A Hectic Week

This week has been a hectic week in lab. Monday we inoculated plates to grow up to be our new stock cultures, and began testing to see if the organisms grew in liquid media. Along with this plating an additional serial dilution plating was done this time with irradiated soil. The radiation would take care of organisms that would be sensitive to radiation but our target organisms are radiation tolerant and should still grow fine after their exposure. I thought that would be the exhausting part but it got even better. Wednesday we plated our isolates out repeatedly it seemed like it might never end. The organisms were plated on their respective media and put for temperature tests so that there optimal growth ranges could be deduced. If that was not enough we also inoculated plates that tested the tolerance to different levels of Sodium Chloride. This added another large number of plates to streak. This all sounds simple but to make this a little more challenging any of our isolates that grew on Marine Agar, since it already has 3% Sodium Chloride in the media, had to be changed to its next best media to keep percents same for all isolates tested. Simple switch especially since Dr. Rainey and Eugene already found what that second best media was for us, but it does throw a little wrinkle in the large simple task. I know this sounds like I am complaining about the size of the experiment, but it’s nothing I have not dealt with before the Post Doctorate that I was working under always use to plan these huge plating days with four to five hundred plates so it retrospect this was a breeze.

Don't carry more plates than you can handle securely, don't wink at the president if you are in a parade, and help someone if you see that they are...

....getting their head chopped off in a cafe....

On Monday, January 26, 2009, we streaked strain 53-78 on the agar that we have concluded they grew best on 1/12/09. The original plates were streaked on 1/12/09. We also inoculated tube with the same liquid media as the plates. New plates are labeled with a 2 and the color denotes media. We have 9 strains on R2A, 3 strains on 1/10 PCA, 10 strains on PCA, and 4 strains on MA. Strain #56 is streaked on both MA and PCA. It was streaked on these two media on 1/21/09 because there was no growth on MA. This accounts for the 27 plates and 26 strains. Strains #56 and 68 were not restreaked because of no growth on 1/26/09, so we put them back in the incubator. Strains 53, 60, 67, 70, 69, and 77 did not mix well in the broths. Another unique characteristic of these 6 strains is that they are all dark in color. The new tubes and plates were put in the incubator at 25C. Old plates were put in the cold room.

I dropped the plates streaked on 1/12/09 containing strains #55, 62, and 65. Luckily, there was no obvious contamination on the plates when viewed on 1/28/09.
LESSON: Don’t care more plates than I can hold securely!!
Serial Dilutions were done on the soil sample Golbi-1. The dilutions were done from 10e-1 to 10e-3. The liquid used is 1/10 PCB. 100uL are placed on 3 plates on each of the 4 media for each of the 3 dilutions. The 36 plates are para-filmed and placed in the incubator at 25C. We put the 3 dilution tubes in the incubator at 25C.
Soil samples were radiated with gamma rays to select for radiation resistant organisms. Dr. Rainey’s paper described that desiccation resistant organisms from arid environments are also found to be gamma radiation resistant.
On Wednesday, January 28, 2009, we streaked the organisms from the stock plate that was streaked on 1/12/09 that is kept in the cold room on plates with various amounts of NaCl concentrations in the media that the organisms grow best in. Organisms that were found to grow best on MA were streaked on R2A because of the inherent high salt concentration of the MA. We are attempting to find out the maximum salt concentration that the organism can withstand. The various salt concentrations used were 1%, 3%, 6%, and 9%. The plates were divided into 2 and labeled with the strain number. Similar amounts of organisms were streaked on each plate.
Also on Wednesday, we attempted to find out the optimal temperature and temperature range at which the organism can grow. The temperatures that the organisms are placed in are 10, 25, 30, 37, and 42 C. We restreaked the organisms on the media on which they grew best. We will incubate the organisms for 20 days which is the standard incubation. The organisms will remain incubated at the various temperatures and at 25-30 days of incubation we will find out the optimal growth temperature for each strain.
Finally, we made a list of laboratory phenotypic test we will do. These are listed on Airset and e-mailed to Dr. Rainey.
Also, I found out that if someone ever chops off my head in public no one will help me. Ladies keep your men happy and away from kitchen knives!

Blog 3

This week we began testing our bacteria for different characteristics and planning all the tests we will eventually perform. We started tests that will shows us the bacteria's tolerance for salt concentrations ranging from 1% to 9%. Also, plates were streaked then incubated at different temperatures ranging from 10ºC to 42ºC. The results of these tests, along with many others, will help to eventually define each of the bacteria samples. We are expected to find species within the three genera that we have been studying, Blastococcus, Modestobacter, and Geodermatophilus ,along with other known species. We may even begin to describe a new species of bacteria.

We did a lot this week!!

We have been inoculating our organisms onto various media to test their ability to grow under varying conditions. First we put the organisms into liquid media, then onto plates containing various concentrations of NaCl, and finally onto its original media that we placed in 5 different temperatures ranging from 10-42C. This was done to determine the optimal environmental conditions for each organism as well as to help in distinguishing from or comparing them to known type strains. We also plated dilutions of our soil that had been exposed to radiation. By exposing them to radiation, organisms that are radiation resistant will be able to grow without being inhibited by other faster-growing, nutrient-hogging organisms. We also observed our original soil dilution plates. The most growth was observed at 10-1 through 10-3. We also observed that each of the different media used seemed to isolate a distinct type of bacteria which I found very interesting. I am eager to continue with our research and discover more about our organisms!!

This week we began working!

We made dilutions (1-6) using LRH-03-1soil and streaked it to determine possible factors growth. We noted that as the dilution concentration increased, less growth was observed! Also we discussed the effect that UV and gamma rays had on different organisms. Rubrobacter are among the UV resistant organisms! Next, we restreaked our original strains (27-52) and incubated them at different temperatures (10, 25, 30, 37, 42) so that we could later determine which organisms grow best at those temperatures, in an attempt to classify organisms. In addition, we used plates with different NaCl concentrations (1,3,6,9) so that we could quite possibly determine which organisms grow best in higher salt concentrations by measuring growth rates among the plates. All of these tests are to help identify what genus our strains belong to. Finally we reviewed articles making note of possible phenotype testing methods that may be used to determine which strains are Blastococcus and which are not! Sent from my iPhone

A Good Week

So this week was fun...I have really enjoyed our project and working with my group, so far. I'm excited about "directing" our own experiment, too. I think it will be very beneficial to determine what type of tests we should run in order to isolate Modestobacter, rather than have Dr. Rainey simply tell us what to do (more labs at LSU should be designed this way). I'm sure that everyone in my group has performed most of the tests that we are planning on doing, so hopefully the experiment will run smoothly. I'm looking forward to next week!

Oh Boy!!!

On Monday we re-spread our plates from Day 1 because they were in the incubator for 2 weeks. Generally, after 2 weeks the plates are no good. We transferred cells from the original plates onto the same solid media that they were in before. We also inoculated cells into liquid media of the same content. We also did a serial dilution like we did last week, using the our soil sample from Little Red Hill. I made a mistake by putting 1 gram of soil into each of the 3 tubes, it was only supposed to be one. It wasn’t a big deal. I poured 9 ml of PCB into 2 new tubes to continue with the dilution. We also looked at a powerpoint slideshow of organisms that had been exposed to various amounts of radiation. Blastococcus, which so happens to be the strains that were assigned to my group, was able to withstand high amounts of radiation. We were told that if the organisms are taken from a dry, non-arid source and are exposed to radiation they will survive for longer periods of time. However, if the organism comes from the same exact source and is put into liquid, it will not be able to withstand exposure for long periods of time. Dr. Rainey said that we may be able to go to the Nuclear Science building and actually see the radiation exposure "machine." After we get FBI clearance of course. LoL

3rd week of class……

On Monday we restreaked our stock cultures to new plates as they were 2 weeks old. The new plate will be used for setting up tests next week. In addition we transferred each strain to liquid media to determine if the strains grow in liquid media. This is important to know as it will help us prepare a strategy for experimental design of future tests. Dr. Rainey told us that some of the strains are very hydrophobic and so may not grow well or at all in liquid media.

We did serial dilution plating of the same 3 soils samples we plated last week. The samples we plated this time had been exposed to gamma radiation with a total dose of 5kGy. This is to select for ionizing radiation resistant organisms. It is know that members of the genera Geodermatophilus, Blastococcus and Modestobacter are resistant to ionizing radiation as Dr. Rainey isolated some of the strain we are working with from soils he exposed to gamma radiation. We hope that exposing the soils to 5kGy of radiation will reduce the numbers of sensitive organisms and allow the resistant strains to grow and that some of the resistant strains will be strains of the genera we are studying. We just plated the 1/10, 1/100 and 1/1000 dilutions as we expect the numbers to be greatly reduced.

After we did this work in the lab we met with Dr. Rainey in the conference room and he gave us a lecture on the use of ionizing radiation in isolation of interesting organisms. The powerpoint slides that Dr. Rainey talked about are available on the BIOL 4126 Airset page. He also provided us with a paper (via Airset.com) of a paper he published on the topic in Applied and Environmental Microbiology in 2005.


Following the lecture we had a look at our dilution plates from last week when we had plated the soil samples that had not bee irradiated. The results are very interesting in that there are very different looking colonies on the different media. The dilutions are rather similar on each media but the visual diversity is very different. There are many colonies that are orange or pink that could be members of the genera that we are interested in.

On Wednesday this week we did a lot of plate streaking to test the temperature range for growth of our strains. We streaked each strain on a plate of the medium we know it grows best on and incubated the plates at 10, 25, 30, 37 and 42C. The plates will be incubated for 20 days after which we will record the amount of growth present. We did the same for plates that contain 1, 3, 6 and 9 % (w/v) NaCl and incubated them at 25C. For strains that grow on Marine Agar (MA contains ~3% salt already) we used the medium that it grows second best on. For both of these experiments we streaked two strains per plate. We now have hundreds of plates that Dr. Raineya dn Eugene prepared on Tues for the class on Wed.

After the lab work we went into the conference room and as groups went through the papers describing the 3 genera and made a list of possible phenotypic tests that we could do to characterize our strain collections. Dr. Rainey went through a number of these with us and discussed their possible use and answered question we had about the tests. We typed up the list and sent it to Dr. Rainey who will combine them and upload to Airset page.

my blog

According to Ahrens and Moll Blastococcus aggregatus is heterotrophic, motile, and gram-positive. Its physical features include coccoid units which formed aggregates. Lee found colonies which were circular, smooth surfaced, translucent, and had entire margins. Their colors varied in shades of cream to apricot; this was determined by the incubation time. He also noted that Blastococcus species had high similarity in the 16S rRNA gene sequences. Other features Lee attributed to Blastococcus, particularly Blastococcus jejuensis, were aerobic, motile, non-spore for ming, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive, gram positive, cocci cells which occurred in pairs or rods, circular, smooth, transparent, and apricot in color. Growth occurred at pH values of 6-10 with optimum growth at pH 7 and a temperature of 30oC. Two other strains which were studied were: B. aggregatus and B. saxobsidens. Both were cocci. B. aggregatus displayed a pink color while B. saxobsidens varied from pink to orange. Another study, which consisted of strands from marble, limestone, and calcarenite brought forward strands of Blastococcus which were pink to orange pigmented, circular (diameter 2-3mm) with a smooth or rough surface. Cell morphology was characterized by coccoid cells which occurred singly, in pairs, or in tetrads, often forming aggregates.
Strain 27

MODESTOBACTER CHARACTERISTICS

My group was assigned to write about Modestobacter sp. Colonies of Modestobacter are usually beige to pink in color, which correlateswith many of the strains we have plated. Colonies are alsocharacterized by an irregular shape and a shiny surface. However,when Modestobacter versicolor is plated on oligotrophic medium (meaning that is has very few components that are necessary tosustain life) the colonies appear dark brown to black as opposed tocopiotrophic medium which produces the pink colonies. Since wehave been using copiotrophic medium (I think), our colonies of Modestobacter should be beige-pink, irregularly shaped, and shiny. The picture below shows beige, shiny colonies with ragged edges; therefore, I believe it would be a Modestobacter sp.
Strain 40

This week has been very crazy....

Unfortunately it is easier to try to describe a new species of bacteria than to described my experiences in the past week, so I will do just that. The genus I am assigned is Modestobacter which proves to be quite diverse in terms of colony morphology. Upon looking at the paper regarding M. multiseptatus, I automatically began looking at images with beige to pink colonies in the images from 1/12/09. However, M. versicolor has a pink color but over time changes to a dark brown pigment. This made my task much harder than I had thought. Both species have optimally temperatures ranges around 25oC, the incubation temperature, and both can grow in aerobic environments. The nutrient requirements, though listed, did not help me to distinguish which species was photographed due to the fact that I do not know the exact chemical composition of the media and which carbohydrates it is enriched in. Both grew in arid and dry regions of the world.

The images I believe this first imaged (strain 7) is M. multiseptatus based on the color and morphology which again is beige to pink, shiny, and irregular in shape.
Strain 7 I believe that the second image (strain 29) belongs to M. versicolor based on its dark brown color and slightly rough texture.
Strain 29

my blog

There is currently only one known species of Geodermatophilus: Geodermatophilus obscurus . Its description was first published in September 1968 by George Luedemann in the Journal of Bacteriology. He described the bacteria as readily grown on agar media with the production of black, sooty colonies. They were discovered while isolating microorganisms from soil samples taken from Amargosa Desert of Nevada. Microscopically they appear to be "composed of greenish-black, cushion aggregates of small, cuboidal cells". Three subspecies are recognized: Geodermatophilus obscurus subsp. amargosae, Geodermatophilus obscurus subsp. utahensis, Geodermatophilus obscurus subsp. dictyosporus.

I believe picture 25 represents a strain of this genus.

Blastococcus blog

The geunus Blastococcus are Gram positive, aerobic, coccoid shaped cells that that can occur singly, in pairs, in tetrads, or in aggregates. These organisms are pink-orangish in color with a smooth or rough surface. These organisms often reproduce by budding and multiple fission. We have many organisms in our collection that match this description, however, there are a few that do not. Since there are only a few strains that we know of, I'm guessing that the organisms that we have may be some of the same strains. I guess I can say that I am pretty sure that the pinkish-orangish colonies growing on our plates are indeed Blastococcus strains. We just need to do further testing to confirm this. I have chosen strain 26, it has the same characteristics that I have described above.

Strain 26

Characteristics of Geodermatophilus

Characteristics of Geodermatophilus include the creation of a black at times shiny colony when grown. The colony can start out pink and as it progresses become its more common black color. There are two types of cell morphology, there are motile rod shaped cells and nonmotile coccoid cells. According to Ishiguro and Wolfe the organism can be forced to appear in either of the two morphologies by altering the presence of Tryptose or cat-ions. Geodermatophilus is Gram positive, non pathogenic, and uses Zoospores as its method of replication. This organism can survive in liquid cultures at 60oC but grows best at 26oC. Among the strains in the paper the life cycle after the zoospore differs. Sugar metabolism among them is steady enough that it could be used to distinguish between them. I am not sure but I think Dr. Rainey said that there are no subspecies all of the strains are actually one but not certain. Geodermatophilus has no color reactions on Tyrosine Agar or H2S; it can hydrolyze starch but not Casein or Gelatin. It sporadically reduces nitrate.

Strain 25

Blastococcous Characteristics:

Blastococcus is a genus found in the family Geodermatophilaceae. Within the Blastococcus genus there are 3 species: Blastococcus aggregates, Blastococcus jejuensis, and Blastococcus saxobsidens. These Gram positive organisms are aerobic to microaerophilic in nature and are capable of using many organic compounds. The bud formation that characterizes this genus is dependent on the species. Colony morphology consists of orange to pink (ex. Apricot) color colonies that are round in shape. The surfaces of the colonies are convex and vary from rough to smooth. Blastococcus vary from vibrioid, coccoid and rod shapes with motile and non motile forms. Based on environmental conditions, members of the Blastococcus genus can form aggregates.

Proposed Blastococcus:Strain 27

Modestobacter

The genus contains two species: Modestobacter multiseptatus and Modesterbacter versicolor.
The colonies are beige to pink in color on rich media and are irregularly shaped. When grown on oligotrophic media, the colonies can appear brownish in color. The genus consists of gram-postive bacterica that are rod and cocci in shape. Their optimal growth temperature was found to be at about 25 degress C at a neural pH. The genus can utilize d-glucose, d-glactose, lactose, and sucrose for growth. After looking through the pictures and the discriptions on the excel sheet, I found numbers 1,3,4,6,9,10,11,12,13,15,24,33,62,75, and 78 to be most constist with the genus Modestobacter.

Strain12 seemed to fit the description well being pinkish beige in color and having irregular circle shaped colonies.

The second week of class….

This week class only met on Wednesday as Monday was a holiday for MLK birthday celebrations.

At the beginning of class we had a discussion on the strains we are studying and what we were going to do in lab today. Dr. Rainey asked that we write a blog this week about the colony characteristics of one of the three genera we are studying and based on what we see in our strain photographs choose a strain that we think belongs to that genus.

This week we checked our strains that we had streaked the previous Monday for growth, color (at 9 days incubation) and contamination. These data were recorded in the strain datasheet that we emailed to Dr. Rainey.

Dr. Rainey provided each group with a soil sample. These soil samples came from desert soils in Nevada, Mojave and Gobi deserts. We used these soil samples for serial dilution plating on the agar plates that we prepared in last class. We made serial dilutions with 1g of soil in 9ml of liquid media (1/10 PCA) and plated this on MA, 1/10 PCA, 1/100 PCA and PCA agar. After spreading the plates we incubated them at 25C. The aim of this is to attempt to isolate strains of the genera Geodermatophilus, Blastococcus and Modestobacter from these soil samples. After incubation we will select colonies that resemble species of these genera and determine their identity using molecular approaches.

Blog 1

Class has started and I was worried for a little while. One of my lab partners from what I observed was really lacking in the skills that would be required for completion of the lab work. This being the case it meant there would be more work for myself and the other lab partner in the long run. This was going to make class less enjoyable constantly having to keep and eye out for any mistakes made along the way. As the second class roled around my previous fears had been rectified about having to watch this individual through out the semester, but more work was still placed upon my lab partner and myself. I am really interested to see how things go and to learn about these organisms as the class progresses. I hope my previous experiences will help me move through the class easily and be of assistance to the others when ever the chances present themselves.

Blog 1

This week in class was a nice introduction to Methods of Microbial Division. The first lectures involved being introduced to our group’s twenty-six strains that we will be working with. We also selected the best plate from each set of strains and streak plated it on the media that it grew best on. The next task we accomplished involved making four forms of media, sterilizing it via autoclave and pouring the media into Petri dishes. We also had an overview lecture of this semester’s projects. Perhaps the best part of the class this week was getting to know my classmates better. It seems like it will be a great semester.

"Global Warming"

So much for global warming with some of the coldest days in recent history this week. I am sick of hearing about carbon emission ruining the earth and killing all the animals, and Al Gore needs to go some where with his stupid green concerts. He recently held a green concert attended by more than 250 private jets . I would like to see how large of a carbon footprint that left. Also, this week I read over 650 scientist are releasing a report to the UN that explains the Earth's warming is due to its natural cycle.

My Blog

At first, I was kind of skeptical at adding this class...I mean I planned to have all of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lucky for me, it all worked out because Dr. Rainey gave us Fridays off!!! During lab we started by streaking out some plates and storing them in the 25*C incubator. Once that was done we took photographs of each of the sample plates. On Wednesday we started by making media and pouring out plates, all of that was followed by a semi-lecture. I think I'm going to enjoy this class. The best part is that we get to bring a lunch and eat it during class. That works for me!

General Thoughts on Biol 4126

I am really looking forward to this semester…all of my classes seem interesting, including this one. I think it is especially helpful that I am taking Biol 4126 and 3116 at the same time because it seems like we will be covering similar material. So far, I have made media in both classes, which I was excited about, because for some reason I enjoy doing it. I’m also enthusiastic about this class because: it is so hands on, I like the people in my group, and because we don’t have class on Fridays. The only thing I am hesitant about is the blog entry assignment. I have never written a blog and I am not creative at all…but hopefully this will get easier/better as the semester goes on.

Blog

I am so excited about taking this class. First of all, it is such a relief to have been able to take it so that I can graduate in May. It has been somewhat scary because I feel that the other students know what they are doing, and sometimes, I feel lost. I think that as the course progresses I will begin to feel more confident in the lab. This is my first research experience, so I am really excited. I feel that I will learn more in this class than any other lab because I feel like a real scientist (pretty nerdy, huh?). This week we made agar from scratch which was really awesome. Other students have been really helpful in answering my questions and helping me find my way around the lab. The fact that we might find a new species of bacteria is really awesome. I never imagined that I would be given this opportunity. I am hoping that our research is complete by the end of the semester because I will be gone all summer for training with Teach for America if I get accepted. I am especially excited about doing a PCR. I have learned so much about it in previous classes, so it will be nice to actually get to put my knowledge into action. I also thought seeing the autoclave was pretty cool. Again, I have learned about it in previous classes but have never actually seen one. I don't feel like we are babied in the lab which I have felt in previous classes, and therefore, I expect to learn much more with this approach to learning. Research is something I have always been interested in but have never had the opportunity to do. As you can tell, I am just overall really excited about taking this course. I know it will be an awesome learning opportunity for me and the other students. I hope that I can improve upon my micro lab skills which have gotten pretty rusty for lack of use. I think it will really complement my BIOL 4125 course which I am also taking this semester. I hope that I can be helpful in the lab and become more confident in my research skills. I now have to put what I learned about in textbooks and lectures into real research.

4126 Blog

This was out first week of 4126, it was very nice getting to know everyone in class. We began our diversity project by recording the colony color of each strain as well as determining which type of media each grew best on. We then transfered a colony from each of these well grown plates onto a new plate and incubated them at 25C. Wednesday we made marine agar, plate count agar, 1/10 plate count agar, and 1/100 plate count agar. I enjoy making our own media rather than getting it from media prep. So far this class is great and I am very interested in finding out what species we have and comparing them to the known species descriptions. Maybe, hopefully, we have something new!

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS!

As I PATIENTLY await January 12 many things cross my mind! How will my schedule balance out? Will the work load be far too much? Although nervous about how my classes would turn out, I knew that biol 4126 would not let me down. The first day turned out to be great! Initially, everyone introduced themselves, allowing me to meet some new people as well as reunite with the old. Next we discussed the syllabus. I must admit I was a bit disturbed when I read the words test, like what in the heck is Rainey thinking, but he reassured me that it would be nothing my little brain could not handle. Also, I learned some new terminology, as well as the different methods a scientist use to classify an microorganism. Which was most amazing to me was the way and capacity of my remembrance of everything I learned last year working with Dr. Rainey. Yep, I'm still a professional strain streaker. I now have a greater respect for the wonderful world of micro, and I am looking forward to the remainder of the semester. It feels great to be back!

What the students wrote:

Above are 8 entries from the students of BIOL 4126 for the week ending 01/18/08

Summary of the first week of class….

So what did we do in the first week of class? We got off to a flying start – no waiting for the second week to get started - straight into lab work on the first day.
Dr Rainey had prepared some 78 cultures from his collection for us to work with and had streaked them out on 4 different agar media before the winter break. He also set up an Airset.com page with all of the class materials (syllabus, datasheet, publications, links to websites we will need to use) available in the one location.

On first day we had a general introduction and went over the syllabus. There will be midterm and final exams as well as group presentations, a scientific paper, lab note book and a blog to write each week for which various points will be awarded. After that we went to the lab and divided up into 3 groups of 3 students. Each group was assigned 26 strains to study during the semester. On the first day we recorded the characteristics of the colonies on the plates – there are some very interesting colored organisms in the collection (black, pink, and orange – see pictures below). Each group included this data into a datasheet that was already set up on the AirSet.com page and emailed it to Dr Rainey who later combined the data of the 3 groups and uploaded an updated data sheet that we can view.

We then transferred the strains to a new plate of the medium on which they had grown best. A couple of strains seemed to have more than one colony type of looked contamined so we attempted to purify these. We used the digital camera to take a close up picture of each strain that will be included in our database that we will develop this semester. Dr Rainey processed the pictures and put them up on the AirSet.com page so as we can access and view them during the semester.

The second day of class involved preparing agar, microwaving it to dissolve it and autoclaving it to sterilize it. These agar plates will be used next week on Wednesday (Monday is a holiday) for the isolation of bacteria from soil samples. We will attempt to isolate organisms from soils from deserts that are similar to those in the strain collection we are working with. We will do this by diluting the soils samples and spreading them on the agar plates. After incubation we will select colonies that based on morphology belong to the Geodematophilus/Blastococcus/Modestobacter group.

We then had a lecture/discussion in which Dr Rainey demonstrated the current content of the Airset.com page and went through the outline of the project we will carry out this semester. He then went through a number of the papers that describe organisms related to the ones we will be working with and pointed out how the information in the papers will be used to design experiments and make comparisons.

After the lecture we had the chance to pour the agar that was cooled into Petri plates. Each half bottle of agar was enough to make 20 plates.

So the first week turned out well and I look forward to the future classes.

BIOL 4126

This semester the students of BIOL 4126 will write a blog about the lab class. This is an exercise in learning how to write a blog and a gateway to improving our communications skills.

The topic of our research this semester will be the genus Blastococcus and related taxa - through the blog the students will tell of their lab experience and what they learn and discover about these organisms and bacterial diversity