Activities to supplement the 1999 HHMI Holiday Lectures "2000 and Beyond: Confronting the Microbe Menace"Tracking the Source of Disease: Koch's Postulates, Causality, and Contemporary Epidemiology
Using visual and written sources, students will explore both traditional and new techniques for tracking pathogens and investigate the causality of diseases. Using the process of scientific inquiry, students will propose their own strategies for determining the causality of diseases.
Measuring Antibiotic Resistance
Students use prior microbiological skills to create a lawn, or carpet, of S. epidermidis and E. coli on nutrient agar plates. They then place antibiotic impregnated filter paper discs on the agar and incubate the plates. The expected learning outcomes are that students will be able to understand how antibiotics affect bacterial growth, and that students will become familiar with a common technique used to measure bacterial resistance, the Kirby-Bauer test.
Adherence: What Sticks Can Make You Sick
Using visual diagrams and hands-on activities, students explore the relationship of host surface cell receptors and adhesin molecules located on pathogen surfaces for adherence or the first step in infection.
Spice up your life: Spices as Antibiotics in Foods (pdf format)
Unstained Preparations and Simple Stains (pdf format)
The Gram Stain (pdf format)
Isolation Techniques and Use of Petri Dish Culture (pdf format)
The Need for Sterile Technique (pdf format)