BIO580 MEDICAL
MICROBIOLOGY
Syllabus Fall 2009
A. General information
Infection is a conflict
between a host and a microorganism with two possible outcomes, resistance or
disease, dependent on interactions between the infectious agent and the host’s immune
response. Medical microbiology, therefore, is a discipline that includes the
study of the microorganisms, the host immune system, and interactions between
the two. Although bacteria and viruses are the most numerous and most important
pathogens and are emphasized in this course in lecture and clinical case
studies, fungi and protozoa are also included. The goal of this course is to provide a foundation of concepts in
host-microbe interactions that will allow students to understand the diseases
facing humans today and be prepared for the diseases coming tomorrow.
Medical Microbiology is an
advanced course and will be taught at a rigorous level. Most of the students
who take this course are interested in pursuing a career in health related
fields or are graduate students in microbiology and are ready for a course that
requires synthesis, integration, and application.
B. Course
logistics.
Lectures meet Mon. and Wed from
Course
instructor:
Dr. Elizabeth Alm
Office hours:Office hours will be posted on
Blackboard. Dr. Alm will have a sign-up sheet outside Brooks 157.
E-mail: alm1ew@cmich.edu (Note:
this is the easiest way to reach me). Important: If you have a BIO580 question,
put "BIO580" as the beginning of the subject line of your e-mail
message. I get about 100 e-mail a day, much junk that I trash in batches. If
you fail to include this header I may accidentally trash your e-mail.
Example:
To: Elizabeth.W.Alm
<alm1ew@cmich.edu>
From: Susan B. Student <stude1sb@cmich.edu>
Subject: BIO580: questions on today’s lecture
Prerequisites: BIO 208 (General
Microbiology) and BIO 392 (Mammalian Physiology). BIO 324 (Cell Biology) is
also recommended.
C. Required
materials
Textbook: Mims, Playfair,
Roitt, Wakelin, and Williams. Medical Microbiology 3rd or 4th Ed., Mosby Europe Limited,
Access to the
World Wide Web, Blackboard, and an E-mail account. I will be posting many
class materials on Blackboard, and expect every student to check for
announcements/assignments a couple times a week. I can be reached more easily
by e-mail than by any other method, and will reply to any concern or question
you raise if you reach me by e-mail.
Finally, there is a Medical Microbiology group on Facebook, which you may
join. This is totally optional, but I
hope you will use it as an additional resource during this semester and as a
means to connect with professional alumni.
D. Laboratory
All organisms handled in the laboratory have the
potential to cause illness, especially in compromised individuals (about half
of the organisms are classified as Biological Safety Level 2). Compromising
conditions include cancer, chemotherapy, diabetes, HIV positivity, open wounds,
pregnancy, steroid use, etc. See me if you have concerns about your safety in
laboratory. All inquiries will be confidential.
E. Clinical
Cases
Three important skills in medical microbiology are problem-solving,
interacting with other professionals, and oral and written communication
skills. Development of these skills is also an objective in this course.
Written communication skills will be developed throughout the semester in essay
exam questions. The other skills will be emphasized in the second half of the
semester. For the first half of the semester, both the lecture and laboratory
will emphasize basic concepts and skills and will operate fairly independent of
one another. After the Midterm exam, the labs and lectures will be integrated
by way of clinical cases. Case study groups will consist of 4-5 students.
Clinical cases will be handed out to each group in lecture at the beginning of
the week. Some cases will be accompanied by a clinical sample that you will
receive and work with in the laboratory. At least some members of the group
will need to come in at times other than scheduled lab times to continue
identification of the unknown. Case reports will be collected and graded. One
report for the group will be turned in and all members of the group will
receive the same grade.
F. Reading
assignments
G. Grades
Quizzes and
Tests:
10-15 point quizzes may consist of a mixture of material from lectures and
laboratories. Tests may include a mixture of different types of questions, such
as short-answer, multiple-choice, true-false, and/or short essay. There will be a Midterm laboratory
practical; a makeup will not be possible for this test under any circumstances.
Final Exam: The final exam is
comprehensive.
Grading:
|
|
Undergraduates |
Graduates |
|
Quizzes |
10% |
8% |
|
Lecture Test One |
15% |
13% |
|
Lecture Test Two |
15% |
13% |
|
Lab Practical |
15% |
13% |
|
Case Reports |
25% |
23% |
|
Final Comprehensive Exam |
20% |
18% |
|
Additional
Required Elements |
|
12% |
Grading Scale:
|
94+ = A |
80-83.9 = B- |
|
90-93.9 = A- |
77-79.9 = C+ |
|
87-89.9 = B+ |
74-76.9 = C |
|
84-86.9 = B |
70-73.9 = C- |
H. Students
requiring accommodations
CMU provides students with disabilities reasonable
accommodation to participate in educational programs, activities or services.
Students with disabilities requiring accommodation to participate in class
activities or meet course requirements should first register with the office of
Student Disability Services (250 Foust Hall, telephone #989-774-3018, TDD
#2568), and then contact me as soon as possible.
I. Makeup
policy
Makeup exams are available only to students who have
a legitimate excuse for missing an exam, such as personal illness or injury,
sanctioned athletic team event out of town, or death in the immediate family.
If you know in advance that you must miss an exam, see me in advance and bring
documentation to support your anticipated absence. If you miss an exam
unexpectedly because of last-minute illness or accident, contact me when you
return to campus (or by e-mail or phone if you will be away for some time) with
documentation of your situation. Make-ups for the final exam will be scheduled
for Friday of exam week.
J. Extra
credit
Students wishing to make up for poorer than expected
exams may write essays for a maximum addition of 10 points to the total course
points.
Essays - You may write up to three
short (2-3 pages, double-spaced) essays on Medical Micro related topics during
the semester. All essays are due 2 weeks
prior to the final exam. Each essay submitted will earn up to 5 points
added to the total course points, as follows:
·
5 points - good work, appropriate references,
·
2-4 points - basically acceptable content but marred by mechanical
problems such as incorrect spelling or grammar, or lack of clarity in
explaining the topic, lack of or inappropriate references,
·
0 points - unacceptable or plagiarized.
**Any evidence of plagiarism will
result in zero points for all students involved and denial of any extra credit
points otherwise earned in the course. Essays should integrate at least
two articles from the primary literature, not textbooks or internet sources.
K. How to
succeed in this course
As you proceed upward in course level difficulty
from 100 to 200 to 300, and so on, you need to develop greater responsibility
for your own learning. The ultimate goal of college is to develop independent
learners and critical thinkers. Therefore, you will find that less structured
learning assistance is provided for you in this course. This does not mean that
I am not still happy to help you with any material during my office hours.
In order to succeed in this course you should plan to
attend all lectures, allow ample time to read and study assigned material and
turn assignments in on time. You will get more out of lectures if you read (or
at least skim) the assigned readings before lecture and then reread relevant
material carefully soon after lecture.
You should plan on spending a minimum of two hours of study
time for each hour of lecture. This is standard academic advice you will
find in any book on how to study. This is a minimum requirement for most
students to perform satisfactorily (B level). If you desire an "A",
you will probably need to put in more time than this minimum recommendation. If
you begin to fall behind, make every effort to catch up quickly, otherwise you
may find yourself swamped with too much material to assimilate before a test. Tips
for scheduling your time.
Many of you will find attending lectures and reading
the text is all the support you will need to do well in the course. Some of you
may have problems with some of the material. I offer several forms of
assistance to help you with difficulties you may experience in this course.
1. I will be happy to repeat
information and/or answer questions during lecture, please do not hesitate to
ask me to do so. Also feel free to e-mail questions to me at any time.
2. The textbook provides
concept guides throughout the chapter as well as chapter end questions. The
questions in the chapter should help guide your reading. If you can't answer
the questions, then you should re-read that section more closely. Use the
chapter end questions to practice writing essays over the material.
3. A web page, linked to
Blackboard, is available for this course: http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/alm1ew/medimicro.html.
This web page will contain links to additional internet resources.
4. There is an extra credit
possibility in this course. See J. above for more information.
5. I am available for
individual consultation regarding any aspect of the course. If you have
unanswered questions or concerns, or are in serious academic trouble, see me! I
will provide whatever assistance I can to help you do well in this course;
however, ultimately the grade you earn is your responsibility.
L. Recommended
and optional material
Your grade will be based on how well you master the
required elements listed above. In addition to required elements that all
students must undertake, this course will provide recommended and optional
elements. Recommended reading material marked FYI will be provided for students
who are interested in exploring a particular topic in a little more detail.
Optional material will be provided upon request for students with further
interest or aptitude in medical microbiology or in particular topics.
Undertaking recommended and optional material will not add to or subtract from
your grade. This is purely a means for students to take the subject of medical
microbiology as far as they are interested. If you have ideas about optional
material, please feel free to come see me.
Tentative
schedule - any schedule changes will be posted on the course web site
|
DATE |
LECTURE TOPIC |
|
LABORATORY TOPIC |
|
M Aug 24 |
Course
introduction; Dynamics of infectious disease – CC 1 |
Ch.1 |
DIAGNOSTIC PRINCIPLES Lab
1 - Gram stain and streak plate isolation |
|
W Aug 26 |
UNIT 1 - THE PLAYERS Part A - Review of the microbes Viruses
and bacteria - CC 2 available online. |
|
Lab
2 - Colony morphology Lab
3 - Initial grouping of clinical isolates |
|
M Aug 31 |
Eucaryotic
microbial pathogens and normal microbiota |
Ch.4
- 8 |
Lab
4 - Identification of Gram-positive cocci |
|
W Sep 2 |
Part B - Host defenses Nonspecific
host defenses against microbial invaders – CC 3 available online. |
Ch
9 |
GPC
continued |
|
M Sep 7 |
Labor
Day - No Class |
|
|
|
W Sep 9 |
Nonspecific
defenses continued |
|
QUIZ
1 – Practical Labs 1-4 |
|
M Sep 14 |
Specific
host defenses against microbial invaders – CC 4 available online |
Ch.10,
11 |
Lab
5 - Identification of Enterobacteriaceae |
|
T Sep 15 |
|
|
Read
KIA results from Lab 5 |
|
W Sep 16 |
Specific
defenses continued |
|
Enterobacteriaceae
continued |
|
M Sep 21 |
No Lecture |
|
TEST ONE - UNIT ONE |
|
W Sep 23 |
UNIT 2 - HOST AND PATHOGEN CONFLICTS How
are pathogens acquired and transmitted? |
Ch.12,
13 |
Lab
6 –Identification of Oxidase-positive, Gram-negative Rods |
|
M Sep 28 |
Acquisition
and transmission continued - CC 5 available online |
Ch.14,
15 |
Lab
7 - Identification of Gram-negative cocci Lab 8 - Identification of
Gram-positive Rods |
|
W Sep 30 |
How
do pathogens escape nonspecific host defenses? |
|
QUIZ
2 – Practical Labs 5-8 Lab
9 - Introduction to Anaerobes |
|
M Oct 5 |
How
do pathogens escape specific host defenses? - CC 6 available online. |
Ch
16 |
Anaerobes
continued AND Bacterial Unknown assigned to Grad students |
|
W Oct 7 |
What
are the pathological consequences of infection? |
Ch.17 |
Lab
10 - Intro to yeast Lab
11 - Intro to Molds |
|
M Oct 12 |
Pathological
consequences continued Grads
- Unknown Report due 1pm |
|
Yeast
continued Open
lab to review for practical |
|
W Oct 14 |
No
Lecture |
|
LABORATORY PRACTICAL EXAM Laboratories
1 through 11 |
|
M Oct 19 |
No Lecture |
|
TEST TWO - UNIT TWO Comprehensive
with an emphasis on Unit 2 |
|
W Oct 21 |
UNIT 3 - CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF INFECTION Intro
to Clinical Case Problem-Solving; how to work through a case |
|
Introduction
continued |
|
M Oct 26 |
Respiratory
System; Case 1 assigned |
|
Lab
12 - Clinical specimen received |
|
T-F |
Work
on solving case; no W lecture |
|
Work
on solving cases |
|
M Nov 2 |
Clinical
Case 1 due 1 pm QUIZ
3 -RTI Urinary
Tract Infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections; Case 2 assigned |
|
Lab
13 - Clinical specimen received |
|
T-F |
Work
on solving case; no W lecture |
|
Work
on solving cases |
|
M Nov 9 |
Clinical
Case 2 due 1 pm QUIZ
4 –UTI and STI Gastrointestinal
Tract Infections; Case 3 assigned |
|
Lab
14 - Clinical specimen received |
|
T-F |
Work
on solving case; no W lecture |
|
Work
on solving cases |
|
M Nov 16 |
Clinical
Case 3 due 1 pm QUIZ
5 – GI Nervous
System Infections; Case 4 assigned |
|
Lab
15 - Clinical specimen received |
|
T-F |
Work
on solving case; no W lecture |
|
Work
on solving case |
|
M Nov 23 |
Clinical
Case 4 due 1 pm QUIZ
6 - Nervous Infections
of the skin and wounds; Case 5 assigned |
|
Lab
16 - Clinical specimen received |
|
T-W |
Work
on solving case; no W lecture |
|
Work
on solving case - the University does
not close for Thanksgiving recess until 5pm Wed. |
|
R Nov 26 |
Thanksgiving |
|
|
|
M Nov 30 |
QUIZ 7 – SKIN Antimicrobial
action |
|
Lab
17 – Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing |
|
T Dec 1 |
|
|
Check
lab results |
|
W Dec 2 |
Clinical
Case 5 due 1 pm Antimicrobial
action continued |
|
Complete
course material |
|
W Dec 9 |
FINAL EXAM Comprehensive with an emphasis on Units 3 and 4 BR 201 |
|
|