[14th September 2015] [WEEK 2] "Schedule Change"

Assalamualaikum w.b.t 

I managed to survived Week 1, thankfully. Hehe. 

Other courses are starting to get too much on my plate with the never ending assignments. BMY3103 haven't give us any killer task, yet. (Hehe) 

Me and some of the classmates were late to class this week. Due to some changes in our time table, our Inorganic Chemistry Lab had to take the time slot originally for BMY3103. And our Microbiology class had to be held a little late, and end a little late too, of course. 

Dr. Wan suggested that class start at 11.15am, so that everyone can take their time walking to FBSB. 

I will try to arrive in time next week! 

So this week, we learn a bit of this and that about prokaryotes. Dr. Wan asked us to access Padlet that she had created. The title : "Microbial Physiology" in which Dr. Wan want us to search something; anything! about prokaryotes that may be useful for our knowledge. It can be in any form such as video, articles and journals. 

Our group found something about prokaryotes that is related to their genetics. In which the researches used genetic sequencing to see the diversity of prokaryotes. It turn out that there are few types of prokaryotes that we should know other than the general bacteria and archaea that we already know.

There are bacteroidetes, firmicutes, actinobacteria, proteobacteria and other phyla. 

Other groups had also found interesting informations about prokaryotes such as... Hmmm. One of the group mentioned something about the relation between prokaryotes and weight reducing.

It is basically about how the metabolism of the human body react to the normal flora in the gut. The researches are trying to understand the mechanism of the human body by observing and determining the bacteria that is present in their body. 

It is actually the same concept as isolating cultures from patients with a particular disease and grow them to see what species are the microorganisms that infect the patients; and decide whether it is the cause of a disease or not. In addition to that, we have to determine the most suitable antibiotic that will prevent their growth. The same goes to the weight reducing method using prokaryotes that the researches are trying to come out with. 

After everybody done presenting and explaining why their group picked the articles of their choices, Dr. Wan proceeded with every group have to pick a group of proteobacteria and present it on Monday~ 

In conclusion, today I learnt that other than the characteristics or prokaryotes, it is equally important to know the functions and metabolisms of prokaryotes. It is actually quite vast as their functions not only bound to medicinal value, but also to the environment, genetics and so on. I will anticipate what's more to come in this topic in order to understand more about prokaryotes. 

That's all from me. 

Adieu! :)  

[7th September 2015] [WEEK 1] "Welcome Back!"

Assalamualaikum w.b.t 

Alhamdulillah. We meet again! :D 

My feeling for today's first class was actually partially excited and partially nervous. Yes. It's a mixed feeling. Nervous because I'm afraid I already forgot some of the basic things about Microbiology that we have learnt such as the difference between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Excited because.... Hmm I don't know what I'm excited for. Haha. Mostly because I get to meet my classmates and lecturers again! 

Oh. I'm also nervous because this semester's courses and schedule are no joke. Of course, it's going to get tougher and maybe harder; the subjects. 

Class was at 10.00am but Dr. Wan told us via WhatsApp that she will be a little late due to a meeting that she had to attend that morning. 

Today we didn't really learn anything. Dr. Wan only went through our course outline and told us that there will be three lecturers for BMY3103 this semester. Besides Dr. Wan, Dr. Amalia and Dr. Suriana (my mentor! :D) will also be teaching us. So many lecturers for one course~

I think it's going to be fun~ Just like last semester where Dr. Sieo Chin Chin taught us for the first few parts of the course (but took quite a long period to cover the topics, though). At least, we are able to see the difference and a variety teaching methods of the lecturers of our faculty. 

During today's class, Dr. Wan asked us what will we be learning. And few voices answered "physiology of microbiology" which is, yes, our course name for this semester. And Dr. Wan said "my kids can answer that too!". Hehe.

I searched on the net and it says that physiology of microbiology is the study of how the microbial cell functions biochemically.

I sometimes misunderstand the word "physiology" and "physically". They sound kind of the same, isn't it? 

Dr. Wan further elaborated that we will be focusing on prokaryotes' organelles such as the carboxysome, magnetosomes etc. I guess we will be learning about the organelles in greater depth than we did previously. 

Other than went through the course outline, Dr. Wan also briefed us about the upcoming Amazing Microbe Carnival. She already told us about the carnival through our WhatsApp group during the semester break. We will be doing something that involved 3D printing. Ha ha. I don’t even know how it will looks like, not before Dr. Wan told us today and even showed us few pictures of the posters with 3D props and also the machinery itself. I learned a new device today! 

I can’t wait to see the outcome! I mean how our 3D printing going to look like. It’s going to be a whole new experience for me~

That’s all for this week.

No class on Wednesday though, because Dr. Wan had to be at another place that morning.

Adieu! :)