MI2011:03
Microbial Diversity
| Townsville | HECS Band 2 |
35 hours lectures, 33 hours practicals. Semester 1.
Staff: Assoc. Professor W Shipton.
Basic concepts of the structure, classification, identification, metabolism and growth of bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoan and metazoan parasites and other microbes; mechanisms of variation; microbial genetics and their application to recombinant DNA technology; nutrition of microbes, influence of environmental parameters on growth and reproduction; introduction to the immune system. Microbiology of soil, air, water and food and aspects of industrial microbiology.
Learning Objectives:
- describe the basic principles which regulate the activities and account for the behaviour of microorganisms and parasites;
- understand the fundamental aspects of the immune response;
- recognise the relevance of microbes and parasites to public health, industry and agriculture;
- outline the basic concepts which are fundamental to understanding the usefulness of microbes in biotechnology;
- safely manipulate microbes in the laboratory and be skilled in the basic techniques used in their identification.
Assessment by laboratory assignments (30%); examination (70%).