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! 

WEEK 12 [SEMESTER 2]

Wednesday, 20th May 2015

Class started at 8.30am today and this morning some of my classmates were talking about me in our Whatsapp group. Haha. I didn't meant it as gossiping or some sort but it was because Erra saw me got off the bus at Fakulti Sains and not at the library (which is the supposed bus stop to get off because it is nearer to FBSB). I only read the messages when I arrived at the class though. 

I didn't know there was/were my classmate(s) on the same bus as me this morning. Hehe. 

I would like to explain myself. I got off the bus at the "wrong" bus stop because I went to print the notes for today's lesson, mates~ I'm sorry for my actions that made Erra confused. Hahaa. 


Some new things I managed to jot down today! 

(But there are some things that Dr Wan mentioned today that I already heard of because she already told us about it during last semester but I will still include it. Hehe)


MICROBIAL GROUPS 

• How to know the suitable temperature for growth of organisms? --> Based on their natural environment which is where you first isolate them.

• How to isolate microorganisms? Identify habitat > Prepare medium > Isolate the microorganism

• Why do we want to isolate microorganism? --> To get pure culture in order to obtain single colony > When we have obtained single colony, subculture it (transfer it to a fresh new medium)

• Why do microorganisms grow? --> Because they get nutrient from the environment that is favourable for their growth or resemble their natural environment. 

• Gnotobiotic animals are animals that are germ free

"Gnotobiote : 

Germ-free animal infected with one or more microorganisms in order to study the microorganism in a controlled situation."

- The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

•  Biocontrol agent --> Use other living organism to control growth of other organisms, either by killing them or inhibit their growth.

• “Daun kapal terbang”  has antimicrobial properties. (I honestly never heard of this leaf, let alone seen one x’D)



"Pokok kapal terbang"

• Where can we find biofilm? Examples : Eyes (Not on our eyes but on contact lenses) and surface of teeth.

• When do we use trace elements? --> Act as cofactors in enzymes. 

• There are a lot of other examples of nitrogen fixing bacteria other than the usual Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Nitrosomonas. For example ; diazotroph (Nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes). 

• K strategist is better than r strategist because K strategist although reproduce slower than r strategist, it is larger which is easier to compete for nutrients. Also, since it is large, it has a larger or more storage to keep more food.

• r strategist although reproduce faster than K strategist, it has bad aspects too due to the short generation time. They are smaller in size and also die faster. 

• Autochthonus --> The origins. Just like how aborigin is the residents before us in our place right now. 

 "Formed or originating in the place where found."

• Allochthonus --> 

 "Found in a place other than where they and their constituents were formed."

• Allogenic succession occurs beyond our control and due to nature such as flood and earthquakes. 

• Biofilms are very sensitive to pollution, same as lichen. Thus, when lichen and biofilm  are present at a certain place, it indicates that there is no pollution in that place.

We have finished on the topic of "Microbial Groups" and proceeded to "Principle of Ecology" where Dr Wan showed us the powtoon video that was made by Radin in which he is in the assigned group to make learning materials for that topic. 

We opened the Quizlet that was prepared and attempted to do the quiz. But unfortunately, the Wi-Fi connection in Biotech 1 today was a bit slow.... Everybody was having trouble to connect to the Internet (that includes me too. Haha) 

We managed to cover just a little bit about the new topic with Dr Wan. Dr Wan said that the idea of the assignment is that it require us to read the learning materials prepared by fellow classmates in various forms such as posters, Quizlet etc. After reading the prepared informations, we have to answer quizzes and submit the answer to Dr Wan. I agree with this method since we will are given questions. So.... in order to answer the questions, we of course have to read the notes beforehand or do it while referring the notes. Either way, we will still be learning something. Unless you  copied the answer from friends. Ahaaaa~~~~ That will be less 'fun', I think. The feeling of finding the answer yourself is more satisfactory in my opinion. Hehe. 

Thursday, 21st May 2015 

Our replacement class are supposed to be held today at 4-6pm but due to some circumstances, our usual class on Friday had to be replaced too. 

So, today we had class at 9-11am but the class at 4-6pm was not held because Dr Wan wants to do it on 1st June which is in two weeks time. That made our day less hectic. Hehe. Because if the 4-6pm class was to be held today, our schedule would be like this --> 9-11am BMY3102 | 12-1pm BBI2423 | 2-4pm BCH | 4-6pm BMY3102 ahha! Packed isn't it?! 

But then again, Dr Wan mentioned yesterday... or was it today.. I'm not sure x'D that she had meeting and classes too non-stop from early morning till night. Which is more packed than our schedules. She looks fine and happy during class though. 

We, her students should make Dr Wan as our role model who managed to look and actually IS! energetic :D 

Class started a bit late because some of the classmates were late~

We managed to do some activities today that required us to use our laptop in which one of the activity was... Look at Choy's group Thinglink because he just posted this morning. 

I managed to look at it for a little while. Went through one of the articles about bioremediation. But afterwards... The Wi-Fi failed me~~~~ Haha. 

After Dr Wan finished lecturing on Principal of Ecology, she asked us to share on her Padlet what do we know about 'Biogeochemical Cycles'. 

The link is Padlet.com/zuhainis/cycles

However! 

Here are some points that I managed to jot down today! or new things that I learnt today~~ :D 

PRINCIPAL OF ECOLOGY

• Microbial loop

"The microbial loop is a depiction of the microbial food web. The pathway starts with dissolved organic matter (DOM) which makes its way through various trophic levels ultimately to the highest trophic levels. This is relevant in aquatic and soil systems. Organisms involved in the microbial loop include DOM, bacteria, micro flagellates, protozoa, nematodes, ciliates, phytoplankton and various other nutrient cycling bacteria [3]. The microbial loop is ecologically significant because it is directly involved in nutrient cycling and primary production of biomass ultimately effecting large-scale ecological functions." 

-  http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Microbial_loop

• Examples of negative interactions in ecology is? ----> Parasitism, prey-predator, competition. 

• Why phytoplankton resides on the surface of water? ----> They are photoautotroph which means that they require sunlight in order to carry out photosynthesis to produce oxygen. 

• Phytoplankton (producer) > Bacteria (phytoplankton die and become dissolved organic matter > Protozoa > Zooplankton > Bigger organisms (example : fish) 

• Hydrosphere --> waterland while lithosphere ---> land

• How do microbes contribute to revolution? They remove weaker species through infections. But how exactly they do that? Through interactions such as prey-predator and competition. From what I understand about these interactions is that the 'winner' will have the...hmmm advantage to secure the habitat or the females (for mating of animals) while the 'loser' have to leave and find another place for them to inhabit. I guess the concept is applicable to microbes too. 

In conclusion~~ 

For this topic (Principle of Ecology) --> It is important to know and understands the terms used such as ecology, habitat, ecological niche, biosphere, population etc. 

Other than that, it is also important to know the hierarchy of ecology in order to see how they interact with each other. From organisms that are within the same species to their environments, be it abiotic or non-abiotic. We can see that all the organisms in this world are interconnected with each other starting from organisms/species > population > communities > ecosystems > biosphere.  

Also, the roles of microbes are very very very important for us as Microbiology student to know since other people who don't study this field don't even realize the microbes big contributions to our ecology despite their small, no not small, but microscopic features! Only we understand them. Hahaa

And lastly, we should know some of the methods that can help to ensure the ecosystem is maintained and remain safe and sound from damage and irresponsible acts. 

WEEK 11 [SEMESTER2]

Assalamualaikum and a very good day to you. :D

I will post this entry using the “New Things I Learnt Today” method~

Wednesday, 13th May 2015

• The ringworms that you can see on cats is one of the example of fungal infection nearest to us.

• How do we differentiate fungi? We differentiate them based on their spore formation. Each type of fungi have different sporulation method.

• Thallus (vegetative cell of fungi) is made from mycelium and it will germinate when the condition or environment is favourable for its growth.

• The first organ that fungi will enter is the lung (because we breathe air) and it can cause lung disease which is also called as “mycosis” (any disease that is caused by fungi).

• Why do the fungi colonies appear in different colour when grown in a petri dish (for example : the middle part is darker in colour compared to the outer part). The colour changes depending on how long they have grown. The fungi colonies that appear more bright is the most current growing fungi. Like how we human have young and old people but fungi don't use these terms of course!

• Some fungi can produce exudate in which it is produced only at certain times. The function of the exudate is still unknown and under research.

• How to stain fungi? By using lactophenol cotton blue stain.

• There are two types of hyphae namely septate hyphae and non-septate hyphae. The difference is the presence of septa in septate hyphae that act as a separator.

• “Fungi that grow together within plant”. What does it called? "Endophytes" in which it gives benefits to plants.

• When will the sporangiospore dispersed? When the sporangium has matured in which the membranes will break releasing the sporangiospore.

• How to pronounce “myxomycota” correctly? --> “Mikso-mycota” <--

• One of the harmful effect of fungi is that they can cause asthma to humans. It can cause hypersensitivity that will lead to asthma. The fungi that cause this is called “fungal allergen”.

• How do we obtain antifungal drug? From fungi and some bacteria.

• Mycoremediation : Using fungi to treat pollution 

P/S I personally like it how Mashi present her part of the presentation. It's memorable. I still remember her part which is "deuteromycota a fungi imperfecti." Why? It is because they lack sexual reproduction~ I think can remember this until final examination honestly. Hahaa. So random! 

Thursday, 14th May 2015

Our class was held in DKU which is a bit spacey and Dr Wan said she don't like it. Haha. It was okay for me that day. 

Today the remaining of the groups that haven't present yet presented today which is on protozoa and lastly virus. 

Below are some of the points that I got today: 

• The difference between oogamy and heterogamy -> oogamy ; 1 motile & 1 non-motile. heterogamy ; both motile/non-motile. 

• The difference between isogamy and heterogamy -> The sizes of the male and female gametes. 

• An interesting example of chlorophyta which is watermelon snow! Additional information --> 

"Watermelon snow, also called snow algae, red snow, or blood snow, is Chlamydomonas nivalis, a species of green algae containing a secondary red carotenoid pigment (astaxanthin) in addition to chlorophyll. " 

-http://www.netlibrary.net/article/whebn0004337752/watermelon%20snow

Today's presentations by fellow classmates were easy to understand. I was able to listen well :D But I usually didn't write down much when the classmates are presenting. I'm... not sure sure why. Hence, the short and little amount of points that I can include for this today's lesson. It's either I spaced out or busy looking at their faces/gestures unlike when the lecturers are teaching. He.. He.. Can't wait to listen to Dr Wan's lecture about the topics above~

I guess that's all from me. Thank you!

WEEK 10 [SEMESTER 2]

Tuesday, 5th May 2015 

Today, Dr Wan finished the microbial systematic for bacteria and proceeded with archaea. 

Choy's group presented about "Archaea". 

From my point of view, when I hear "archaea", what I understand most about them is that they can withstand extreme conditions such as high temperature, low temperature, high salt concentration and high or low pH.

To be very honest, ever since last semester, I have always wonder on how do the archaea adapt themselves to withstand the extreme condition? What do they have that the other microorganisms don't? 

Curious~ Curious~ 

However! I have never once search about it. (Sadly) But! I think I did search about it some time during last semester, about how do they survive in high temperature, maybe.

The reason why I blabber about this is because of today's lesson! Today. What's with today? 

After the presentation by Choy's group, Dr Wan told us to be in our group and every group was assigned an extreme condition that the archaea are resistant to and afterwards present it in front of the class. 

Oh, I should mention that we have to find the reasons (about the archaea traits) based on articles or reviews and highlights the points or explaination that we found useful. 

Our group got "low temperature" in which we have to look up on the Net about how do archaea adapt themselves to withstand low temperature. (Which is also called "psychrophile"! I just knew that today!)

It was quite complicated, if i must say myself because of course, we didn't learn in great depth about it. And some of the terms are new and foreign. Our group actually had trouble to understand them but Nurin was able to present it in front based on what we/she understand.

I have to admit that we didn't understand about it 100% (I myself had trouble understanding them too) but we tried. Hehe.

So, today, I gained knowledge about archaea. 

About what, you wonder? 

Specifically, I actually just know today that for each extreme condition, the archaea have different approach to withstand them and does not rely on one feature to do it all.

It's amazing that they have all this different method in order to live. But then again, of course they have to have it in order to survive the extreme condition, right? 

What made me curious is, I'm wondering if they "transform" to have the specific features such as having anti-freezing protein (for archaea that can withstand low temperature)? Do they already have it before they were "born" or after they are "born"? I wonder if you get what I mean...

To put it simply, I'm just wondering that... Okay, for example, this archaea is grown in a low temperature condition. Do they already have the anti-freezing protein? Or they adapt themselves, from a non-anti-freezing organism to anti-freezing organism, the cold temperature triggers the transformation or some sort.  

But, after asking this to myself just now. I think I already have the answer. Of course they have it. Why? Because they reproduce asexually. So.... The genes that enable their parent cells to withstand low temperature will also be transmitted to the daughter cells. Ah. Isn't it obvious, Dayana. x'D 

I believe that this is the best time to use the quote, 

“The more you know, the more you know you don't know.”

-Aristotle

And also this quote,

“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know."

-Albert Einstein

Friday, 8th May 2015

Most of our classmates today were absent for their BAKSIS programme and next week it's going to be my turn and some of the classmates that were present today. 

The group that was supposed to present today is fungi but their group members are not present, there were only Aisyah and Syafiq present. So, no presentation by the classmates today. 

At the beginning of the class, Dr Wan said that before we start our lesson for the day, she wants us to answer her quiz first. Quiz on "Prokaryotes"! 

I was surprised and a bit nervous. Because Dr Wan just mentioned during last class that we should be able to differentiate prokaryotes and eukaryotes by now. 

Also, I thought that the quiz wasn't going to take long but you know what? The quiz used up the whole two hours lecture. I guess Dr Wan planned to only do the quiz today? Since there were very little number of us in class today. 

I wonder what Dr Wan going to do next Friday then? Is she going to do another quiz or is she going to teach them and go on with the lecture, as usual, without us? T^T (hehe) You know what Dr Wan said, "Life goes on" = lecture must go on although some of us are M.I.A due to our BAKSIS programme. 

So, today quiz was fun yet very very very informative. I can answer most of the questions. (ceh. haha) but some requires a lot of thinking too because not all questions are direct and some of it are even topics that we haven't learn yet. We are actually going to learn it next semester. 

I guess we were given some "sneak peak" of next semester's topics, then~ 

The quiz questions covers about archaea and bacteria since they are prokaryotes and most of it we have learnt during last semester. 

That's all for this week. Thank you~ :) 

WEEK 8

7 "bacteria" with their lovable Dr Wan~ ♡

Wednesday, 22nd April 2015

Our lesson started quite late because Dr Wan was rearranging all the possible classes that have to be cancelled and also decide on when will she be replacing them. It took almost one hour, maybe, I'm not so sure myself. Haha. 

And also! We formed new groups for BMY3102. (Meaning that we are not using the same group as last semester) Groups that we will be in when we have to do presentations or any group work. 

After forming the groups, Dr Wan assigned us to do a mind map on the subtopic that we wanted to do. As for our group, we chose "Bacteria". Everybody have to use Popplet. 

As for me, I have never used it nor open the website. So, it was kind of foreign to me. Ah. Also, most of us (our group members) don't have popplet account. So... We took turn to create account, with only three laptops available. (And none of them are mine. Actually, when Dr Wan told us in our Whatsapp group chat to BYOD, I thought that smartphone would be enough. Oh my my, I was so wrong. Haha. I should have bring my laptop so that our "creating-Popplet-accounts-spree" could have been faster and easier. 

We took about half an hour, maybe(?) to finish creating all of our accounts. 

In the end, we managed to finish the mindmap. Although we were the last group to come back to class (from the cafe, in order to get good Wi-Fi signal). 

P/S Popplet is indeed fun to use! I will definitely use them in the future for mind maps! I usually use Mindmeister when doing mind maps. I have two options now when creating mind maps in the future. Hehe.  

Friday, 24th April 2015 

Our group was the first group that have to present since the first subtopic that Dr Wan going to teach is "Bacteria". 

Everybody was given one minute to present our own points but it seemed that everybody (each of my group members including me) exceeded the one minute given. If we were given two minutes each, I think we can finish presenting our own points in time. Maybe… Hehe.  

Regarding the presentation… There were a lot of things that I have left out. It's not that I want to left it out on purpose but it was because I was nervous. But  I guess it's normal, right? But then again, I didn't practice in front of the mirror (in other word, I lack preparation) I did plan to do it! I really do! But I couldn't find the time.. And also didn’t record how long I will be talking. Reckless. Reckless. My other group members prepared themselves though, (I knew that because they told me they recorded their “talking-time” the night before) I have to make them as example and prepare well for our next presentation~ If there will be one, though. Hehe. 

To be honest, there are a lot of things that I wanted to share with you guys from my part of the presentation, but I didn't do so. I prepared a lot of informations, you know! Haha. I will do better in the future! :) 

Dr Wan also gave advise to the whole class that we have to present properly and confidently (and also in the given time!) as if we are teaching our own students. So, everybody must practice before the actual presentation~ 

I guess enough rants for now. X’) 

Now is the real deal. 

This week we learnt Microbial Systematic in which we will learn in depth about the diversity of microbes such as their physical traits and nutrients. We managed to cover a bit on “Bacteria”.  

Hmm, from what I understand, Let’s say that we all know that there are Gram positive bacteria as well as Gram negative bacteria and they can be differentiated by comparing several traits but the trait that I am most familiar with is their cell walls’ components. In which sometimes may lead to their pathogenicity, especially for Gram negative bacteria in which most of them are pathogenic because they have some features that cause them to be susceptible to antibiotic, hence they can be dangerous to other organisms.  

I guess that’s all I can say for now since we didn’t learn much, yet. Can’t wait for next lesson! :D 

Summary of Week 1 Until Week 7

It's been long! Assalamualaikum and hi~ 

We spent seven weeks with Dr Sieo Chin Chin and it was actually almost two months. There were a lot of things that I have learnt from Dr Chin Chin. 

Dr Chin Chin's style when lecturing is that she explains more than what is on the slide notes so she had already warned us during earlier class that it is important to attend her lecture. Because it is true indeed, some notes were left missing but we can get the full notes by copying them down since it will be shown or explained by Dr Chin Chin herself in class.

Thus, my notes are full with hand written notes that Dr Chin Chin explained in class~

It's good though because that way I will always make sure to pay attention in class in order to not miss anything! 

Hmm regarding the first two topics that we learnt with Dr Chin Chin which is on "Classification And Identification of Organisms" and "Immunology". The number of slides for each topic was ... x'D (a laughing while crying emoticon, haha) because it reached until 60 to 70 pages. If it was Dr Wan's slide notes, I don't think they ever reach that number. So it took quite a long period of time to finish each topic. 

Classification And Identification of Organisms 

At first, it was kind of hard to comprehend what am I learning at that time because it was filled with so many new things! I remember learning them during previous semester, but they were not elaborated to great depth like when Dr Chin Chin taught us. So, I guess it's only normal to feel confused and foreign to the topic. But after revising it again and again, added with Dr Chin Chin's assignments to us and also Test 1 which was focused on this topic only, I was able to grasp the idea of what this topic is trying to teach us. 

However, the most memorable thing about this topic was PCR, if I must say myself. I first encountered PCR with Dr Chin Chin. And it was repeatedly used and mentioned during class as it is a very crucial step in extracting DNA in order to amplify the 16S/18S rRNA gene for DNA sequencing. And other memorable thing is agarose gel which is used to obtain DNA bands. I'm anticipating to do this experiment during lab session in the future~ 

I also manage to understand about ribotyping much better now than before! 

Here are some of the assignments that we were assigned to :

1st Assignment - Self trip to the library to flip through the infamous Bergey's Manual! 

Dr. Chin Chin's comment was amusing even though it is undeniably encouraging. x) 

2nd Assignment - Mindmap on Topic 1 

3rd Assignment - Identify the classification and identification methods used in an article about identification of M. jalaludinii.

Immunology

Hah! This topic! This very topic where Dr. Chin Chin asked us hmm about two to three times ?(if I didn't miscounted) to do the flow of how the immune system works! 

At first she will asked one of us to show the flow of how phagocytosis works until the production of antibodies. Which is the most basic immune response that we have already learned during our early studies. Next, she will asked us to show where is the site in which dendritic cells will took care of the antigens and lastly cause amplification loop which is also called as DTH reaction, where is the site in which the pathogen manage to escape from the phagocytosis process and invade the host cell via damaged tissue and lastly the pathogen will be killed (using cytotoxic T cell) either by granules exocytosis or fas pathway, and also where inflammation occurs. It was hard at first because everybody was unsure where each response occurs but Dr. Chin Chin guided us well. 

What interesting about the flow is that at first the flow chart involved one to two responses but as the lesson went on and each time before ending every lecture, Dr. Chin Chin will asked us to show the flow again and add the new responses that we have learnt that day. So it was "mindblowing" to see the flow getting more and more complicated and how it evolved from one reactions into a kind of loop. It was fun to learn! The main reason she asked us to do that is so that we can remember them. It's good exercise. 

Dr. Chin Chin said "If you are able to draw the flow of the whole process, you're in good condition." and then she added "without looking at the notes". 

16th, 18th & 19th December 2014, "Maybe I Should Put The Same Topic As Mashi's, A Hectic Week With Dr Wan. Hehe"

Actually on the 15th, some of us attended a talk about our future career. It shows us that there are some of the fields that require us, future Microbiologists. 

The after effect of that talk was it did open my eyes a bit since I have always think that I will be only in a laboratory and do research and research and more research. But there are actually more jobs other than that (although it is still associated with researching but at least the scope is bigger now). I still do not know what I wanted to be though, for now I still have the same "working in the lab and do some research to find cure for diseases" dream~ 

This week we covered on Microbial Growth, Growth Control On Microbial Growth as well as Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Microbial growth covered on the suitable conditions for microbes to live. Some microbes are aerobic and some are anaerobic. And there are physical requirements and chemical requirements for them to grow. These microbes need all the physical and chemical requirements in balance. They will not be able to further their growth if there are some missing nutrients. 

Just like human, we need oxygen and food. If we have oxygen but we don't consume food, we cannot grow since we don't have any source of nutrients needed for growth. In fact, we become weaker if we don't eat. The same goes to microbes, well, sort of. Hehe. 

Besides that, we learned about how to isolate microbes. There are several techniques that can be used. And even some "precautions" that must be taken when isolating them such as for anaerobic microbes, we need to ensure that there are not even one oxygen is present around the desired microbes that we want to culture in order to not let them die. 

Other than techniques of isolating, it is also important to pick the right medium for the desired microbes that we want to culture. You might want to make sure of that before putting your desired microbes into the medium you have prepared. You might accidentally put them into a "hated" place for the microbes x'D 

Hence, your effort of collecting the sample will go to waste because you have just inhibit their production due to your own mistake which is by putting them in an undesired place for them to live. 

Also, picking the correct medium is not only important for their growth but also important to classify them. For example, putting Shigella sp. in a lactose containing agar can result in the Shigella sp. being the microbes that stand out due to their non-lactose fermenting characteristics. Hence, we can isolate Shigella sp. and leave out the unwanted microbes, right? 

So it is very important to have your aim right, in order for you to get the desired result. You definitely do not want to waste your time doing "unneeded" research right? HAA. 

Other than that we learnt how to count the generation time and also number of generation of the microbes. I managed to understand them and hopefully... HOPEFULLY! If there is a question(s) in the Final Examination asking to count their amount, I hope it is a question that is not so tricky.

And I have to admit, while doing the exercises. I miss Maths. Deeply. Sincerely. Sincerely from my heart! x'D ---> This person over here, have always been a Maths fan <--- 

Next, since we learn the requirements of microbial growth. It is only fair if we learn how to prevent them from growing too, don't you think? Hehe.

For antimicrobial treatment, there are also physical and chemical "requirements" as well as processes needed to kill or inhibit their growth. Oh, and it also depends on our aim either to kill or inhibit them. Because some of the antimicrobial treatments can kill them while others slowing down their growth. 

And the term, biocide means killing the microbes. I don't think I will ever get confused of this term with the other terms because you can see how closely related it is to the word "suicide" which means killing one self. At least, that's one of the ways to remember~ 

Talking about terms, there are a lot of terms for this topic. And I'm still having troubles remembering them. Hehe. (Except for biocide and bacteriostasis of course, since Dr Wan kept asking us/repeating over and over again the terms in class)

Lastly, we learnt about antimicrobial chemotherapy in which how to prevent pathogen form reproducing. Of course, penicillin is frequently brought up all over the topic because it is an antibiotic. Other than that, we can also observe the activity of the pathogen by doing some test such as the E-test and disk dilution test. To see the level of resistance of the pathogens towards antibiotics. 

So.... I guess from there, we can pick the best antibiotic needed to treat cases associated with the microbes that we have tested. I wonder if that's also the purpose? (Other than to determine the pathogen's activity) 

Also, other than the infamous penicillin there are also other antibiotics. For example, to prevent growth of fungus we have antifungal as well as antiviral which is to inhibit virus activity. And a lot more! That I am not familiar with.. And Dr Wan said that she is going to give us a simpler note, the current note we have is a bit detailed. Don't forget Dr~~~ :D 

That's pretty much (roughly) what we have learnt this week. 

In my opinion, the topics that cover on procedures to isolate and the requirements of microbial is a bit... hard because it consist of facts. But "dinoflagellates can cause red tides" is a fact too! But that is more interesting! Because.. it's about the microoganisms themselves. Haha. I don't know how to explain this... problem? x'D 

However, this is it. End of BMY3101 2014. 

Ah, Dr also said that it felt like it is the longest lecture. Haha. It is! But I don't mind at all since it was the last class. And class with you was always fun anyway so it's okay :D 

And by the time we have finished doing the Kahoot quiz with everyone, and you said "This is it". I was feeling so sad! x'D <---- just so you know, this is a "laughing-until-tears-came-out-of-eyes" emoticon but I strongly feel that you already know this. Hehe. 

It feels like you are our... "Guru Kelas" you know? Hahaa. I hope you will teach us again during the upcoming semesters! I will miss all the digital assignments!!

Keep being the enthusiastic and wonderful lecturer you are, Dr! I will always pray for you :D 

Thank you! LOVE YOUUU! ♥