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BIOLOGY L104: Microbiological Media: Microbes in the News and your Everyday Life

FALL 2013 TR 4:00-6:15pm, PY 101

Instructor: Dr. Nick Konkol

Objectives and focus:

This course will first provide students with a basic understanding of the structure, metabolism, genetics, and ecology of microbes. This information will then be used to illuminate many of the ways microbes interact with and influence humans in their daily lives. This course will also demonstrate the essential role of microbes in the creation and maintenance of planet Earth itself. Human diseases will be discussed to emphasize the breakdown in otherwise healthy relationships between humans and their microbial benefactors. The general goal of this course is for students to obtain a broad appreciation for the unique opportunities and problems presented by microbes; and how they conform to the general principles of biology.

Office Hours: JH221D

Monday 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (notify me by e-mail)
Tuesday 2:30 - 3:30 PM
Wednesday 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (notify me by e-mail)

Dr. Konkol will reserve the last 15 minutes of each lecture to address any questions or concerns you may have.

Contacting the instructor:

It is imperative that you keep up with the course material from the outset. You are urged to take advantage of the time available after class and/or office hours to pursue any questions you may have on the material from the course. When contacting Dr. Konkol by email, please include "L104" in the subject line, so that the email is prioritized appropriately. Dr. Konkol will check his email periodically between 9am and 5pm weekdays, and you should expect a response within 24 hours of sending your message. Email received on the weekend will not be dealt with until the Monday immediately following.

Course Website and Course Materials

The course is listed on Oncourse under FA13 BL BIOL L104 33445. The syllabus and class schedule have been uploaded. A lecture outline will be uploaded prior to the start of each class.

Textbooks:

March of the Microbes (2010) by Ingraham published by Harvard University Press.
Microbes and Society: Third Edition (2012) by Weeks published by Jones and Bartlett

Exams will be based primarily on material covered in lecture but some material from these texts may appear on exams. Sorry, no reserve copies are available yet.

The textbooks are intended to supplement the information covered in this course as well as provide a source for many of the figures you will see in lecture. Reading the assigned material prior to attending lecture will be a benefit.
Attendance:

Attendance will be taken on the first day to correct rosters. I will attempt to learn your names and recognize faces but this will take some time. You are strongly encouraged to attend every lecture, since much of the materials for exams will be derived from lectures and good attendance translates into better understanding of the material and a better final grade. March of the Microbes and Microbiology with Diseases by Taxonomy are excellent texts, but are meant to supplement, not replace the lectures.

Examinations and Assignments:

You will be responsible for the information presented in lectures, including the “microbe of the week”, and all assigned readings on the examinations. All of the material we will cover builds on itself and therefore on any given exam you will be held accountable for the major concepts covered on previous exams.

Exam 1 100 pts Exam 2 100 pts Exam 3 100 pts Final Exam 150 pts In-Class Assignments 50 pts

There will be three in-class exams and a semi-cumulative final examination. Exams will consist primarily of multiple choice, matching and true/false questions with a limited number of short-answer questions. Your scores will be available on-line via Oncourse one week after taking the exam. In addition to the examinations, you will be responsible for the in-class assignments that will be administered daily. No grades will be dropped when calculating your final grade for the course. No make ups will be given for any reason.

If you miss an exam (1-3) for a legitimate reason you may substitute the missing grade with a term paper due on 12/16 at 10:00AM. The subject matter of the paper must come from material that was covered on the exam you missed. You must then find a recent example in the popular media in which this subject was addressed. Provide adequate background. Was the subject covered adequately? Was there bias/sensationalism? Provide quotes and examples. The paper must be 20-25 double-spaced pages. Any figures or tables will not count toward this page total. You will only be able to write one paper and substitute one missing exam grade.

Final letter grades will be calculated as follows. The separate percentile scores from exams, projects, and assignments will be summed, averaged, and assigned a letter grade according to the following grading scale.

A+ = Nope B+ = 87.0 - 89.99% C+ = 77.0 - 79.99% D+ = 67.0 - 69.99%
A = 93.0 - 100.0% B = 83.0 - 86.99% C = 73.0 - 76.99% D = 63.0 - 66.99%
A- = 90.0 - 92.99% B- = 80.0 - 82.99% C- = 70.0 - 72.99% D- = 60.0 - 62.99%

Re-grade policy:

Exams may be viewed during office hours. After viewing your graded exam, if you feel you have a good case for a re-grade, then follow the re-grade policy as stated in below. Re-grade requests must be submitted five days after exam grades have been posted. Re-grade requests must be submitted as a hardcopy with a typewritten explanation that describes why you feel the re-grade is appropriate. The request must include a reference to the lecture material or the textbook and a revision of the question itself. The request will then be evaluated and if warranted, the exam will be re-graded.

Incomplete Course Policy:

"A grade of I (Incomplete) may be given only when the work of the course is substantially completed and when the student's work is of passing quality." -Indiana University Policy

Academic Integrity Policy:

Academic integrity is important for the fair assessment of each student's performance. Each student is expected to adhere to the academic integrity policies and regulations outlined by the Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct (http://campuslife.indiana.edu/Code). Cases where academic integrity is clearly in question will be pursued and individuals involved in these incidents should expect a failing grade for the course and further prosecution through the IU academic integrity policy. Common sense should be used in abiding by these regulations, and any ambiguities should be checked out with the AI and/or Dr. Konkol. Examples of academic integrity violations include but are not limited to: 1) submitting another student's work as your own, 2) giving or receiving unauthorized assistance on an exam or paper, and 3) plagiarism.

Tentative lecture schedule (Subject to change):

| | | |Topics |Suggested Reading |Suggested Reading |
| | | | |(March of the Microbes) |(Microbes and Society) |
|1 |T |10/22 |Introduction |p.1-22, 155-159 |p. 21-37 |
|2 |Th |10/24 |Macromolecules |p. 65-70 |p. 43-57 |
|3 |T |10/29 |Cell Structure | |p. 90-98 |
|4 |Th |10/31 |Exam 1 | | |
| |T |11/5 |Metabolism |p. 23-34, 160-168 |p. 176-187 |
|5 |Th |11/7 |Metabolism continued |p. 38-47, 113-121, 272-276 |p. 187-192, 302-306, 311-313 |
|6 |T |11/12 |Growth |p. 187-192, 303-306 |p. 170-176, 216-232 |
|7 |Th |11/14 |Exam 2 | | |
|9 |T |11/19 |Genetics | |p. 58-59, 64-77, 193-216 |
|10 |Th |11/21 |Genetics continued | | |
| |T |11/26 |Thanksgiving Break | | |
| |Th |11/28 |Thanksgiving Break | | |
|11 |T |12/3 |Mutation, Gene Transfer |p. 92-100 |p. 193-215, 313-324 |
|12 |Th |12/5 |Exam 3 | | |
|13 |T |12/10 |Disease |p. 247-250, 296-302 |p. 345-373 |
|14 |Th |12/12 |Botulism, Influenza, Giardia |p. 232-247 |p. 409, 382-385, 286-289 |
| | | | | | |
| |T |12/17 |Final Exam (5:00 – 7:00 PM) | | |

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