Friday, 21st November 2014, "Of Dr Wan and Prof"

Today we had a replacement class and also our usual Microbiology class by both Dr Wan and Prof. Not at the same time, of course! 

With Dr Wan, we learned about Viruses that we are supposed to learn last week.

I understand more with today's lecture.

At first I thought that prions and virions are the structure of virus but actually there are a different kind of viruses. 

This is the mind map that I have done for Viruses assignment that Dr Wan gave us.

"Open in new tab" OK to view it clearly x'D 

As for our session with Prof. We learned about genetic transfer of bacteria.

There are three ways :

• Transformation 
• Transduction 
• Conjugation 

TRANSFORMATION 

Gene transfer from bacterium to another bacterium as "naked" DNA". (Donor cell to recipient cell)

The conversion of one genotype into another by the introduction of exogenous DNA (DNA from an external source). 

A method of transferring DNA and producing recombinant that does not require conjugation.

TRANSDUCTION

Gene transfer from one bacterium (donor cell) to another bacterium (recipient cell) via bacteriophage.

There are two types of transduction :

• Generalized transduction 
• Specialized transduction 

GENERALIZED TRANSDUCTION 

Resulting in any of the bacterial DNA to be transferred into bacteriophage. 

SPECIALIZED TRANSDUCTION

Only bits of specific regions of the DNA are transferred.




CONJUGATIONS

Requires contact between donor cells and recipient cells.

Mediated by plasmid.

There are two types of conjugations :

• Plasmid transfer 
• Chromososme transfer 

PLASMID TRANSFER 

Donor cells contain F plasmid (F+ donor) 

Recipient cells do not contain F plasmid (F- donor) 

Resulting in F- cell becomes F+ cell. 

CHROMOSOME TRANSFER

When F plasmid integrated with chromosomes, forming Hfr cell.

#Hfr - High frequency recombinant

Hfr cell transfer DNA into F- recipient cell.

Resulting in F- cell become recombinant F- cell because the chromosome breaks before it is fully transferred.






And we also learned a bit about transposons. Prof didn't explain thoroughly about transposons though. Due to the time was almost 12pm I supposed. 


TRANSPOSONS

Small segment of DNA than can move from one region of a chromosome to another region of the same chromosome or even to a different chromosome or DNA molecule. 

Can be found in chromosome, plasmids and viruses. 

Cause mutation. 

#Transposon elements are also called "jumping genes" because they are mobile DNA. 

There are three type of transposons : 

• Class I : Retrotransposons 
• Class II : Consist only of DNA that moves from place to place. Moves by "cut and paste" process which requires enzyme transposase. 
• Class III : MITEs

Class I : Retrotransposon

Class II. "Cut and paste process" The DNA is "cut" from the donor cell and "paste" on a target DNA. 

P/S Do watch the videos! It helps!! :D 

Tuesday, 18th November 2014

Our 3rd lecture with Prof was about "Mutation". 

There are three types of mutation. 

• Base substitutions 
• Frameshift mutations
• Spontaneous mutations

BASE SUBSTITUTIONS

There are three types of base substitutions : 

(a) Missense mutations

Happens there is changes in the first base or second base.

Hence, lead to changes in the amino acid than the supposed amino acid. 

The protein formed could be inactive or reduced in activity when this happens. 

Glutamic acid (Glu) was the original amino acid but is substituted with Valine (Val) instead.

(b) Silent mutations 

Happens when there is changes in the third base. 

It does not shows any obvious effect because the amino acid formed is the same as the original amino acid. 

The third base is changed (from "T" to "C") but the amino acid formed is the same which is tyrosine. 

(c) Nonsense Mutations 

Happens when the codon to form amino acid is changed to a stop codon. 

#Stop codon : UAG, UAA, UGA

Stop codon is a nucleotide triplet within a mRNA that signals termination of translation. The release factor will read the triplet --> polypeptide synthesis end. 

#A release factor is a protein that will recognize the stop codon in an mRNA sequence and allows the termination of translation. 

The protein formed is incomplete, truncated and also can be nonfunctional protein but depending on "degree of shortening". 

The protein formed is incomplete. 

FRAMESHIFT MUTATIONS 

Happens when there is INSERTION or DELETION of base that will shift the reading frame of the genetic message. 

Protein formed will be different from the original. 

Usually, protein synthesis will ends after the mutation. 

Frameshift that results in different protein formed when "C" is inserted. 

Deletion of the base "C" changes UAC to UAG which is the stop codon. Protein synthesis ends. 

SPONTANEOUS MUTATIONS 

No mutations involved. 

Happens when errors occur during replication that will lead to spontaneous alteration of a base. 

TYPES OF MUTAGENS 

There are four types of mutagens : 

• Base analogues 
• Chemical mutagen 
• Radiation 
• Intercalating agents 

BASE ANALOGUES

Compounds that look very similar to one of the four base (A,T,G,C) 

The mismatch of bases can cause mutations. 

For example : 

5-Bromouracil (5Bu) structure is similar to thymine (T) 

As you can see, A-5Bu base pairs does not cause mutation because it's structure is the same as A-T base pairs. 

However, when 5Bu can also pair with guanine. (When 5Bu change into enol form) 

Hence, causing AT to GC substitution. 

CHEMICAL MUTAGEN

Substances that can alter a base that is already incorporated in DNA by changing it's hydrogen bonding specificity. 

Nitrous acid act as mutagen where it alters adenine, A in which it pairs with C instead of T. 

RADIATION 

There are two types of radiation : 

• Ionizing : High penetrating power, can kill cell if used in higher dose. 
• Nonionizing : Kill about 90-95%. The remaining 5-10% are mutants. 

Mutations occurs when repairing the damaged DNA due to the radiations. 

DNA damage induced DNA repair system. 

SOS regulatory system initiates DNA repair processes. 

Damaged DNA due to UV. 

DNA repair processes. 

 

INTERCALATING AGENT 

Planar, 3-ringed molecules. 

Chemicals that are flat and look like bases where it can be inserted into bases. Pushing apart the original bases. 

Results in frameshift due to insertion or deletion of base pairs. 

For example, 

Acridine - intercalating agent

Deletion and insertion of bases. 

Lastly!! 

We can also identify mutants!! 

There are selectable mutants and nonselectable mutants. 

Selectable mutants are drug resistance. Meaning the mutants are antibiotic-resistant and can grow in the presence of antibiotic. 

#Antibiotic can kill the parent cell but not the mutated daughter cell.

Selectable mutants can be detected by two ways : 

• Positive selection 
• Negative selection 

POSITIVE SELECTION 

Rejecting unwanted parent cells.

Colonies in the medium with penicillin is mutants. 

NEGATIVE SELECTION 

Replica plating technique. 

Select cells that are unable to carry out certain functions. 

For example from the picture below, it will select cells that cannot synthesise trypotophan. Since the mutant is dependant to trytophan, when trytophan is not present it cannot grow. 

#Auxotroph is a mutant that have nutritional requirement that is absent in the parent cells. 

P/S I realised something. My suitable/best way of studying this is by looking at the pictures. I understand better when.... hmmm observing the picture... for an amount of time haha trying to see what's the difference of before and after reactions/understanding the mechanism, sort of. It suits me though.  So it is true I'm a visual type learners. x'D 

Friday, 14th November 2014, "Somehow I don't feel like it's Friday"

We don't have morning class for Microbiology today!

And nope. It was not cancelled. It's even better. We went to Shah Alam Convention Center (SACC) today to support our classmates and seniors. They are currently participating in  competition for National University eLearning Carnival (NUCeL) 2014. 

Our classmates as well as Dr Wan have been burning the midnight oil for.... one week? Or maybe less? In order to finish preparing the posters, cards and videos since they are using Aurasma. 

Since Dr Wan said that we are going to depart from UPM by bus at 7a.m., she told us to be ready at the bus stop at 6.45a.m.

As the time goes by, it was 7.15a.m. already and the bus was still not in sight. And finally the bus arrived at about 7.45a.m. but we had to let the participants to get on the first bus. Me and the other classmates took the second bus. 

The irony was that when the second bus arrived first before the first bus. Apparently the bus driver got lost on his way. Poor the participants though! And also us... there.... at SACC... got clueless while trying to find the booths. Haha. 

An uncle(?) hehe I mean, a man asked us whether we are the participants or visitors. "Visitors." We said. And he said that if we're the participants, we have to go register first. "You guys come too early. Not a single booth is set up yet!" Hahaha. I have to agree on that. 

Everybody seemed busy too inside the hall. I feel like we were crowding the place due to to our big numbers and scattering everywhere in there or maybe even blocking the way of the people in there. I felt guilty x'D 

And we decided to sit at a cafe outside of the hall (while waiting for Dr Wan and the rest of the crews of "Bus 1" to arrive. 

After taking two to three group photos at the convention center, Dr Wan and the others finally arrived. Dr Wan asked to help the participants setting up their booths. 

And so we went inside the hall where the exhibition is going to be held today. But I didn't manage to help anything... To be honest x'D Because when I went to the booths, they are currently preparing the booths themselves. I don't think I can help anything. Like I said before, we were just crowding the booths instead which I really hope we were not being a nuisance to any of the other participants. 

Thus, we decided to go eat breakfast instead since most of us were hungry at that time. We went to the nearest mall which is the SACC Mall and Plaza Alam Sentral. We ate roti canai, tosai, fried noodle and fried rice. So, Dr Wan! I'm telling you, you don't have to be worried or feel.... guilty(?) there wasn't any food provided for us that morning. Because we all make sure we ate well! x'D :D 

Afterwards, we went back to SACC. Let's not forget the exhibition, people! :D
The first booth I went was of course, Megat-Choy-Chew-May Ling-Veronica's booth. Hehe :D Followed by the other seniors' booth. 

Our class's group did their poster and use Aurasma as their eLearning method. 

As for the other (senior) groups, they made cards with questions on it. In order to know the answers, we have to scan the card (using Aurasma) and the answer will be shown along with some notes about it. 

Other group also did an augmented reality book called "The Big Book of Microbe", if I'm not mistaken, that is. And they said that, instead of reading books like we usually do and sometimes we can even get sleepy or bored. This book can be scanned (also using Aurasma) and we can watch videos from the book, which is of course less boring. 

The other group did something called "The Box of Mixrobe" or was it "Microbe Box" haaaaa I'm really sorry Dr Wan, I forgot the name of their product T^T But it was interesting really! I have to admit that. The box contains microbe models (example : virus, yeast), a staining kit and also a CD which contains some sort of an interactive learning where there are questions, quizzes and slide notes about the topic of "Introduction To The Microbial World". What's interesting about the interactive learning is it is in the form of animation.

And lastly, the last group that I went to was the seniors who did on food studies. They prepared foods too! Since microbes usually can be found in foods like cheese and yogurts. Yogurt drinks were served and cheese sandwiches! I wanted to taste it, but I didn't. x'D It's regretful.

I did a few rounds of the exhibition and I think that the UPM students' booth were the most interesting. Hehehe. Maybe because it was handled by students so it looked more... lively? And fun? The other Also because they use very interesting methods and props like the Aurasma application, the microbe box and the augmented reality book. Overall they all did a very good job! I enjoyed listening to their presentations. 

We went back to UPM afterwards and had an evening class with Prof.

We started our class with quite a weather outside. It started to rain heavily. The wind was really strong. And Prof was worried if it was safe for us to continue our lecture. She hold the microphone on the "non-metal" part for safety measures. 

We learned about Regulation of Gene Expression today. 

1- Regulation of enzyme activity 

---->> Feedback inhibition : The end product will be the inhibitor when there are too many products. 

Allosteric inhibition 

2- Regulation of enzyme synthesis 

---->> Enzyme repression : Inhibit gene expression and decreases the synthesis of enzymes (proteins [end product]). 

---->> Enzyme induction : Turns ON the transcription of genes and synthesise the enzyme only when its substrate is present. 

Enzyme repression; Mediated by repressor 

OPERON 

Structure of operon 

Function of structure  

---->> Operon : A group of coordinately regulated structural genes with related metabolic functions. 

---->> Promoter : The region of DNA where RNA polymerase initiates transcription. 

---->> Operator : The region of DNA adjacent to structural genes that controls their transcription. 

---->> Regulatory genes : Codes for repressor proteins. 

trp Operon (Repression)

Trytophan LOW = ON ---- Trytophan HIGH = OFF

lac Operon (Induction)

Lactose PRESENT = ON ---- Lactore NOT PRESENT = OFF 

The production of proteins when glucose and lactose are present

Tuesday, 11th November 2014, "New Prof"

The time has come... For Prof Katty (Prof. Datin Paduka Khatijah) to replace Dr Wan for exactly two weeks. 

Prof Katty is really cute for her age (But I don't even know her age x'D) Upon seeing Prof Katty, a thought crossed my mind. The lecturers here are all so... young-like haha. Like Dr Wan and now Prof Katty. Is this a lecturer's thing? Do they always have this vibe/aura/impression to all people around them? I'm wondering, really. (•ิ_•ิ)?

What's funny about Prof Katty was that today she confessed to us that she had not been lecturing for almost 7 years. "I was a good lecturer back then" she said and laughed after saying that （*⌒ヮ⌒*） and continued "Now I'm just a boring old woman" Haha. No you're not, Prof!! ʕ￫ᴥ￩ʔ

Today we learn about Genetics. Learning about genetics; DNA, RNA, replication of DNA, transcription and translation etc reminds me so much of my previous studies in Foundation in Science. Because Genetics was one of the last topics we covered on before Final Examination for Semester Two which was recent? (If April can be count as recent... Hehe) 

DNA 

• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) contains information for the cell and genetic material. It has a double helix that is formed by hydrogen bonds between polynucleotides in which a nucleotide contains a phosphate group, deoxyribose sugar and a nitrogen containing bases : adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G). It is densely compacted into chromosomes to fit into nucleus.

DNA ---> double strands that intertwined.

• C-G pairs have 3 hydrogen bond while A-T pairs have 2 hydrogen bond.

• Purines are bases that have double ring structure : adenine, guanine 

• Pyrimidines are bases that have single ring structure : thymine, cytosine, uracil 

Nitrogenous bases

Structure  of nucleotide

• Functions of DNA :

1. Store genetic informations in the nuclei.
2. Self-duplicate when dividing.
3. Express genetic message.
4. Provides codes or template for the particular sequencing of amino acids that bond together to make a protein. 

RNA

• RNA (ribonuceic acid) is a copy of DNA that has polynucleotides in which a nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a ribose sugar and nitrogen containing bases : adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), uracil (U). RNA is single stranded. It moves out of nucleus to perform protein synthesis. 

• The linkage bonding one nucleotide to a sugar is called ---->>> phosphodiester linkage. 

3'-5' phosphodiester bond

• adenine pair with uracil (A-U) while guanine pair with cytosine (G-C). 

• There are three types of RNA : messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA).  

mRNA

• Produced in the nucleus by transcription using DNA as a template. 
• Contains bases complimentary to DNA. 
• Carries DNA's message out of the nucleus to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm. 

rRNA

• Component of ribosomes. 
• Helps in protein synthesis by decoding mRNA into amino acids. 

tRNA

• Delivers individual amino acids to the ribosomes during protein synthesis. 

And we learned about DNA replication which I'm recommending you to see this video. 

:D 

Friday, 7th November 2014, "Games"

We usually have Microbiology class on Tuesday and Friday but since Dr Wan was not available on Tuesday (4th November 2014). The class for that day was cancelled. And to replace the Tuesday class, we had a four hour long class on Friday. However, something came up and Dr Wan was not able to teach us for the first two hour and left us in the care of her Master students because she had to do a presentation that morning.

Before she left us for the presentation, she assigned us an activity for us to complete while she was away and by 10am (The estimated time that she will come back) we should have finished our preparation for the acitivity. The activity was on the current topic -->> EUKARYOTES! There are 10 groups and she made folded papers and in the papers were written with number 1 until 10 and each group representative had to pick a paper in order to know what number we got. The numbers actually meant something. Each number was assigned to an organelle in eukaryotes. My group got the number 10 which was the last group to present. 

The organelle that was assigned to Number 10 is "Mitochondria". 

Next, Dr Wan explained further that we had to prepare a game based on the organelle that we were assigned. That was the exciting part! Games! :D 

My group had decided to do a game titled "Quiz Oh Quiz!". Just like the name, it was a game focusing on quizzes which mean there will be questions and they have to raise their hands to answer it. However, instead of having 10 groups to answer the questions. We divided our classmates to two big groups, A and B. For each questions that they answered, marks will be given --> contributing points to the group that they are representing. When the game ends, one person from the winning group can pick a person from the losing group to flick his/her forehead as a punishment.

Well, that was what we were planning to do at first. However, at the end of the game there was no any "flicking-forehead" happening because Choy (from the winning group) said something like "poor them". Hahaa. And also because since we were the last group, everybody was eager to go home and the punishment was long forgotten and forgiven~~

And here is the names of the games that we had prepared for each organelle :D 

1- Poison Box (Flagella, cilia and cytoplasm) 

2- Role Play (Cell Membrane) 

3- Spin Your Ribosome (Ribosome)

4- Dart Quizzes (Nucleus)

5- Jump Lysosome Jump (Lysosome)

6- Bingo (Vacuole)

7- Lucky Bottle (Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum)

8- Wheel Decide (Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum) 

9- Golgi Penalty (Golgi Apparatus)

10- Quiz Oh  Quiz! (Mitochondria) 

In my opinion, everybody did a very good job in preparing the game and also creative in their own way. It was a fun activity indeed~! Although we are playing "games" but we were also learning something during the whole class which was about Eukaryotes. We needed to think of the answers carefully. Testing our knowledge. Since we cannot refer to any notes during the game. If we got it right, we will remember the answer. But if we got it wrong, and got corrected by the presenting group (after they punished the group that answered wrongly, of course..) I'm sure that we/they (the "answered-wrongly-group") will remember the answer even more. Haha!

I think this week's activity goes well with the idiom "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy". Hence, the games really lighten us up~~~ :D 

Friday, 31st october 2014, "Algae And Fungi"

Since Dr Wan couldn't find the time to teach us Algae and Fungi on Monday nor Tuesday. Today we had a 4 hours long class. It was fun actually. I must admit that I'm starting to love Microbiology more. It's a good thing! Not that I hate it before but the fondness towards the subject is subtle before this. In my opinion, it's important to love what you're doing/learning. Same goes for your career in the future, just saying. x'D (Self reflection section haha) 

Since last week I have hmm somehow talked about algae. So for this week's entry, I will do the "New Things That I Learned Today" section! ^^ 

New Thing That I Learned Today

ALGAE

• Algae is the first producer of the marine food chain.

• Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta and Phaephyta are in the kingdom of Plantae.

• Microbes that lives on neustonic region (at water-atmosphere interface) are autotrophic or photoautotrophic microbes because they need sun to produce food for themselves. 

• Microbes that lives on benthic region (at the bottom of water) are anaerobes because at the bottom of water, there are low concentration of oxygen. 

• Endosymbionts : Any organisms that lives in the cell of other organisms and interacting with each other by mutualism. 

• Algal bloom : Although we often say things like "Wow! The lake is green! So pretty!" The green lakes are actually cause by algal bloom. It is toxic and can kill fish. (I will never think about green lakes the same way anymore...) （・⊝・）

• Secondary product : Product that is produced by metabolism of algae or any other microbes. (Such as alginic acid, carrageenan etc) 

• Algal bloom occurs when the lake is high in nutrition that will stimulate excessive plant growth (for example : algae). Also known as "eutrophication". 

• The summarise consequences of algal bloom is that the excessive growth of algae will prevent the sunlight to penetrate the algae and into the water. This will lower the level of oxygen inside the lake. This will also highly stimulate the growth of anaerobes. The anaerobes will release toxic gases due to chemical changes and lastly kill marine organisms. 

• Dinoflagellates produce brevetoxins which can cause red tides. 

• The most studied mold is "slime molds". 

FUNGI

• An example on the uses of fungi is it can be used as antibiotic. For example, cortisone which is a type of steroid that can treat a variety of skin condition such as rash, allergies, prevent swelling or redness due to insect bites and prevent inflammation. 

• Anamorphic fungi produce asexual spores ONLY. 

• Ascomycota, a type of fungi, reproduce asexually by conidia (asexually produced spores) called conidiospores. 

• Stachybotrys cause "sick building syndrome" where usually we can see it on the ceiling or the walls.   

• The fungus that looks like an ear here is called Auricularia auricula-judae. 

• Microspodia is an obligate intracellular fungal parasites which means that they need host to survive. 

• Mycorrhizae helps to absorb nutrient. The hyphae of fungi will form a sheath around the roots of plant, using its mycelium. The fungal-root coating is called "mycorrhizae". They can absorb water and mineral deeper into the soil that the plant's root cannot reach. 

• Lichens can act as pollution indicators because they are sensitive to air pollution or environmental toxins. Thus, when there is lichens, it is free from pollutant. 

• Algae is a photobiont while fungi is a mycobiont.  

• Facultative : with or without oxygen, can still survive. 

• Dimorphic fungi can form two types of growth which is mold-like or yeast-like. And it depends on the temperature and carbon dioxide. 

Monday & Tuesday, 27th & 28 October 2014, "Of Posters, Videos And Exhibition"

Monday, 27th October 2014

Since tomorrow we are having the long-awaited exhibition to present our long-awaited posters and videos. A replacement class was held today. But we didn't get to learn anything today because, since we will be viewing our videos tomorrow using the Aurasma application that we have installed on our devices, Dr Wan wanted to make sure everybody's Aurasma is working well and all the videos can be played. Andddd it actually took the whole two hours to settle this. Dr Wan was worried too as to how will we cover the subjects in order to finish it before the final examination. 

Tuesday, 28th October 2014, "Day Of The Exhibition!!" 

Our group's morning wasn't having a good start because our video suddenly couldn't be played on Aurasma. Hence, we had to put the video in Aurasma Studio all over again. And the internet at the faculty was not helping us at all x'D It took about 1 hour and a half for our video to be uploaded into the web. Thank you to some of my classmates that have helped us!! For 'lending' us their internet huddle and also Chew!! Helping us solve the problem with Aurasma because we had trouble saving the video.

Firstly, Dr Wan wants us to present our poster in front of her while she recorded us all. The actual exhibition with real judges will be held in the evening at 2pm. And our group is the last group to present due to the problem with the Aurasma that I have stated earlier~ 

It was sort of like a warming up for me though. And nerve-wrecking too since all of our classmates were watching us while we were presenting (Dr Wan ordered us to listen to the groups presenting and our names will be randomly called afterwards to be asked a question on the microbe that was presented by the current group. And also in order to have a quiet background while the recording is being done. Hehe)  

And when the actual exhibition was being held. We had two judges judging us. The first judge asked us a LOT of questions x'D and even told us the answers when we couldn't answer it. She even asked us something because she was wondering about it but we are also wondering about it too. x'D I mean, we didn't thought about that too in the first place. And since we were keep being asked questions that we didn't know the answers, it somehow made us feet down. And confidence level goes down down. Head goes down down. Hahaha. At some point, she even told us to not feel.... I don't remember the word but it was something along bad or disappointed? I don't remember! She said that overall we had done a good job but it's just that there are a lot of things that she wanted to know. AND makes us wonder that happened to be resting at that time. We asked her about how....  B. longum which is known to be abundant in the intestine are able to be transferred into the breast milk. Even when I think about it is a bit confusing. 

And she explained to us that actually in our body, there are a lot of microbes. Not only B. longum but there are also other probiotics too, all over of our body. So, the answer is B. longum is in the environment/everywhere/surrounding. Hence, their presence in the breast milk. A-Ha! :D 

As the exhibition went on. The second judge came. And listened to our presentation without asking much. When we have finished presenting the characteristics, classification, metabolism, nutrition as well as the impacts and applications of B. longum. He prepared us a question. It's a question regarding the breast milk again! Good thing we have searched on the Net and asked the previous lecturer I told you about about this! Hehe. 

He asked us, since we said that the B. longum is transferable from the mother to the infants via breast feeding. Are there any lactic acid inside the breast milk? And we answered yes. Since B. longum are able to ferment lactic acid using many type of different sugars even if there is very little amount of sugar present. Hence, the presence of lactic acid in breast milk~~ 

And! The exhibition ends! 

The conclusion is... Ah. Dr Wan told us to not make a summary about this exhibition but instead tell all the juicy details. Haha. 

During the preparation of the posters, which both the judges asked us. How long did we took to finish this project? It tooks two weeks. I don't know about other groups but we started our project rather late but the outcome is satisfying. It doesn't look rushed in my opinion. Heee. And it gave me new experiences. Please note "experiences" with "s"!! Meaning I have gained many experience from this project. Really. :D 

Firstly, in the making of the video. At first, it was Nadia and me who have to be in charge in compiling the separate videos that we had recorded. It was never my intention or ever crossed in my mind to volunteer myself to do that since I have never done it before ; edit videos. But somehow, fate came knocking on my door and gave me the chance to try it. I don't even have any software for video editing!! x'D But now I have it hehe. I downloaded it because of this project. Because of this project, I repeat. Haha. And in the end, I managed to compile the video together. And then I thought that somebody else is going to take over in editing/"decorating" the video but fate kept knocking on my door since semester break came and we weren't able to gather for one last group meet up to discuss about the video. Therefore, I had to finish editing the video at home. It was kind of a burden to me but not a "bad burden" though! It was cool too, having to be in charge for the video which I have zero experience to do one. Haha. In the end, after much trouble, the video was finished! And received good feedbacks from fellow groupmates. Yay~~ :D 

However, in the making of the poster. I wasn't in charge of it. Other groupmates did it. And also, it's my first time seeing an A1 paper hehehe. I imagined it much smaller hehe. So, it was a new experience too because I was able to know other other sizes of paper x'D 

For a bigger scope, which is the exhibition itself. I have never been in an exhibition before. I mean, to be the one who is presenting it. This! Is a really meaningful experience! :)) I am going to treasure this. "Having my first ever exhibition today~" This exhibition also helped in increasing my self-confidence. To a level higher. I always have this "stage fright" problem everytime I have to present anything in front of the class. So, this type of activity other than group presentation in class really helps me increasing my self-confidence when talking in front of other people. And since we are talking in front of a judge, it gave me a bigger range of people I have to talk to. Hee. Do you get what I mean? I mean before this, I have only talked in front of people which is... classmates, coursemates (classmates that are not from the same course), friends, teachers, "talk to the camera while other classmates listened to you presenting and being recorded" (hehe) and now added to the list is "Judges"! It's like an achievement. Challenges that I have to overcome when talking to other people. 

And to be honest, I thought that the feeling when presenting in front of the judges is like talking to a "normal" citizen or stranger like how we talk to a teacher. But it was not like that at all!!! x'D The feeling was like talking to the whole class. I do not know why. x'D Maybe because I/we know that they definitely know more than us. And also anxious about what kind of questions that they have in mind. Eventhough we, students, sometimes throws random questions to the lecturer that's a bit out of the topic, but the lecturers always managed to answer it well. At least, that's what I have been observing since I have entered university, doing my Foundation in Science until now.

Judges have this different aura. I have to admit that. Haha. 

Lastly, regarding the questions that was asked by the judges which I said earlier, it's not only make them wonder but make us wonder as well. In conclusion to that, it makes me realised that I haven't been exploring hard enough or thoroughly. I really thought that I have covered on all the applications and impacts (That's the part that I was assigned for). But there are a lot more to it. The judges like to connect this fact to that fact, or in other word implying the functions of the microbes with their applications. For example..... Like the question how do B. longum transferred from the intestine to the breast? Do they penetrate? Carried by blood? Ha! I caught you too right? I know. I didn't thought about that also. Hehe. Other example: B. longum is known to be a scavenger. So what do they eat? Generally, we know that a scavenger eats dead organism. But what do they eat? What do they actually eat from the dead organism? their cell wall? nutrients? Now you see it? They are a lot to be explored, yet we didn't do so~

This is a lesson to be learnt. To explore more on what you're going to present. Especially on big event like this (Yeah, I consider this as a big event :B) so that the individuals that will be listening to us can have lots of informations and also can have the answers to what they want to know. 

Thus, eventhough I feel like I had made a thorough research. It seemed that I didn't. There are a lot more to know. And it sort of feel like a waste to not be able to describe or present what you wanted to present fully; with full explaination/clearly. If there is going to be any exhibition that I will be entering in the future, I will do a thorough research! :D 

The real "lastly" (since I have used "lastly" in the previous sentence if you realised x'D) I would like to thank my groupmates who have really gave their best in preparing the poster and video!! A job well done, guys!! It was fun and challenging! :D And also to Dr Wan who gave us the chance to do the exhibition eventhough we're still first year students. This is good exposure. I agree with you Dr! Although at first I was honestly against the idea of having to present it in front of the judges and also in public x'D but it turned out that I had fun with my groupmates and classmates! :D 

That's all from me; my thoughts on this project~~ ^^