensitivity and the effect of histamine.
  5. Describe type II hypersensitivity and blood transfusion to another person.
Week 12
  • Assessments
    • Take Exam #3
Week 13
To Do List
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 13
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 13

 

By the end of lecture 13.1 on Parasitic Infectious Diseases, students will be able to…
  1. Identify and describe the three most common categories of parasitic infections.
  2. Explain life cycles and transmission of major soil parasites.
  3. Analyze health impact of malaria and connect it to sickle cell anemia.
  4. Evaluate the risks of food-borne parasitic infections and how to avoid them.
By the end of lecture 13.2 on Foodborne Microbial Diseases, students will be able to…
  1. Understand why the fridge or freezer is essential for food storage.
  2. Identify the methods to store food safely from pathogens.
  3. Recognize the different infectious strains of E. coli.
  4. Describe the symptoms of S. aureus and Salmonella infection.
  5. Explain how H. pylori and C. difficile affect the digestive tract.
Week 14
To Do List
  • Assessments
    • Take Quiz #4
  • Lecture Activities
    • Complete Lecture Questions Week 14
    • Complete You’re the Professor! Week 14

 

By the end of lecture 15.1 on Waterborne Microbial Diseases, students will be able to…
  1. Understand where Vibrio cholerae comes from and its life cycle.
  2. Recognize the importance of John Snow’s work in solving cholera outbreak.
  3. Explain the concept of antibiotic resistance and how it impacts global health.
  4. Discuss the factors contributing to antibiotic resistance among refugees.
  5. Understand antibiotic resistance in altered gut microbiota for public health.
  6. Describe strategies to address antibiotic resistance among refugees.
Final Week: Take Final Exam