BIOLOGY 375/575: MICROBIOLOGY

Spring Semester 2015

Tuesdays and Thursdays noon1:30 pm; Location: Goddard 101
Instructor: Mecky Pohlschroder:

pohlschr@sas.upenn.edu.
Office Hours: T R 11am-noon
201 Leidy Labs
215 573 2283

TA: Farid Halim

mohd@sas.upenn.edu
Office hours: MW 4-5pm (tentative)

Recitation time and location:

M 5:00pm 6:00pm (tentative)

GLAB 101

Goals of the Course

Microbiology plays a central role in diverse areas of human life such as infectious
disease, ecology and biotechnology. This course will cover broad aspects of
modern microbiology with an emphasis on prokaryotic organisms. Moreover,
scientists from Penn as well as other institutions will present their research
topics. Topics such as the spread antibiotic resistant bacteria, research on HIV,
the biodiversity of the human microbiome, and the development of strategies for
producing biofuels will be covered.
The lecture course runs in parallel with an optional lab course (Biol 376) that also
strives to cover a broad range of topics and introduces well established as well as
cutting-edge microbiological techniques. Combining the practical approaches
learned in the lab with theoretical knowledge gleaned from the lectures provides
a great opportunity learn to independently design and execute experiments.
Grading and Organization
There will be three 1-hour exams, each worth 100 points. Two are scheduled as
shown on the lecture syllabus; the third will be given at the time of the final exam.
The last few lectures will be graduate student presentations of primary research
papers. At the beginning of the presentation, the presenting students will pose
one question about the paper the answers to these questions will also be graded
and make up 10% of the final grade.
Biol. 575 student research paper presentations will count for 25% of the final grade.
The textbook used for the class is a customized version of the 13th edition of
Biology of Microorganisms by Madigan, Martinko, Dunlap and Clark (Pearson
Custom Library for Biological Sciences ISBN: 1269799398). Its $111, rather then
$170 for the original book, which contains additional chapters that we wont cover in
the course.

Biol.375/575
Goddard 101, T and R, noon-1.30pm
Date

Topic

Chapter/Unit

Lecturer

Jan. 15

Overview

Ch. 1-2

M. Pohlschroder

Jan. 22

Structure/ Function

Ch. 2

M. Pohlschroder

Jan. 27

Structure/Function/protein transport

Ch. 2

M. Pohlschroder

Jan. 29

Nutrition, Culture and Metabolism

Ch. 3/4

M. Pohlschroder

Feb. 3nd

Microbial growth/Biofilms

Ch. 4

M. Pohlschroder

Feb. 5

Gene regulation (quorum sensing)/ genetic selections

Ch. 6/9

M. Pohlschroder

Feb. 10

Evolution/Methods in Microbial Ecology

Ch. 10/11

M. Pohlschroder

Feb. 12

Microbial ecology

Ch. 12

Karen Hogan

Feb. 17

Student Presentations

10

Feb. 19

Exam 1

11

Feb. 24

Basic Virology

Ch. 7/8

12

Feb. 26

Viral Diversity

Ch. 7/8

B. Doms

13

Mar. 3

Viral Pathogenesis

Ch. 7/8

B. Doms

14

Mar. 5

Flu and Retroviruses

Ch. 7/8

B. Doms

15

Mar. 7-15

Spring Break

March 17

Metagenomics

Ch. 5

R. Bushman

16

Mar. 19

Metagenomics

Ch. 5

R. Bushman

17

Mar. 24

Parasitology 1

Ch. 20

Mar. 26

Parasitology 2

Ch. 20

19

Mar. 31

Student Presentations

18

April 2

Exam 2

21

Apr. 7

Host Microbe interaction

Ch. 14/15

M. Pohlschroder

22

Apr. 9

Innate Immunity

Ch. 16

M. Pohlschroder

23

Apr. 14

Adaptive Immunity

23

Apr. 16

Vaccines

Ch. 19

24

Apr. 21

Antibiotics/ Antibiotic resistance

Ch. 19

25

Apr. 23

Student presentations

26

Apr. 28

Student Presentations

Class

18

B. Doms

D. Roos
D. Roos

M. Pohlschroder

Ch. 17/18

M. Pohlschroder
M. Pohlschroder
M. Pohlschroder