Friday, 26th September 2014, 6th Microbiology Class "Fun!"

Unlike the usual 10am until 12pm, today's class was held at 8am until 10am because Dr Wan has to rush to Nilai afterwards because she has got a presentation to do there. Oh! Before I forgot. During the previous class, Dr Wan actually gave us an assignment. Remember the group activity mind map? But instead of in a group, everybody, individually has to submit our own mind map on Topic 3 that we will discuss later in class. But apparently not today because today we were discussing on the external structures of a prokaryote while our individual mind map was on the internal structures of a prokaryote. So! As I was saying.... I'm going to show you my mind map! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ 

Of course you won't be able to read it. Hehe. Open the image in a new tab ok. (/・・)ノ

THINGS THAT I LEARNED TODAY :

1- Vibrio-shaped bacteria is bacteria that possessed a curved rod shape or a comma shape! 

Vibrio cholerae 

Desulfovibrio

2- The biggest structure in prokaryotes ---->> CELL WALL!! (I guess this is kind of the same with human where the biggest organ of human is their skin, It's their surface area is it?) 

3- Dr Wan asked us what are the the relationships between the size and shape of prokaryote. And we discussed it in class and Dr Wan also gave us the answers afterwards. The relationships are : 

• the bigger the size, the bigger the storage for nutrients uptake of the microorganisms. 
• the smaller the size, the easier the microorganisms can hide from predators/ can be protected. 

4- Thermoplasma, an archaea, can change shape. They show irregular form when placed in water and become sphere-shaped in room temperature. 

Thermoplasma shape when placed in water. 

Thermoplasma sphere-shaped when in room temperature.

5- As we all know, there are two domains of procaryotes which is bacteria and archaea.

6- One of my classmate, Farah Alia was called by Dr Wan today and she was asked to define procaryotes. DEFINE prokaryotes : 

• The domains are bacteria and archaea (like I stated before). 
• They have no membrane bound organelle. 
• Mostly unicellular. 
• Do not have nucleus. 

 7- The basic shapes of a prokaryote is coccus, bacillus and spiral. 

8- 

Five types of arrangement of cocci; from above; diplococci, streptococci, tetrad, sarcinae and staphylococci.

9- Please remember that the liquid part of the cytoplasm is called cytosol. 

10- One of the external structures to the cell wall of a prokaryote is glycocalyx which is a substance that surround cell. It consists of capsule (the more structured and tightly attached to cell wall) and slime layer (less structured and attached loosely to the cell wall) 

The structure of slime layer and capsule in of glycocalyx.

11- A glycocalyx that is made of sugar is called extracellular polymeric substance or extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) which is the main component of biofilm. 

12- There are four different numbers and arrangement of flagella. 

From left to right; monotrichous, lophotrichous, peritrichous, and amphitrichous. 

13- Flagella is made up of the protein named "flagellin". It consists of filament and basal body. 

FUN FACT FOR TODAY! 

(Haha it's a new section huh, maybe I'll make it a permanent section for every entry x'D) 

• Water filter are able to filter microbes that are smaller than 2.5micrometer!
• Phototaxis --> The ability of organisms to move towards a light source. 
• Chemotaxis --> The ability of organisms to move towards a chemical signal. 

End of "Fun Fact For Today!" hehe

14- There are several types of motility for prokaryotes which is "run" or "swim", "tumbles" and "swarm". 

15- "Tumbles" means that the microorganisms runs interrupted by periodic, abrupt, random changes in direction. And following this information, Dr Wan asked us "what is are the interruptions?" where some of us answered rocks and predators hehe but Dr Wan said to try to imagine how small the microbes are to be interrupted by something so big like rocks x'D 

---->> And the answer is --->> Chemicals (substrates/substance surrounding the microbes) 

16- An example of microbe that use "swarm" as their motility is proteus mirabilis which is also known to have cause UTI (Urinary Track Infection) but that is as the secondary result of a long tem catheterization (when a latex, polyurethane, or silicone tube known as a urinary catheter is inserted into a patient's bladder via the urethra) in hospitals or with individuals that have structural abnormalities. 

Proteus mirabillis swarm colony

And we didn't manage to end Topic 3 today because Dr Wan proceeded on doing an activity where everyone must write something on the whiteboard about today's lesson. A mind map of today's lesson! :D It was fun! The boys, especially, wrote so many on the board though! And class ended at 10am and we had a few photoshoot session with Dr Wan today. Hehe. 

Tuesday, 23rd September 2014, 5th Microbiology Class "Participate"

The word "participate" above actually means that I participate in class today but not in terms of actions but I studied the notes before coming to class! Yay! In my opinion, it's more fun(?) that way because what I didn't understand during the first reading, I have Google it beforehand and in class when Dr Wan explained it further, I become more... understandable on what I didn't quite understand at first. So it's a productive measure to take before coming to class. (But in my case, it's only applicable if I managed to finish the assignments on time, which will give me some free time to actually study the notes before coming to class x'D) Hence, I must plan my time properly in order to have this "able-to-participate" in class discussion rather than just blinking my eyes or having no clue at all what Dr Wan is trying to ask or tell. ʕ•͡-•ʔ <-- how I would look like if I'm clueless during Microbiology class. That's a bear by the way. Haha! 

Class started immediately today without any briefing about the project and Dr Wan asking about the bacteria that Fadhly (also known as Choy) had shared in our group's Edmodo which is about Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). 

Bacillus thuringiensis is a natural bacterial disease of insects. Bt has an unusual properties which some of Bt strains produce proteins that kill certain insects with alkaline digestive tracts. Thus, it is widely used as the main active ingredients in insecticides to kill insects.

And the class went on with the remaining of Topic 2 Microscopy which covers on the preparation for light microscopy. The smear-steps involve preparing smears, fixation and staining. 

Kindly note that fixation is important so that we do not break the internal or external structures of the cell. Fixation consists of two steps where firstly the organism is killed and next, it is preserved. This can be done in two ways which is heat fixing where the overall structure is kept preserved but not the internal structures. And another method is by chemical fixing where it is used for more delicate organisms. 

After we're done 'fixing' it, it's time to stain! 

They are three types of staining :

• Simple staining 
• Differential staining (Gram staining, acid-fast staining) 
• Special staining (Negative staining, endospore staining, flagella staining) 

Before we proceed on the three types of staining, it is important to know what is stains or dyes. And why we have to use dyes? Why can't we use hmm simple things like.... water colour? Hehe. That would look so unprofessional though ʕʘ̅͜ʘ̅ʔ or it's just not suitable, scientifically. I guess. (///◔(ｪ)◔///) However, Dr Wan told us that the functions of dyes are they help give colour for the staining process, easier to identify the structure, bind to the cell wall (that's why the organism is coloured/stained!!) and help to highlight the internal structure (like I mentioned before that some organelles are colourless and need to be stained in order to be observable when using the microscope). 

But before that, though we know what dyes are used for, do you know what actually this thing called "DYE" is? （・θ・） <-- that's a bird. 

Dyes are salts composed of a (+) and a (-) ion, one of which is colourful (which is called "chromophore") 

--->> Chromophore is part of molecule that's responsible for its colour. The colour arises when the molecule absorb a certain amount of wavelength of visible light and reflects others. 

Dr Wan told the class today that the difference between simple staining and differential staining is simple staining requires only one staining agent while Gram staining requires two staining agent which is crystal violet and safranin. 

However, other difference that I found out based on the net and netizens is that simple staining tends to colour all the organism the same colour while differential stain (Gram staining is included under differential stain, remember~) is used to spot difference between microorganisms. Thus, since Gram staining is a differential staining, it is able to determine which is gram positive and gram negative bacteria while if we use simple staining, since it would be in the same colour, the difference couldn't be detected. 

GRAM STAINING 

As the lesson about the Gram staining went on, Dr Wan asked us what must we do for bacteria, as if what test must we do when handling a bacteria. Firstly! Most importantly! We isolate the bacteria first. Next, do Gram staining on the bacteria! This step is important in order to be able to classify the bacteria into their specific characteristics,that is, based on their cell wall structures. 

And next, Chew was the one who explained to the class how is the procedure for Gram staining. Chew did a good job explaining it though! :D 

From what I understand is Gram positive bacteria tend to have thicker peptidoglycan cell wall.  And when the Gram positive bacteria is decolourise with the alcohol, the thick peptidoglycan cell wall is able to retain the crystal violet (the primary stain) molecule. But the truth is it is because the decolourizer actually dehydrates the peptidoglycan layer, shrinking and tightening it. The large crystal violet-iodine complex is not able to penetrate the tightened peptidoglycan layer, thus they're trapped in the cell of Gram positive bacteria. The violet/purple colour remains. 

On the other hand, Gram negative bacteria with a relatively thinner peptidoglycan cell wall is degraded when added with decolourizer, hence it is unable to retain the crystal violet-iodine complex and the colour is lost. No violet colour for Gram negative bacteria. 

Lastly, when the Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria is stained with safranin, as a counterstain. Gram positive bacteria is not affected by it because safranin is lighter than crystal violet, hence the red colour of safranin does not disrupt the violet/purple colour. Note that safranin is a weak water soluble molecule. As for the Gram negative bacteria, it is stained red when added with safranin. 

ACID-FAST STAINING

Acid-fast staining is used on bacteria that are fastidious or like Dr Wan said very pussy.  ⁀⊙﹏☉⁀  An example of a fastidious bacteria is Neisseria gonorrhoeae because it requires blood or haemoglobin and several amino acids and vitamins in order to grow. 

While Gram staining used crystal violet stain, iodine as the decolourizer and safranin as the counterstain, acid-fast staining used Carbol Fuchsin and phenol, acid alcohol and methylene blue. 

An acid fast organisms will be stained red while a not acid fast organisms will stained be stained methylene blue. 

As for SPECIAL STAINING, there are negative staining to detect colourless bacteria. The capsules will become colourless instead of the body of the bacteria because capsule repels stain thus they appear colourless against a stained background. 

Negative stain of rotavirus (most common virus causing severe diarrhea in infants and young children) 

FUN FACT (Though it's a bit scary for me, but it's fun, in a way, to know about this) 

The helicobacter pylori usually causes ulcers and commonly found in the stomach. This bacteria infect humans due to the bacteria's shape and the way they move allow them to penetrate the stomach's protective mucous lining, where they will produce substances that weaken the lining and make the stomach more affected to damage from gastric acids.The bacteria can also attach to cells of the stomach, causing stomach inflammation and can stimulate the production of excess stomach acid. Over time, infection with the bacteria can also increase the risk of stomach cancer.

One of the way to detect the presence of helicobacter pylori is by staining it with Warthin Starry's Silver Method where the bacteria is stained black against a dark-yellow background.

A section of a stomach with Helicobacter pylori infection.

Other than negative staining, there is also endospore staining which is used to differentiate organisms that can produce endospore and those that cannot. Spores have a resistant outer coating that is composed of the protein keratin. Keratin resists staining. Thus, in order to stain a spore with the primary stain (malchite green), the keratin must be heated to drive the stain into the spores. Vegetative cells are then decolourised with water and 0.5% of safranin (red stain) as counterstain. In the end, the endospores will appear green within a red or pink cell (which is the vegetative cell).

The keratin is heated in order to stain the spore. 

Endospore staining procedure. 

Lastly, flagella staining where the stain will thicken the flagella of the microbe. 

After we finished with the Topic 2 Microscopy lesson. Dr Wan assigned a group activity to all of us that have to be submitted on that day which is... Making a mind map for the next topic! Using any one of the useful mind map website that she has recommended. And this is what we managed to do that day! 

Monday, 22nd September 2014, 4th Microbiology Class "Replacement class"

Important dates for our class today. 

7th October 2014 - Decide and pick a microbe for "ADOPT A MICROBE".

18th October 2014 - The "THANK A MICROBE" project due date. 

9th December 2014 - "ADOPT A MICROBE" project due date. Send in form of a scrapbook. 

21st December 2014 - Submit ePortfolio. (THIS BLOG!!) 

Ah. Today is a replacement class for 30th September which Tun Dr Mahathir will come to UPM!! And Dr Wan has to attend the ceremony so no class for that day. Hence, that's why we are here. It's a three hour lecture class. As soon as Dr Wan entered the room, she said there are some changes on the projects that we are assigned to and thanked those who have gave their opinion on the "ADOPT A MICROBE" project. The changes are that the "ADOPT A MICROBE" project is to be done individually instead of in a group like how we discussed it in the previous class. And any microbe can be picked! Be it beneficial or non-beneficial. It has to be submitted in the form of a scrapbook though. And! A new project is added! It's named "THANK A MICROBE". That, that project is to be done in the group we're in and still with the poster and video. The idea is to pick a beneficial microbe but based on a specific field such as medicine, agriculture and industrial. 

There goes the briefing on the current projects. 

Today, we proceed on the brief history of Microbiology and the second topic of Microbiology I which is "Microscopy" that covered on the microscopes used to observe the microbes. 

What I learned today is : 

1- There are 2 types of microscope which is light microscope which consist of bright field microscope, dark field microscope, phase contrast microscope, confocal microscope and fluorescence microscope. Another type of microscope is electron microscope. 

Dark field microscopy produces bright image against a dark background.(Dark field microscopy of Treponema Pallidum, a spirochete) 

Phase contrast microscopy of cheek cell 

Confocal microscopy of a biofilm 

Fluorescence microscopy of a bacteria. 

Bright field microscopy produce dark image against a bright backgroud. 
(Bright field microscopy of macrophages) 

3- There are three types of electron microscope namely Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and electron cryotomography.

TEM microscopy of a section through the gill of a bivalve mollusks. 

• SEM - produce 3D images, magnification of 1000X to 10000X and resolving power of 20nm. Used to observe surface features of cells and viruses. 
• TEM - produce 2D images, magnification of 10000X to 100000X and resolving power of 2.5nm. Used to observe internal ultrastructutures in thin sections cell. And to observe cross-sections. 
• electron cryotomography - produce 3D image, extremely high resolution image.

SEM microscopy of bacteria E. Coli

4- Protozoan have vessicles which is for buoyancy. 

5- We must stain first the microbe that we're going to observe because some organelles are colourless. 

6- To have a higher resolution of the image when using the microscope, use oil immersion lenses. However, once we have used the oil, we must clean it thoroughly before using the dry lenses again because oil on non-oil lenses will only distort the images seen on microscope. 

7- Fungi produces zoospores (motile, flagellated spores) that attach to the grass that ruminants eat and they're mobile because they have flagella. 

Zoospore

Zoospore

• Zoospores are naked, wall-less cells, specialised for dispersal because they cannot absorb organic nutrients or divide.
• Zoospores swim for many hours, using endogenous food reserves and encyst by retracting or shredding their flagella, then secreting a wall. 
• Zoospores can respond to wide range of environmental signals which they use to locate the sites where they will encyst. 

8- Sporangium, a structure in fungi, will mature and burst producing spores. 

9- The smallest microbe award goes to!! VIRUSES!! 

10- The original vessel that is used by Pasteur to disprove theory of spontaneous generation has been sealed and on display at Pasteur museum in Paris. And it still show no sign of contamination even after 100 years! 

11- The first person to discover microbes or also known as the "Father Of Microbiology" --> Antonie van Leeuwenhoek while the first person who prove the existence of microbes --> Louis Pasteur.

12- Originally, "animalcule" is a single celled organism which is now known as "microorganism". 

13- The first theory of biogenesis is "living cells can arise only from preexisting living cells" in which life does not arise from non-living material.

14- Pasteurization is a process invented by Louis Pasteur which is a process of preservation. Pasteurization won't kill all the microbes, it will only kill the pathogens present, unlike sterilisation. Pasteur somehow has discovered that by heating milk to a high temperature then cooling it before bottling it will enable the milk to remain fresher for an extended period of time.

15- The main aim for Koch's postulate is actually to get a pure culture of the pathogen in order to prove that a particular microbe is the cause of a specific disease in an organism. 

16- BCG or Bacillus-Calmette Guerin vaccination is given to babies at birth to protect them against tuberculosis (TB). 

17- Vaccine is attenuated (I just learned this word today!!) which means weaken antigen (toxin) that will trigger the immune system to produce specific antibodies towards that infection. 

18- The main ingredient for the deadly disease H1N1 influenza vaccine (Tamiflu) is star anise which is widely used in the Indian cuisine.

Scientific name : Illicium verum 

Friday, 19th September 2014, 3rd Microbiology class. "Excited"

To be honest, I'm a bit excited for today's class because what Dr assigned for us to do was to read the Microbiology notes that she has posted in PutraLMS. And I had studied the notes, quite thoroughly about today's lesson. I searched in the Internet the names of the microbes that I'm not familiar with (that are mentioned in the notes) and also the words like 'thermoacidophile' 'halophile' and 'methanogen' which are some of the characteristics of a type of microbes : Archaea. Ha! In order to be 'parallel' with my classmates! and Dr! Hehe. At least, I managed to answer some of the question that Dr asked to the whole class like.... what is 'halophiles' and do you know what halophiles is? "Halophiles" are organisms that can live in a high salt concentration condition. And while I'm at it... I might as well mention that "Thermoacidophiles" are organisms but specifically archaea that develop well in acidic and high temperature environment. And not to forget, "methanogens" are microorganisms that produce methane. 

And then, the class starts. We, of course, didn't start the class yet but start with the projects briefing that she wanted us to do. Yes, with "s" on it. Haha. There are two projects in total. The first project named "ADOPT A MICROBE". This project is a tradition for the Microbiology students since our seniors had done it too in the past. This project is to be done with a group picking their favourite or preferable microbe. And find out all about the microbe that we picked such as their shape(s), the microbe's impact to the environment, people, etc. In other word, like Dr said, "Know the microbe by heart". And the theme for the project is 'BENEFICIAL MICROBE' since Dr said that based on her observation on us since the first class, we have this mindset that the 'microbes' usually remind us of bad microbes. For example, viruses like cancerous cell when actually there are also other microbes that give benefits. For example : Pennicilium. Pennicilium is a fungi that produce pennicilin, a molecule that is used as antibiotic which is highly used to kill or hinder the growth of certain bacteria in human's body. 

However, since I'm still not familiar with the microbes yet and still in the stage of 'knowing each other' with my fellow microbes. I got none in mind. I mean, I don't have any particular microbe yet that I want to "know them by heart" haha. But I'm thinking of a diatom x'D since it's pretty and mysterious to me. And the name... When Dr mentioned diatom. Only one thing crossed my mind : Cl₂ (the infamous diatomic molecule) Hehe. 

And the second project is actually this. The e-Diary! At least that's what I call it hehe. Dr described it as 'e-Portfolio' which we can use any website such as Evernote, Cliptomize, educlipper or even using a blog. I had already did my journal in a Google Chrome apps named "Jotstory" but unfortunately, if I am to send the url to Dr. She won't be able to read it because it requires her to make an account x'D so I immediately change my e-Journal by using a blog instead. 

Oh. Also, there's another project (that makes it a total of three projects) that we are told to do and the project is due on 18th October 2014. In the group that we are already in, make a 2 minutes long video plus an A1 size poster or a scrapbook. The idea is, we have to use any "Augmented Reality" application that is available on our smartphones to play the video on the poster. It is veryyyy interesting to me, at first I didn't understand the concept when watching the video that Dr showed us in class (hehe) but when she showed it using her phone, I get the whole idea. Haha. And all of us are asked to submit our work to her and she will pick the best poster or scrapbook to be... in the competition. Yes. It's for a competition but I don't remember what's the name of the competition, I'm sorry x'D 

As for what I learnt today... The difference of prokaryotes and eukaryotes and which type of microbes is prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Please note that only bacteria and archaea are prokaryotes while the rest (fungi, algae, viruses, protozoa) are eukaryotes. And some of the characteristics that we discussed today are prokaryotes have no nucleus ( 'pro-' = before & '-karyon' = nucleus), reproduce by binary fission, and bacteria produce spores and endospores.  

Some of the new things I knew about microbes today : 

1- What's the difference between bacteria and archaea? The cell wall of bacteria is made up of peptidoglycan (Also known as murein) while the cell wall of archaea is made up of pseudopeptidoglycan (pseudomurein). 

2- Which part of the human body that the microbes are not present? There's no microbe in our blood! If there are microbes in our blood = You're infected = You're sick! See the doctor!! 

3- Bacteria (specifically magnetotactic bacteria) have magnetosome which contains magnetite crystal in their cell. And none in eukaryotes. 

Magnetosome chain

4- This pretty green thing here is called "Volvox", a type of algae.

Volvox

5- The famous yeast that's used in making bread is called "Saccharomyces cerevisiae". 

6-  Bacteria that have flagella move by swimming while those with no flagella move by gliding or sliding. 

7- There are 5 groups of E.Coli and the most dangerous E.Coli is O157:H7. 

8- Spiral-shaped bacteria are called 'spirochete' . 

And this is my notes for today's class~ 

And this is my 'TO-DO-LIST' for Microbiology subject.

Friday, 12th September 2014 #2 Microbiology class. "Still Anxious"

During today's Microbiology class, Dr showed us some of the videos that we made. I'm glad mine didn't get picked to be played in the class. I'M GLAD! Hahaha. Our class started with Dr telling us to download and register several apps and websites. There are about 2 to 3 websites that we have to register. And that actually took about one hour. (⊙.⊙)

The lesson went on with Dr teaching us our very first lesson, talking about the functions of microbes. And she told us about bacteria that live in cheese will make different holes on cheese. I don't know why but that information really caught my attention and I kept on replaying that line in my mind throughout the class, even after the class has ended LOL. I will Google it later, I guess, I hope. Hehe.

And, today my table line was asked by Dr to tell her the four roles of microbes but the person at the end of my table wasn't able to answer her quickly, and she moved the question to the table in front of us. Haha. I must say, I was glad because I really did not know the answer. I mean, I still didn't get the idea yet.

At the end of the class, she told us to take out a piece of paper and wrote down our names and matrics numbers. "A quiz?" Was what I thought but it's not. She told us to write down the words that we remembered the most for today's lesson in 2 minutes. I managed to wrote down the cheese and bacteria will form different holes part LOL. At first that was the only thing that i remembered but few seconds passed by, i remembered the other stuff too. And also the words "sewage" "digestion" "medicine" referring to the functions of microbes.

After that, she asked us to wrote down the "muddiest point" which means the points from what she told us during today's lesson that we didn't understand the most. Hmmm honestly I still managed to understand what Dr was teaching, but I still am not familiar or ever heard of the names of the microbes and I couldn't hear what the names of some of the microbes well.

Afterwards, we handed out our papers and she reads some of them. And she read one of my classmate's paper saying that they are not familiar yet with the names of the microbes. Dr said of course we are not familiar yet with the names! Hehe. I'm a little glad that there are people that are in the same boat, hehe. And that is not good. Not good at all. Because I should aim to be among the best! (҂⌣̀_⌣́) I have to read more, more, more~ 

However, I learnt a lot today! :D 

And I just know today that this is a diatom and diatom is an algae. 

So prettyyyy. This is my first time seeing a diatom. (・◇・)

And next, like I told you earlier. (The part where I am most interested in during today's lesson) That different bacteria form different holes on cheese. And I did some Google-ing on that. There are three bacteria that are used to make cheese (but from what I searched, it was specifically the bacteria used to make Swiss cheese) : Streptococcus thermophillus, Lactobacillus helveticus and Propionibacterium shermanii. Streptoccus thermophillus and Lactobacillus helveticus function mainly on producing lactic acid. The lactic acid produced will be consumed by Propionibacterium shermanii which as a byproduct from consuming the lactic acid, it will produce acetate, propionic acid and carbon dioxide. The acetate and propionic acid will give the cheese its distinct flavour while the carbon dioxide will forms bubbles within the cheese. These carbon dioxide bubbles are left in the cheese as it continues to ferment, thus will give the Swiss cheese its holes. You can read about it more from this link :D http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/why-swiss-cheese-has-holes-in-it/

And lastly, the summary of my lesson for today, a bit of this and that since Dr mentioned few examples of microbes with their functions in our daily life. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Tuesday, 9th September 2014. #1 Microbiology class. "Anxious"

While waiting for our Microbiology lecturer, I was just chatting away with the new friends I made. I sat beside Kak Sara and Aisyah. The lecturer was a bit late, it's past 10.30am already. She said she would come at 10.30am. Few minutes later, she arrived saying she was late because she had to attend the opening ceremony of the Biotech and Biomolecular Sciences Faculty Anniversary today. 
She gave me quite an impression though. So cheerful and loud. :D And asked us who knew about her from the seniors. And Megat put up his hand. He said that Dr is a fun lecturer and we won't get bored in her class. I didn't turned to see his face when he was speaking but Dr said that he said it with an unsure face. LOL. I bet he is uncertain too. Haha. x'D 

Then, the lesson starts. It's not quite a lesson actually. She asked us what do we know about Microbiology and what do we want to know about Microbiology. Although she asked us that, we didn't answer the questions by 'speaking' though. We were told to open this one website she gave us, using our gadgets and eventually answer our thoughts there. It was quite cool. But I had to make a mental note to myself that I have to make sure my phone's battery is full whenever I'm going to have a Microbiology class. LOL. Seriously okay. Haha. 
And... 'luckily' enough for me, I was asked in class today. She called out my name randomly. 'Dayana Ishak'. But fortunately too for me, she asked me a question that I can answer despite my minimal knowledge of Microbiology x'D She asked me what's an example of a fungi and I actually answered "Mushrooms" with an unsure voice. Because I really am unsure! How can the other students know the names of the microorganisms she mentioned while I don't. I'll have to read more... That's for sure. Oh one more thing, I wonder why do Dr keep calling out my name. Hahaha. During the orientation week, she asked the whole class what is the name of our faculty in English. And my name was called though I failed to answer the right answer to her question that day. And this was the second time she called my name, again, randomly. Is my name really that memorable? x'D 
And lastly, she gave us an assignment. We have to make a video of ourself in order for her to know us all. A video maximum of 2 minutes and minimum of 1 minute. Introduce ourself in the video. This is going to be interesting..... x'D 

Enough about my personal non-related to Microbiology lesson thoughts, hahaha. Now I'm going to tell you what I learnt today in class but for the first class, we didn't learn much. I learnt that microbiology does not only consists of the infamous protozoa only since protozoan especially amoeba is actually 6 types of microbes which are bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae, virus and archaea. And Dr showed some of the examples for each microbes such as E.Coli. And Dr said that, next time, everytime we entered the class for Microbiology. "Think that you're in a microbial world". I don't quite understand with that statement actually hehe. Does that mean that I have to imagine or feel like I am surrounded with microbes all around me? Aware of their presences? Is it? Today's lesson was more to an introduction of Microbiology. And I honestly felt unsure of taking this course since I don't really know what are the microbes that Dr mentioned unlike the other students. I guess that's my cue to start exploring and reading more about microbes to stay "parallel" with my classmates cum coursemates knowledges. And lastly, what I am most frustrated about with today's lesson is the fact that I do not know most of the microbes that Dr mentioned! Which trigger something inside of me to know more and do some Google-ing about all the microbes that Dr mentioned but unfortunately, not for today's class because not even one of the microbes that Dr mentioned, that I could spell their names hence I couldn't wrote them down on my notes because I didn't hear them clearly and also I seldom heard the microbes name. I will make sure I will be more knowledgeable about microbes in the next class, and even more in the future! :D 

A glimpse of Dayana Ishak's note for the first Microbiology class. 

x