We developed labs on the evolution of antibiotic resistance to assess the costs and benefits of replacing traditional laboratory exercises in an introductory biology course for majors with a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). To assess whether participating in the CURE imposed a cost in terms of exam performance, we implemented…

Undergraduate research experiences benefit students' scientific skills, and recent trends in undergraduate research and education include focusing on interdisciplinary projects and on place-based learning. Here we describe a semester-long pilot interdisciplinary undergraduate research program focused on local aquatic ecosystems, discuss perceived…

A traditional classroom usually focuses on concepts from a specific discipline. However, solving complex real-world problems requires integration and application of knowledge from various fields. Here, we describe a 4-hr undergraduate-level laboratory exercise that utilizes concepts of extraction and biological property, bridging between chemistry…

Medical, industrial, and basic research relies heavily on the use of viruses and vectors. Therefore, it is important that bioscience undergraduates learn the practicalities of handling viruses. Teaching practical virology in a student laboratory setup presents safety challenges, however. The aim of this article is to describe the design and…

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…

Pre-nursing students of an introductory Microbiology laboratory class, having learnt typical microbiological techniques during the semester, gained the confidence of conducting an inquiry-based project as part of their lab course work. Students cooperatively performed a microbiological analysis, to evaluate safety of sushi. This paper presents…

In this article, we describe a basic practical laboratory designed for fifth-year undergraduate students of Microbiology as part of the Epidemiology course. This practice provides the students with the tools for molecular epidemiological analysis of pathogenic microorganisms using a rapid and simple PCR technique. The aim of this work was to assay…

This work describes a 10-week laboratory project studying wild-type and mutant bacterial alkaline phosphatase, in which students purify, quantitate, and perform kinetic assays on wild-type and selected mutants of the enzyme. Students also perform plasmid DNA purification, digestion, and gel analysis. In addition to simply learning important…

The challenge of teaching in the sciences is not only conveying knowledge in the discipline, but also developing essential critical thinking, data analysis, and scientific writing skills. I outline an exercise that can be done easily as part of a microbiology laboratory course. It teaches the nature of the research process, from asking questions…

Bacterial viruses, otherwise known as bacteriophage (or phage), are some of the most abundant viruses found in the environment. They can be easily isolated from water or soil and are ideal for use in laboratory classrooms due to their ease of culture and inherent safety. Here, we describe a series of 10 laboratory exercises where students collect,…

Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the most common human respiratory pathogens and is responsible for the majority of upper respiratory illnesses. Recently, a phylogeny was constructed from all known American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) HRV sequences. From this study, three HRV classifications (HRVA, HRVB, and HRVC) were determined and techniques…

Microbial fuel cells are a current research area that harvests electricity from bacteria capable of anaerobic respiration. Graphite is an electrically conductive material that bacteria can respire on, thus it can be used to capture electrons from bacteria. When bacteria transfer electrons to graphite, an electrical potential is created that can…

For more than 75 years, flies and other insects have been known to serve as mechanical vectors of infectious disease (Hegner, 1926). Flies have been shown to harbor over 100 different species of potentially pathogenic microorganisms and are known to transmit more than 65 infectious diseases (Greenberg, 1965). This laboratory exercise is a simple…

Learning modern genetics is challenging and students have difficulty acquiring a coherent cognitive mental model of abstract concepts such as DNA, bacteria and enzymes. Here we investigated students' mental models of genetics through analysis and interpretation of the discourse that took place while high-school students practised hands-on…

The Kirby-Bauer assay, also called the disc diffusion assay, is a standard procedure used in clinical laboratories to test the susceptibility of patients' bacterial isolates to antibiotics. In the assay, the bacteria are swabbed onto an agar plate, and paper discs impregnated with antibiotics are placed on the agar. The antibiotic diffuses from…