This course will introduce Microbiology majors to the extremely diverse and exciting world of microorganisms. The course begins with describing the basics of microorganisms: structure and function, metabolic pathways, physiology, and genetics. These topics are used as a base to discuss more complex microbial systems we study in environmental microbiology, medical microbiology, and applied biotechnology. We will explore the wonderfully extensive diversity of microbes and discuss this diversity within the context of evolution and what `species? means in microbiology.

Satisfies the Junior Year Writing requirement. Students develop their writing skills while completing a series of short assignments. Each participant will identify a biological topic of their choice to research and write about during the semester.

This is a literature review style course for advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in zoonotic disease. Zoonotic diseases are those whose transmission cycles involve non-human animal hosts. Topics within this large framework vary with interests of enrollees, but there tends to be a focus on vector-borne disease including those most often associated with ticks and mosquitoes. Medical Zoology is a transdisciplinary approach to understand disease by incorporating broad disciplinary background (eg. entomology, physiology, genetics, ecology, etc.).

Bioconversion of materials is part of the natural cycle for all bio-based materials as well as a key factor in bioenergy production. Biodegradation processes including those employed by fungal, bacterial, insect and marine organisms relative to carbon and nutrient cycling and the production of feedstocks for bioenergy and biomaterials are important to maintaining the ecological balance on earth, and for the development of a sustainable society with renewable and bio-based materials.

This course covers a detailed analysis of the molecular mechanisms that control the maintenance, expression, and evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. The topics covered in lectures and readings of relevant literature include DNA replication, transcription, gene regulation, genetic recombination, and translation. Class format will include lectures, journal clubs, presentations and group discussions.

The main aspects of bacterial growth, including energy metabolism, biosynthesis of macromolecular precursor materials and their assembly into macromolecules, and the integration of these processes by various regulatory mechanisms. Emphasis on the isolation of mutant bacteria blocked in key cellular functions and on global control systems governing the adaptation of bacteria to different environmental conditions. Prerequisite: general background in microbiology and biochemistry.

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The mechanisms by which microorganisms, including bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses, infect animals and plants and cause disease, and the mechanisms of host defense against infectious microbes. Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases of plants and animals and development of resistance to antimicrobial chemicals. Prerequisites: BIOLOGY 100 and 101 and MICROBIO 310.

Satisfies the Junior Year Writing requirement. Students develop their writing skills while completing a series of short assignments. Each participant will identify a biological topic of their choice to research and write about during the semester.