In-Person Lab Overview:

You will have 3 in-person labs that will require an hour and a half. There will be 2 time slots that you can select from during the 3-6 pm class time. You must sign up for the time slot you plan on attending before showing up for class. You cannot start a lab activity in the middle of the time slots, as it will cause disruptions to the students already working on the lab activity. You can choose to work with a partner or alone. The worksheets and instructions for each lab will be given during each lab session. Lab safety protocols must be strictly followed during lab times as you will be working with live specimens. Use this module's discussion board link to sign up for lab times. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late to your lab session, you must wait until the next one. For labs 3 & 5, you must come back on either Thursday or Friday (see sign up times) to check your samples and record a few observations (should take 5-10 minutes).

In-Person Lab Details:

Lab 2: Microscope Use

For this lab, you will be learning to use the microscope to view an assortment of bacteria, fungi, and protists. You will be viewing bacteria on premade slides and working to identify them based on their morphology. You will be preparing slides of yeasts, pond water, and various protists. You will be required to properly demonstrate how to use the microscope to view the various organisms and define the characteristics of those organisms. Lastly, you must ensure the microscopes are properly cleaned and stored after usage.

Lab 3: Culturing Microorganisms (Requires a check back on Thursday or Friday)

For this lab, you will learn how to perform the aseptic technique to plate different microorganisms. We will look at factors that affect microbial growth, such as light, temperature, oxygen, and pH. You will be assessed on your ability to properly label an agar plate and correctly use the aseptic method for plating a specimen. Your plates will take 24-48 hours to incubate, requiring you or your partner to come back on Thursday or Friday to check your plates and make observations.

Lab 5: Antimicrobial Testing (Requires a check back on Thursday or Friday)

For this lab, you will use the aseptic technique you learned and practiced in lab 3 to test the antimicrobial sensitivity of several different products. You will begin by preparing a streak plate of a selected bacterial and then applying the Kirby Bauer test to determine how sensitive your given specimen is to different antimicrobial products. After your plate has had time to grow, you will measure and record the zone of inhibition for each product you tested.

Lab 8: Final Exam Review & Case Study Analysis

For this lab, we will be reviewing for your final exam and working in small groups to review several microbial infection case studies.