Advanced Research in Microbiology

Catalog description

In this course, students will investigate the functional and structural properties of bacterial spores, which are among the most resistant organisms on Earth. The spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis is readily amenable to genetic manipulation and is a well-established model system for molecular and cellular biology. Students will get the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments in the Eichenberger laboratory, thus learning classic molecular microbiology techniques and familiarize themselves with fluorescence microscopy.In the first half of the semester, students will learn classic microbiology procedures, and in the second part of the semester they will conduct an independent project characterizing mutant bacteria.