One of the most urgent matters in current medicine is the preservation of antibiotic treatment options due to an increasing threat of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, increasing awareness by adapted science education and communication regarding this topic is of the utmost importance. This article shows that an…

Molecular cloning skills are an essential component of biological research, yet students often do not receive this training during their undergraduate studies. This can be attributed to the complexities of the cloning process, which may require many weeks of progressive design and experimentation. To address this issue, we incorporated an…

Virstatin, an "N"-butanoic acid substituted naphthalimide, inhibits the ability of "Vibrio cholerae" to cause disease. A three-week experiment involving synthesis, purification, and spectral characterization of this compound is described. This experiment is appropriate for organic chemistry. It has been performed with three lab sections of about…

Describes a laboratory activity investigating important concepts in microbiology and ecology in which students design and carry out their own experiments and learn about microorganisms. Points out that all microorganisms are not dangerous and studies the relationship between Methylobacterium and plants. (YDS)

Active learning and research-oriented activities have been increasingly used in smaller, specialized science courses. Application of this type of scientific teaching to large enrollment introductory courses has been, however, a major challenge. The general microbiology lecture/laboratory course described has been designed to incorporate published…