General Microbiology Laboratory

As a teaching assistant at the University of Cincinnati, during 2010-2013 I taught General Microbiology Laboratory course for biology and pre-med majors. This course included several labs during which my students conducted group experiments, wrote lab summaries and reports, took several quizzes and a laboratory exam.

Topics covered

• Lab # 1: Microscope, mixed bacteria slides, open-plate exercise
• Lab # 2: Aseptic technique, staining, capsule stain demo
• Lab # 3: Gram staining, isolation streaking, motility testing
• Lab # 4: New streak plates, hay infusion slides, flagellar stain demo, acid-fast, endospore staining
• Lab # 5: Measuring cell density, testing oxygen sensitivity; making Winogradsky columns
• Lab # 6: Anaerobes, streak plates for GasPak jars, phage titer
• Lab # 7: Bacterial growth curve, phage-induced lysis
• Lab # 8: MIC determinations, Kirby-Bauer test
• Lab # 9: UV lethality, environmental factors
• Lab # 10: Transfer of DNA between bacteria
• Lab # 11: Known metabolic tests
• Lab # 12: Environmental Sampling; Use of Bergey’s Manual
• Lab # 13: KOH test
• Lab # 14: Inoculate unknown metabolic Tests
• Lab # 15: Koch’s Postulates I
• Lab # 16: Koch’s postulates II
• Lab # 17: Koch’s Postulates III
• Lab # 18: Microbial communities, nutrient cycling; finishing Winogradsky columns
• Lab # 19: Koch’s Postulates IV
• Lab # 20: Synder test
• Lab # 21: Synthetic epidemic