Virtual Microbes 2017 - What Have I Learnt

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and a very good morning/afternoon/evening (to make it suitable for every occasion/current time for the person who is reading this 😄) 

This is a post specifically for Virtual Microbes 2017 (VM3) 💝

For this time around, I am grouped in Group 14 that consists of 10 students,  4 from UPM, 4 from UKM and 2 from UM. 

I will talk about what have I learnt about VM3 but in separate categories, one by one. 😌 

First, in terms of learning new things. 

This will be the second time where in my studies, I am required to do a virtual meeting with people outside of university. For the previous VM, my past group members are the ones who had to set up the video meeting and all, but for VM3, it was me who is (kind of) responsible to make the video meeting for all us. That requires me to get the e-Mails of all of our members (with the help of our Whatsapp group chat) and add them into my contact in the Zoom application. And then, record the meeting and upload it in Youtube for submission.

It is safe to say that I know how to conduct a virtual meet up now, that includes inviting the group members and record the meeting. Unlike before, I did not really take notice on how my past group members did it because all I needed to do was accept the invitation and I'm in. Thus, VM3 gave me the opportunity to know all the important features the Zoom application could offer and by the third discussion video, I am quite familiar with the app already. I'm sure I will not have a problem to use it again in the future. 🙆

Second, in terms of doing the literature review. 

For the previous VM activity, we are all required to do a video and an infographic about enteric viruses. Doing that activity did greatly enhance our skills in doing videos and infographics. However, for VM3 we are required to do a literature review. In my study years, this will be my second time doing it (in group). There are few questions prepared and we all have to answer the questions in the form of a literature review. 

For a second time, I think it is easier to do it now. Honestly, what's taking my time in doing the literature review is not the writing, but in finding the suitable journals. 😅 Just to find the suitable journals took me one full day. Writing the literature can be done easily (not that easy of course 😂) once you managed to piece together all the informations that you get from the journals. 

I like to see the progress of my work, from a Word document that is filled with fragments of informations from several journals to a properly paraphrased sentences with citations and with a flow of 'story'. A fruitful result, you would say. 😊

Other than writing the literature review, I also learn a lot about the importance of citation. I referred a lot to the first literature review (we did a our first literature review when we're in our 2nd year) where Dr. Wan did stress a lot on the importance of citing our work properly. Thus, it is safe to say that I learn a lot from the first literature review. Before I was a 'know-nothing' about citation and referencing, now I am a lot better in doing it. 🙌

Third, in term of teamwork.

From the beginning (the first virtual meeting) until the end (completing and submission of our group's literature review), there was no problem at all that arise between the group members. Everybody did their part with full cooperation and all possible problems are handled smoothly. 

For example, if anybody has a problem with the meeting time for our discussion; we will adjust the time until it is in favours of everybody's schedule. Also, regarding our literature review, at first it has a high percentage of similarity when submitted in Turnitin. After discussing with the group members and pointing out which parts needed to be altered, everybody is able to comply and alter the parts readily. 

It is the kind of attitude that needed to be instilled in every students especially the students that are going for their internship. I honestly think that 'able to work in a team' or 'able to tolerate with others' ia the most important 'learning objective' that should be achieved by everyone that is involved in VM3. 

Finally, I would like to thank all my groupmates from UPM, UKM and UM for the very good cooperation to complete this activity. For my UPM members, it was a memorable experience having to do the literature review with you guys despite the electrical malfunction in our college. 😂 We had to go out of college and sit in a cafe at the mall to get Internet connection as well as to charge our laptops. It was all good experience. 😊😄

As for my UKM and UM members, I would to give a sincere thanks for your hard work throughout the activity. It has been a pleasure working with you guys. You guys are the kind of people that are good to work with; I'm sure any work can be done on time and with good qualities too with you guys.  I wish you all good luck for your next big challenges in your studies and farewell. 😊👋

And of course, a very big 'Thank You!' to Dr. Wan and all the lecturers involved in VM3 for your hard work in supervising us from the beginning until the end. 💝

Reflection on Virtual Microbe 2016

Assalamualaikum, and a very good afternoon (it's noon at the moment) to you who is reading this. I hope you're having a good day. 😊

Oh, let's not forget to say Hi, Dr. Wan! 😁

Today is Sunday, 20th Nov 2016. And as you are informed, third year students who took Virology course are having their Test II today. I just got back (3 hours ago) from the test too. Alhamdulillah, it went well. 

I would like to take this opportunity to say my thanks to Dr. Eddie as well! Thanks to him, I now have a better insights to the virus world. Also, thank you to Prof. Azeezah. Their way of teaching is very good that I will feel troubled or guilty if I dozed off during the class (it's not because they're boring, really no! It's me, I have been sleeping late haha) 

Ok. Now I will talk about my experience with Virtual Microbe! 

To be honest, during the first briefing I do not really understand how the flow of this activity. The rough idea that I managed to get that day is that we as well as other university students will have to do a virtual meeting and discuss about the questions provided in the module of this activity. It is kind of like UPM's LAX course, you have to do a group meeting every week, discuss the progress of the activity that we're asked to do and finally produce a final product. The difference is that this has to be done 'virtually' via any application that can provide video conference. 

The idea appeals to me, but I'm also nervous because during the starting of this semester, I know my ability, that I have very low knowledge about viruses compared to the other microbes. Hence, when Dr. Wan said that the third year students have to work on the virology part (because we're currently taking that course), I think that I will not do well because I feel like I won't be able to talk much about viruses. You know that feeling, right? So, I imagine that the other university students will talk 'fluently' about the mechanism and life cycle etc of viruses and I will not be able to understand immediately or slow to catch on. 😐

However, as time goes by and weeks passed, one to two video recordings passed, I think I managed to grasp the idea of this activity. My knowledge on viruses is gradually increasing too because Prof. Azeezah and Dr. Eddie taught us well! They explain each of the viral processes in depth and clearly, so while doing this activity; Virtual Microbes also give me the confidence to talk about viruses because it feels right to talk about something that you have knowledge on. 😊 It is also easier for me to find and extract information from the Internet or from the journals when gathering information about the virus of our choice because I have managed to familiarize with the terms used in virology. 

As for the final products; montage video and infographic. We divided the task among ourselves and agreed that the UPM students will work on the montage video while UKM students will work on the infographic. By now, we, the UPM students should be familiar already with this kind of task, thank you very much to Dr. Wan! 😄 My skill in using the applications improved from semester to semester. At this point of our study year, it doesn't feel hard anymore to use these helpful applications (unlike the very first time during Adopt-a-Microbe and so on, it felt impossible to finish haha).

Aside from the output of this activity, the input is actually the most important thing in order to get a good output, right. Just like what Dr. Wan always reminds us at the beginning of this collaboration that this is a platform and an opportunity for us to connect with the people outside university besides it is also a peer teaching activity. 

It taught me how to communicate and tolerate well with people in our surroundings. Besides that, it is very important to cooperate with others when engaging in an activity in which we have to plan properly such as ask when every members of the group are available to do the video conference. Also, like Dr. Wan said it is a preparation for us, the third students that will go for our internship later on. This activity managed to give us the experience on how to work and deal with people out of our circle and also cooperate with each other as a team in order to get a desired output. If everybody put their very best effort in a group work, the outcome will come out good as well, so everybody will feel satisfied and proud of their group work at the end of the activity. 💟

We have reach the end of my reflective post on Virtual Microbe 2016, I would like to thank Dr. Wan as well as the other lecturers involved for giving me/us the opportunity to do this activity in collaboration with other university students. It gives us exposure as well as guides us to manage our time efficiently.  

Next, thank you to my group mates, from both UPM and UKM for the efforts in finishing this activity successfully. I also want to apologize for all the miscommunication occurred. It's regretful, really, but I hope we can all learn from this and improve ourselves in the future. 😺 I really really really hope that we all can end this activity on a positive note and if we ever meet outside the 'virtual world', do not hesitate to say 'Hi'. ✋

If there is another collaborative activity in the future, or Virtual Microbe 2017, it would be a nice experience for me to join as I can improve myself. 🙆


P/S 
If this makes you feel good, Dr. Wan, I downloaded the Zoom app on my phone and on my little sister's tab so that I can video call her when I'm in UPM. There's this one night, I used Zoom to 'see' my family at home because I miss them. Even though we are just 40 minutes away. I'm excited to use it! 😂

Reflective Journal on Microbes and Us Project and Microbial Ecology

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. and a very good day to those reading this

The first part of this reflective journal will be covered on the learning outcomes and what have I learned throughout this course. The most unforgettable (but also quite hard to remember all of them) part during learning Microbial Ecology is knowing all the microbial habitat. To be specific, it was during Dr. Amalia that there were so many new things I learnt, such as the aquatic habitat and atmosphere habitat. Before this, it was not elaborated in depth, but throughout this course, it was elaborated and I somehow know a lot more thing better. I will take atmosphere habitat for example. Before this I only think that atmosphere is a method of transmission of microorganisms. However, after learning the topic of Atmosphere Habitat, I now know how to prevent the presence of airborne microorganisms.

As for the experience in doing the Microbes and Us project, it was fun knowing in depth about a certain microbe of choice. We picked Toxoplasma gondii as our microbe of choice. Initially, it was because all of the members of our group seem to be fond of cats, so we all agreed immediately. As for me, I never know about the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii on cats. Some of our group members have read about it and suggest that we study about this microbe further. I read about it and was also interested with the topic since I never consider about the possibility that microbes can actually ‘control’ our minds in which the article explains that the minds of infected rats become attracted to cats, that’s why they are consumed by the cats. Although there are times where we also have problems to understand the microbe such as its life cycle, every members tried hard to understand and explain to the members that didn’t quite catch it.

Besides that, I think I am getting better at finding journals. Haha. And also reading one!

Some of our lecturers throughout this semester frequently remind us that we have to familiarize ourselves with reading journals. Thus, this project somehow has managed to make me more ‘comfortable’ when reading journals. The thought that I have to find the answers to certain questions is what driven me to read as many journal  I can to find the best journal that can answer our questions and that we can refer to.  However, I also came across journals that are still hard to understand, and I guess it is just a part of learning.

As usual, after every project that involved a particular microbe that can cause infection will make me more cautious around the possible method of transmission, as the effects are sometimes worrying (usually diseases). Thus, I’m seeing cats with a new ‘point of view’ now.

For the fourth question on how do I relate Microbial Ecology to other microbiology courses that I have covered throughout the two years as a Microbiology students are I can relate on the characteristics of the microbes and its pathogenicity(if it is a pathogenic bacteria) and its natural habitat or ecology. The characteristics were further discussed in Bacteriology course and I can understand more clearly (although there are more things to be remember now) on how and why they are pathogenic.

Besides that, the characteristics sometime show the ecology of the microbes. For example, photosynthetic bacteria are usually found on the surface of water while the bottom of the ponds, lakes or even sea are where the anaerobic bacteria lives or thermophiles that can be either bacteria or archaea live in very hot temperature such as the hydrothermal vents.

Therefore, it is important to know the natural habitat and requirement of each type of microbes such as its favourable temperature, nutrition and even by-products, so that we can isolate the microbe of interest and grow it (in-vitro) according to its natural habitat. If we manage to provide a suitable environment for the microbes to live, we can get the by-products produced by the microbes that might be of used to the industry or health purpose.

I think it is important nowadays to culture microorganisms and to find more species or strains that can benefit us.

Awesome Microbes Carnival (19 & 20 November 2015)

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

It’s been few days after the much anticipated “The Awesome Microbes Carnival”.

I will now write my reflective journal upon the event, covering the period before and after the carnival; from my point of view.

I did mention about this carnival during the first week of Semester 3, in my first entry. Ring a bell? The one that Dr. Wan suggested during semester break.

Well what do you know, it’s actually happening. To me, everything went well. I had loads of fun! :D

PREPARATION FOR THE EVENT

Before the event was held, there were few meet up’s involving the whole Microbiology students from first year until final year, even the lecturers and lab assistants were there to listen to a little brief about the event by Dr. Wan.  

There were also few meetings involving only the higher up(s) and committee in charge.

(My name was actually randomly picked and put under the “Social and Activities Committee”.)

I don’t intend on joining the event by being one of the committee but I do want to contribute to this event either directly or indirectly.  I think it’s a good opportunity for me to learn a thing or two about handling an event. Even just being in charge for the activity part.

It sounded easy and simple, right? For me, it’s not because we have to think and discuss on what activities that would be suitable and at the same time fun for the visitors.

Also we have to consider about the target visitors, which is primary and secondary school students in which we have to lower down our ways of thinking and try to imagine being in the students’ shoes on things such as questions for quizzes; whether they can answer it or not and etc.

It was a fun experience for me because as far as I can remember,  I have never handle the activities of an event, so being a part of this committee gave me a “sneak peek” on how to do it.

We have to know the things required for the activities planned, how many activities, the layout, the rules of the activities and prizes to be given if the visitors won the activities and etc. We have to make sure everything was planned well in order to avoid any unwanted circumstances that day.

It was fun preparing the props for the activities too.

Over all, it was a fun yet informative experience.

From the meetings that I have attended, I also managed to learn a bit on how to plan an event such as the publicity and logistics scope of works, and so much more.

APPRECIATION POST

The event has officially ended. I was partially sad and partially happy. Sad because it ended but happy because the event was successful.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Wan because without her, this event would not have been done because she kept on planning it although it has not been approved yet. Haha. So confident!

The venue which is Panggung Percubaan was set up well. Kudos to the logistic team to ensure that everything that was requested by each committee “comes true” by supplying us what we needed. Especially for the activity team.

I think we might have requested the most since there were eight activities and each one of them requires different things such as petri dishes, cardboards, double sided tape and etc.

Also, most of the things that we habe planned were successfully done. For example, the Golden Tunnel (I don’t know what is the name of the tunnel showing the achievements of scientists involved in our field. Hehe. I will name it Golden Tunnel like the golden years of Microbiology. Right? Right?) During one of the meeting, Dr. Wan suggested on doing the tunnel  but some of us said that it’s actually quite hard to do it and might require a long time, so the plan for tunnel was actually uncertain. I myself thought that it’s not going to “appear” on the event day.

However, much to my surprise, the tunnel is actually there! And it was reaaaaally beautiful!! I like—I love it! It was simple yet fascinating at the same time. Kudos to the people who was in charge for that part.

The food was good too. I  tried all of the foods. Not only to support my own seniors but also because everything looks good even when I am not hungry. And for a moment, I feel like I’m in my own “wonderful world of microbes”. Haha.

You know, like everything is made up of microbes and revolve around them, including the foods. So it was interesting. All the food was based on microbes such as doughnuts that are made up of yeast, mushrooms and cupcakes with microbes art on it. Also, there is this drink; actually there are two drinks that particularly took my attention during the carnival. Which is the Kombucha tea (I hope I didn’t get the name wrong) and “lactogurt”.

The vendor for Kombucha tea briefly told me about the contents and function of that drink. From what I remember, the drink contained enzyme, bacteria, yeast and something else that I couldn’t put my finger on it.. The drink taste carbonated and also you can taste the yeast strongly. I actually like the drink while others don’t really like it. He he.

I offered to most of my coursemates and their face went “blerrghh what is this?!” hahaha. I guess our tastebud don’t really match.

The other drink which is lactogurt contains bacteria and milk. It taste sooooo good! Like a yoghurt drink you bought from the supermarket. I asked one of the senior that made it because it is actually their project for their GM course. And he said that they really fermented it. 

I don’t believe it at first but later on I did. It was unbelievable on my side but also amazing. Haha. I didn’t know it was possible to make yoghurt using bacteria for real in our laboratory.

I want to try doing it in the future too!

What I Learnt During The Event

1-     I can brush up my skills on how to approach people; to invite people to play at the game booth where I’m in charged on. The target visitors were broad, if I must say myself. I had to greet primary students, secondary students, elementary students, university students an their instructors. I remind myself to always show a bright face and explain to them properly how to play the games.

2-   I was able to interact with the first year students that I still don’t have the chance to know them. Since my game booth are just beside the first year students poster section, I was able to recognize their face more. The male students were easy to detect since they are just few of them and they often played darts at our game booth. I can see that they are friendly bunch of kids. “Kids”. Haha. The female students too! First year students were assigned to take care of our game booth if we are not around during our  poster evaluation.

3-   I was able to interact with the seniors that I usually saw around the faculty. I made friends with some of them during the event. At least, I hope that if we cross path at the faculty, we can smile to each other now and I can differentiate the seniors from other courses in our faculty. They are really friendly!  

4-   For the whole two days, being with my Microbiology course “big family” and surrounded by everything related to microbes; especially the foods! Made me feel like I’m in the “world of Microbiology” for a little while.  It was unforgettable for me! I really like the environment surrounded by microbes related things. I would really like it if we are going to have it again in the future.

5-    I learnt that teamwork is very important. As long as there is teamwork, things should be fine as there will be people supporting us no matter how critical a situation is. For example, there are days where some of the third year or final year students have classes and the others have to cover our absence for a little while.  Like the saying “the show must go on”.

[TOPIC 5] Introduction To Microbial Metabolism

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. 

Hi~ 

Since we already know about the formation and structures of amino acids and proteins. The current topic will now discuss on the functions and metabolism of the proteins. 

When I hear or come across the word 'protein', the first thing that comes to mind is 'enzyme'. He he. How about you? 

This topic firstly exposed us on metabolism such as what's the meaning, and the process involved; which is anabolism and catabolism. 

It's important to know what those two words mean. And also identify which process release energy and absorb energy. 

Next, the types of enzymes were also included in the topic. There are six of them. I have already 'met' these six types of enzyme before during our last semester which is included in Biomolecules subject. 

Other than the types of enzymes, the other important thing to know is the properties of enzyme.

This is really important, right! 

Some of the properties of the enzyme are enzymes are specific, can be inhibited by certain conditions and not used up in a chemical reaction. (Make sure you know the other functions too, I only include some of it~). 

In addition to that, it is weird if the mechanism of enzyme is not included, right? So, of course it is crucial to know that too~ 

There are two mechanisms though, the lock and key method and the induced fit method. 

I found a cute and an interesting picture of the lock and key method! So that people can memorise it easier and more fun, in some sort, because it's related to our daily life; the key. Hehe. 

If there is a method on how to make the enzyme works, there should be reasons or conditions on how to disable the enzyme functions, right? 

Yes! 

There are a few factors affecting enzyme's functions which is concentration of substrates enzymes, pH, temperatures and enzyme inhibitors. 

Make sure to know how each factor contribute to inhibit the enzyme's activity. 

Especially on the types of inhibitions. Each of the inhibition; competitive inhibition, non-competitive inhibition have their own mechanisms; where they will interact with the enzyme either at the active or the allosteric site and the effects on the products formation. 

That's all from me~ 

[TOPIC 4] Amino Acids and Proteins

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

To be very honest, I don't really like learning about amino acids and proteins but you know that one quote 

"You'll never know unless you try"

There are 20 essential amino acids and Dr. Amalia told us to try memorise it. I don't want to! Haha. I'm trying to accept the fact that it's inevitable. I am bounded to amino acids and proteins if I were to pursue this course; or maybe as my career, who knows~

Hence, I will try my best to memorise them. Wholeheartedly. x'D

For this topic, we learnt mostly about the structures of the amino acids. Including the structures of all the 20 amino acids. 

What's interesting about the amino acids is that they each have their own letter code. I'm not sure whether we have to memorise this too or not. Ha ha. (dry laugh) 

Other than the structures, the chemical properties of the amino acids were also focused. The amino acids are grouped in four main groups which is polar, non-polar, acidic and basic. 

Actually, if we know the structure of the amino acids well, we can guess the chemical properties of them already. 

For example, the presence of amine group in the amino acids indicates that the amino acid is basic. Or the presence of sulphur or hydroxyl group which is known to be high in electronegativity indicates that it is polar; it can form bonds with other polar molecules. 

It can be concluded that the chemical properties depends on the side group present on the amino acids. 

#I'm not sure if I have been told about this before but I just knew today that physiological pH is actually pH 7.4; neutral pH. 

Other than that, we have to know the structure and significance of the alpha helix and beta pleated sheet and what bonds contribute in the structures. (It's hydrogen bond!).

One of the new thing I learnt during this topic is that structures or components known as 'turns' and 'loops' help to reverse the direction of the polypeptide chain. 

#The difference between loop and turn is that loop is used for long amino acid chains while turn is used for short amino acid chains. 

In conclusion, if you fully understand the structure and chemical properties as well as the functions of some structures. You can answer questions like 'what bonds connect the amino acids?' 'why the amino acid is acidic/basic?' 'what structure help to change the direction of the amino acid chains?'. 

The current topic seems a bit off topic from the usual stuff we learn about microbes. I miss the names of the microbes already. 

Let's study well, ok. We're all in this together after all. Hehe. 

Later! 

:)

[TOPIC 3] Intracellular Structures of Prokaryotes

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. 

Last topic was covered on the external part of the prokaryotes. Hence, now we will focus on the internal part of the prokaryotes. It is no other than the organelles of prokaryotes! Actually for this topic, since we were a bit lagging behind due to public holiday etc, Dr Wan made us did peer teaching instead of her teaching us. 

Every group was assigned on one or two organelles to be presented to the class. My group have to cover the inclusions that exists as granules which is sulphur granules, metachromatic granules and polysaccharide granules. 

After each presentation, the listeners which is our own classmates/lecturemates have to ask some questions regarding our presentation. And we have to find the answers, no matter how hard or easy the question(s) is~ 

What I learned from this topic is that it is important to know the functions of each substance because let's say if an organelles are absent in an organism. We can identify the cause of the disability of the organism to function; which is might be due to absence of the organelles required. 

For example, organism that lacks ribosomes will result in the organism unable to synthesise protein. 

Other than that, it is also important to know the inclusions contained in prokaryotes as inclusions have several functions that is essential for some bacteria. 

For instance, gas vessicles are crucial for photosynthetic bacteria in order to attain enough sunlight to carry out photosynthesis. The gas vessicles will provide buoyancy to the cell and make them float near the surface of water instead of submerged or sink to the bottom of the water source. 

In addition, formation and functions of endospore should be well understood as only prokaryotes can produce endospores. However, only some bacteria such as Clostridium and Bacillus can produce endospores. There are also some diseases related to endospore that can be fatal such as tetanus and gangrene gas. 

This new semester, a new information was added on the endospore part. Before this we were only exposed to the cycle of the endospores and functions but now the components and structures of the endospores are also included; which is the most inner part of endospore consist of inner core followed by cortex, spore coat and the outermost part is exosporium. 

That's pretty much the conclusion for this topic. 

Until then! 

[TOPIC 2] Cell Wall and Membrane Structure of Prokaryotes

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. 

For this topic, I think it is crucial to be able to differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative organism's cell wall properties. 

Other than knowing the difference of the two type of cell walls, it is also important to know the functions and significance of each substances contained in the cell walls. For instance, teichoic acid in Gram-positive organisms and LPS in Gram-negative organisms actually have the same function in which the components contribute to the cell's antigenic specificity. 

Other than knowing the difference and functions of Gram-positive and Gram-negative cells, this topic also covers on the difference between bacteria and archaea. 

So, how to remember the cell wall visual? 
Remember the spaghetti and meatballs picture! :D 

You don't remember? 

Wait. 

I was talking about the above picture! :D 

Why are we focusing on distinguishing bacteria from archaea? 

I would say that it is because this two organisms are in the category of prokaryotes (because they do not have true nucleus and membrane bound organelles) while the other group of microbes are eukaryotes. 

Some of the differences between the two organisms that I think I should note on are : 
- The presence of peptidoglycan 
- The amino acid contained in them 
- The glycosidic bond between the sugars 
- Ester/Ether link 

Other than that, I also learned some new terms. What are they, you ask? 

It's spheroplast and protoplast! 

Protoplast is a cell that has be lysed but it is still capable of carrying out metabolism processes. 

Spheroplast is a cell that have not been completely lysed, thus some of the components of cell wall still remains. 

How do they formed? 

Spheroplast are constructed when the the cell wall has been acted on by the lysozyme, but it is not completely hydrolysed. 

Below are some of the questions that were discussed in class throughout the lesson : 

1. How does glycocalyx act as a source of nutrients?
--> What I found on the net is an example of organism, Streptococcus mutans use glycocalyx as its source of nutrient when energy storage is low. This organism has glycocalyx in the form of capsule and it will break down the glycocalyx and utilise the sugar since glycocalyx is made up of sugars called EPS. 

2. Movement of bacteria towards nutrients or a particular substance is called 'chemotaxis'. 

3. The conjugation of pili is a process where transfer of DNA occurs. However, it does not contribute to the production of new daughter cells. Instead, the plasmid contains specific genes such as resistance to a certain antibiotic and ability to produce enzyme. Thus, the recipient of the DNA transfer will obtain the traits of the donor. 

#Do remember that the transfer of DNA can only occur between the same species! 

4. How is cell wall serve as a site of action for antibiotics? 
Antibiotics have a certain mechanism to attack cells such as attacking the cell wall, nucleic acid, ribosome etc. When antibiotics attack the cell wall, the cell wall will lyse or rupture causing the content to leak out and the organisms will die. 

That's all from me~ 

[TOPIC 1] Introduction To Prokaryotes

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. 

This e-Portfolio 'format' has changed from per week to per topic. I like per week better to be honest so that I don't forget what we have learnt but it's ok, I will manage. Hehe. 

It was a short chapter and it mainly comprised of the past semesters lecture notes. Some of the slides though, not all. 

To me, it was like a refresh or a revision to remind us again (again and again and again and it goes on. Haha) about prokaryotes; their characteristics, types, functions and the differences between bacteria and archaea.

The last time we learn about prokaryotes; which is also the 'first' time, was during first semester if I'm not mistaken. I have to admit, I do remember some of it and forgot some~

This topic shows a sneak peak on what will be discussed more in the following topics. 

Since only bacteria and archaea are grouped as prokaryotes, it is important to know the traits of the two organisms in order to distinguish them. 

Archaea is known as the organism that can survive in extreme conditions; which is also known as extremophile. There are halophiles, thermophiles, acidophiles etc based on the environment they are living. 

However, there is a bacteria that can withstand extreme condition but it is not an archaea. So how do you differentiate them? That's what we're going to learn. 

In conclusion, we are going to look through the properties that the bacteria have but not present in archaea and vice verca. There is not only one characteristics though, there are a few of them such as their cell wall components and membrane lipids. 

That's all from me~

[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! :)

14/14!

1^st June 2015, Monday

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and a very good day to you :D 

Today was the last class for BMY3102. It was held at BMF which is also where our first meeting with Dr. Wan took place. He he he.

However, today’s lesson was a bit… dull because everybody is… sleepy? Everybody was quite quiet during the whole lesson. Except when Dr. Wan was talking about something that is non-related to the lesson, only then everybody was talking and looked animated again. Haha.

Today we learnt the last two topics in BMY3102 which is Biogeochemical Cycle and Aspects of Biotechnology in Microbial Ecology.

As for Biogeochemical Cycle, there are five major cycle which involved elements that are important to the environment. There are carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, sulphur cycle, iron cycle and manganese cycle.

I wonder if there are other element’s cycle? Hmm. I will look up about it on the Net and tell you by the end of this post. He he he.

Or I will just tell you now. Haha.  

Other than the five well-known cycles, there are also other cycles such as phosphorus cycles, oxygen cycle, water cycle and hydrogen cycle. These are all important elements in our lives and ecology. 

So.. Here are some new information I managed to obtain during class today :

• Methanogens/ methanotrophs are abundant in Klang and Banting (in Malaysia). For example : Oil palm farms

• What organisms that involved in carbon fixing? What kind of bacteria? --> Photoautotroph

• Organelles involved in carbon fixations are carboxysome and also magnetosome in magnetotactic bacteria. 

• There are few processes involved during nitrogen fixation. Other than biological fixation which is done by microbes that we have learnt in this topic, nitrogen can also be fixed by lightning which is also called atmospheric fixation. There are also industrial fixation. 

Industrial fixation : 

"Under great pressure, at a temperature of 600°C, and with the use of a catalyst, atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen (usually derived from natural gas or petroleum) can be combined to form ammonia (NH₃). Ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer, but most of its is further processed to urea and ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃)."

- Retrieved from http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/N/NitrogenCycle.html 

• Why do we need nitrogen cycle? To be used in fertilizers to give nutrients to plants. 

• Other than Nitrosomonas, Nitrococcus and Nitrobacter. Nitropyra can also fix nitrogen.

• Prokaryotes that can fix nitrogen is called “rhizotroph”.

• Manganese is one of the trace elements.

 What important about biogeochemical cycles is that there are elements that  needed to be recycle and broken down in order for the organisms to obtain nutrients. If you think about, if there are no microorganisms that can break down this nutrients, the nutrients will remain in the surrounding or environment and non-usable. 

Thus, when this happen, the organisms cannot obtain the much required nutrients to carry out certain reactions or to grow healthily. 

That is why microbes play a big role in our ecology as well as biogechemical cycles.

Try to imagine our life without microbes to help carry out all this cycles! (°□°)

For second part of the lecture, we went on with Aspects of Biotechnology in Microbial Ecology. The last lesson!

 Points that I managed to jot down during lecture~ :

• Why do the farmers burn the residues of the farms after harvesting? --> To prevent growth of fungal pathogen. Although it is the fastest way to get rid of crops residues, it is also the most un-environmental friendly and actually harmful to our biosphere. 

• Instead of burning the crops residues, we should bury them. It is more environmental friendly that way.

• Where can we find Salmonella?  --> In raw meat or poultry (chicken) and eggs.

• What is “eutrophication”? --> It is a condition in which the nutrients are high especially in lakes and ponds that can cause pollution such as algae bloom and red tide.

• Mercury is also a heavy metal.

• Methyl mercury can also cause cancer.

• Microorganisms act as an indicator in pollution. For example : when E. coli are present, it indicates that the water source is contaminated with stools. This can be due to the water not properly treated.

• How to culture microorganisms in big amount/scale? --> Using a tank called “bioreactor”. It functions to produce a large scale of microbes. Dr. Wan even suggested that we go for a trip to visit the bioreactor sometime during third semester where everybody happily agreed aside from the continuous request to go to a chocolate factory too but countered by Dr. Wan when she asked “Tell me what microbes involved in production of chocolate?”. Haha. I myself do not know.

Actually there are microbes involved! I searched about it. Just now. He he he. 

"Chocolate Products

Microorganisms are also used in the production of finished chocolate products. Alpha amylase obtained from Aspergillus is used to hydrolyze starch for chocolate syrup and invertase from Saccharomyces is used to hydrolyze sucrose in filling mixtures to make soft-centered chocolate-covered candies."

- Retrieved from http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/case/chocolate.html 

Microbes involved in production of chocolates are yeast, lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, aerobic spore forming bacteria and filamentous fungi. In which the microbes have their respective functions. 

Yeast -> important to enhance fermentation by bacteria. They convert sugars, such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose, into ethanol and CO2, decrease the acidity of the pulp by using up citric acid, and produce aromatic compounds, which contribute to the chocolate aroma and are important to development of flavor.
Lactic acid bacteria -> The Bacillus spp. found during the aerobic phase of fermentation have been found to be responsible for the flavoring of chocolate.

- Retrieved from http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Chocolate 

• Biodegradation --> Breakdown of big molecules to small molecules.

• Oil-degrading bacteria are bacteria that can produce mycolic acid.

• Recalcitrant --> Molecule compound that cannot be degraded.

• "Blue baby" syndrome is a disease caused by high number of nitrogen in haemoglobin.

"Blue baby" syndrome 

"Potentially fatal blood disorder in infants under six months of age which is also called methemoglobinemia in which there is a reduction in the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood."

• As we all know, bioremediation is a process where we use living organisms to enhance the degradation of pollutants. Thus, the organisms that are going to be used must be ensured that they are not contaminated. For example : a pure culture or mixed cultures that its’ identities are known.

• “Superbug”? --> Microorganisms that are resistant to drugs and antibiotics.

In conclusion, microorganisms are everywhere around us and they are important in our lives and to the environment. Based on this topic, I can see that they are very important to our ecology because there are some microbes that are the cause of pollution (pollutants) but they arealso some of them that can detect the pollution such as lichen. Even so, microbes are also the ones who can reduce pollution! 

Hence, it is important to know the microorganisms’ capabilities in order to have the best solution to ensure pollution are at low levels. 

It's a wrap! See you guys in next semester. In shaa Allah. :D 

P/S Pray for our success in the upcoming final examination!