Department of Chemistry and Biolmolecular Sciences
WELCOME TO BIOL377 Environmental Microbiology and Bioresources
This new unit combines the previous BIOL353 Applied and Environmental Microbiology and BIOL364 Biodiversity and Microorganisms. It aims to equip students with the theoretical and practical skills needed to investigate and manipulate microorganisms in natural environments.
Microorganisms were the first life forms and still play a central role in all ecosystems. Despite their importance, we have only recently realised that the vast majority of microorganisms are undescribed and cannot be cultured in the laboratory. Molecular techniques used in this unit allow us to investigate the diversity of these unknown microorganisms, to examine their role in symbioses with larger organisms and to recover novel genes of potential use in pharmaceutical, industrial and biotechnological industries. We will also examine environmental and industrial applications of microorganisms and their gene products. Lectures will deal with the diverse habitats and niches that microorganisms are found in, examine microbial products such as hydrolytic enzymes and biological control agents, and assess strain development for industrial and environmental uses.
The techniques you will learn at the on campus practical sessions provide a thorough grounding in analysis of microorganisms in the environment. You will start by extracting DNA from pristine soil samples and samples contaminated by environmental pollutants. At the end of the laboratory sessions you will have generated DNA sequence from organisms new to science. Parallel to the DNA work, you will also follow bioremediation of the polluted soil, look at the culturable bacteria and fungi in the soil samples, measure enzyme activity in these soils and finally, use fluorescent labeling as a tool to visualise microorganisms in the samples. This will be truly vocational laboratory work, giving you experience with up to date methods that are highly sought after by employers.
The results of the experiments will not be known before we start and your results will be a valuable contribution to our knowledge of microbial biodiversity. It is our sincere hope that the practical work done in this course will allow you to participate in the excitement of scientific discovery and help you understand the intangible rewards that drive research scientists. Because of the potential discoveries to be made, it is important that you keep a record in your lab book that would allow you or someone else to repeat the work at a later date. In order to develop your skills in lateral thinking and seeing how different experiments come together to produce a bigger and maybe a totally novel view into the research topic, we will ask you to write a formal report on the experimental part of the course.
The program of lectures, some of which are given by guest lecturers who are experts in their particular field, covers a wide range of topics. These are listed in the lecture schedule provided. Lectures will be illustrated with recent materials and photographs obtained from our own research and from various electronic and print sources. Because this is a new unit, the lectures will be recorded as we go. The tapes together with the matching lecture graphics will be sent to the external students weekly. There are two coordinators for this course, Michael Gillings and Helena Nevalainen.
Information on the text book, assessment, on campus sessions, laboratory practices and contact details can be found in the BIOL377 Online Teaching Facility Homepage. We wish you all the best of luck and hope we have an interesting and challenging semester!
Helena & Michael