Autumn 2022 Course Offerings (Template)
The most up-to-date list of course offerings is always available via View Schedule of Classes on BuckeyeLink.
[pdf] - Some links on this page are to Adobe .pdf files requiring the use of Adobe Reader. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please contact micro.grad@osu.edu.
2000 Level Courses
Credit Hour(s): 1.5 Units
Instructor(s): Alfonzo, Kwiek, Ruiz
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Biology 1113 or 1113H
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective
Learning Objectives:
- Applying the process of Science
- Demonstrate an ability to formulate hypotheses and design experiments based on the scientific method.
- Discuss how to approach the problem of identifying and formulating a viable research project.
- Analyze and interpret results from a variety of microbiological methods and apply these methods to analogous situations
- Communicate and Collaborate with others
- Effectively communicate fundamental concepts of Microbiology in written and oral format.
4000 Level Courses
Micro 4000.01 [In-Person]
Credit Hour(s): 4 Units
Instructor(s): Bullwinkle, Ibba (Mette), Neil
Offered: Autumn, Spring, Summer
Prerequisite(s): 3 credit hours in Biology
Role in Microbiology Major: Non-majors who earn an A or A- can request to enter the major without taking Micro 4100
Micro 4000.02 [In-Person/Online Hybrid]
Credit Hour(s): 4 Units
Instructor(s): Ibba (Mette), Pradhan
Offered: Autumn, Summer
Prerequisite(s): 3 credit hours in Biology
Role in Microbiology Major: Non-majors who earn an A or A- can request to enter the major without taking Micro 4100
M4000 Syllabus [pdf]
Lecture Topics:
- Functional anatomy of prokaryotic cells
- Microbial growth and metabolism
- Microbial genetics
- Viruses
- Control of microbial growth and antimicrobial drugs
- Innate and adaptive immunity
- Microbial mechanisms of pathogenicity
- Principles of disease and epidemiology
Laboratory Exercises:
- Microscopes and their uses
- Microbial staining techniques and applications
- Isolation of organisms from mixed cultures, nutritional requirements, use of differential and selective media, and identification of unknown bacteria
- Environmental factors affecting growth: oxygen, temperature, pH, and osmolarity
- Control of microbial growth
- Microbes in food
- Host interactions: symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism, human microbiome, and immune responses
- Epidemiology
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Deora, Neil, Wozniak; Pradhan
Offered: Autumn; Spring
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4000 or Micro 4100
Role in Microbiology Major: Core (Required)
Lecture Topics:
- Innate and adaptive immunity
- Immune cell functions
- Complement system and other antimicrobial molecules
- Recognition of microbes by the immune system
- Cycle of microbial diseases
- Acquisition and regulation of bacterial virulence genes
- Molecular strategies developed by bacterial pathogens to infect their host
- Airborne and foodborne bacterial diseases
- Mechanisms used by diverse pathogens to escape the immune defense and cause diseases: pathogenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bacillus anthracis, Staphylococcus aureus, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Vibrio cholerae, and Clostridium botulinum
- Mechanisms and limitation of antimicrobial drugs
Learning Outcomes:
After completion of the course, successful students will understand...
- Key mechanisms involved in the immune defense
- How the immune system distinguishes between self and foreign organisms
- Differences and connections between the innate and adaptive immune responses
- The beneficial roles of microbes that compose the human microbiota
- How to study microbial disease mechanisms
- What particular attributes microbes must display in order to breach the host physical barriers and immune defense mechanisms
- How human behavior influences the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases
- Unequal distribution of infections across the world
- Why bacterial pathogens rapidly overcome the activity of antimicrobial drugs
- The spread of nosocomial and community acquired infections
- Challenges we are currently facing for the prevention and treatment of infections
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Alber; Carlson
Offered: Autumn; Spring
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4100; Biochem 4511 (can be taken concurrently)
Role in Microbiology Major: Core (Required)
Lecture Topics:
- Composition and structure of prokaryotic cells and microbial growth
- From elements to cellular structures (e.g., biogenesis and physiological role of the cell envelope)
- Assimilation of nutrients and biosynthesis of building blocks (anabolism)
- Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and their roles in microbial physiology
- Diversity of catabolic processes: aerobic/anaerobic respiration, fermentation, and oxygenic/anoxygenic photosynthesis
- Microbial differentiation: sporulation, multicellular morphogenesis and biofilms
- Microbial diversity: phylogeny, environmental constraints, functional roles in communities, variations in (metabolic) strategies.
Learning Outcomes:
After completion of the lecture component of the course, successful students will understand...
- Appreciate the meaning of self-replication (without a cell there will be no new cell)
- Calculate basic growth parameters
- Understand the key reactions involved in fatty acid, sugar, and amino acid synthesis
- Understand how energy from catabolic processes are conserved through electron transport phosphorylation and substrate level phosphorylation
- Understand how microorganism play an essential role in the global carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-cycles
- Appreciate the enormous diversity of microorganisms but at the same time recognize the unifying features of all life
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Anderson; Ruiz
Offered: Autumn; Spring
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4100 or MolGen 4500 or MolGen 4606
Role in Microbiology Major: Core (Required)
Lecture Topics:
- Structure and function of DNA, RNA and proteins
- Genome structure, plasmids, and DNA replication
- Transcription and translation
- Transcriptional regulation of gene expression
- Post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms
- Evolution of bacteria: mutations and horizontal gene transfer
- Use of mutations in genetic analyses
- Discuss research articles that illustrate concepts of bacterial genetics described in class
Learning Outcomes:
Successful students will be able to...
- Explain how DNA and RNA function as information molecules
- Describe the processes of transcription and translation
- Explain how activators and repressors regulate transcription
- Describe the major types of regulatory mechanisms that bacteria use to control translation
- Explain how bacteria use riboswitches to regulate gene expression
- Explain how bacteria evolve by acquiring mutations in exchanging DNA
- Understand how mutations arise; distinguish between different types of mutations and the effects they can have
- Describe the mechanisms that bacteria use to exchange DNA
- Understand how researchers can use genetic analysis to address complex biological problems
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Bullwinkle
Offered: Autumn, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4100; Micro 4130 (can be taken concurrently)
Role in Microbiology Major: Core (Required)
Laboratory Topics:
- Genetic exchange: transformation and conjugation
- Plasmid vectors, cloning, and gel electrophoresis
- Protein purification and SDS-PAGE
- Immunoblotting
- In vitro mutagenesis: Random and/or site-specific mutagenesis using PCR
- In vivo mutagenesis: Transposon mutagenesis, recombineering
- CRISPR/Cas tools
- Gene reporters and in vitro enzyme assays
- Bioinformatics
Learning Outcomes:
Successful students will be able to...
- Handle and store microorganisms safely and maintain pure cultures using aseptic techniques
- Describe and perform different mechanisms for genetic exchange in microbes
- Apply basic calculations in the lab including dilutions, CFU counts, mutant frequency, in vitro reaction set up, master mixes, and unit conversion
- Follow basic molecular biology protocols with technical accuracy
- Design primer sequences and specify reaction parameters for PCR and similar protocols.
- Describe and perform techniques for recombinant DNA construction, mutagenesis, and recombineering (PCR, restriction digestion, ligation, CRISPR)
- Distinguish and design a genetic selection and a genetic screen
- Interpret and manipulate DNA sequences to align, design primers, identify restriction enzyme recognition sites, and translate reading frames.
- Recognize and compare mutation types in their data
- Interpret gels and immunoblots, including the use of standards
- Distinguish between positive and negative controls and recognize limitations in data and methods where experimental controls are needed.
- Collect and analyze basic quantitative data via basic graphing programs
- Communicate experimental and findings through writing and oral presentations
- Apply concepts used in lab to interpreting other recent or advanced techniques in molecular microbiology
Microbiology 4998 and 4999 undergraduate research [pdf]
5000 Level Courses
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Boyaka, Oghumu, Satoskar
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4000 or Micro 4110
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective
Lecture Topics:
- Innate immunity: complement cascade, pathogen recognition, reactive oxygen and nitrogen, antimicrobial peptides, neutrophils, macrophage, and macrophage activation
- Adaptive immunity-humoral response: B lymphocytes, antibody production and antibody diversity, and memory immunity
- Adaptive immunity-cell mediated response: thymus, T lymphocytes, major histocompatibility complex (MHC), T cell receptors, antigen presenting cells, apoptosis, and superantigens
- Signaling: signal transduction cascades, interleukins and interleukin receptors, chemokines and chemokine receptors, interferons and antivirals
Learning Outcomes:
Successful students will be able to...
- Appreciate how several seminal immunological concepts were discovered.
- Describe the differences between innate and adaptive immune responses.
- Explain how innate immunity recognizes and eliminates microbial pathogens.
- Explain the multiple functions of the complement system.
- Understand how innate immune response initiates and enhances the adaptive immune response.
- Describe the cellular and humoral branches of adaptive immunity.
- Describe the origin, maturation, and function of T-cells.
- Understand antigen processing and presentation.
- Describe the origin, maturation, and function of B-cells.
- Understand antibody generation and the genetic basis for antibody diversity.
- Describe different types of antibodies and their functions.
- Explain multiple types of vaccines and how they work.
- Understand the basis of allergic reactions.
- Compare and contrast the different types of hypersensitivity reactions.
- Describe the immunological concepts relevant transplantation.
- Communicate how the innate and adaptive immune systems synergize to eliminate bacteria, viruses, or parasites.
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Rappleye
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4100
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective
Additional Information: Students are encouraged to first take Micro 4110 and/or Micro 5122
Lecture Topics:
- Immune defenses: physical barrier, soluble factors, and cellular effectors
- Virulence strategies of pathogenic microbes
- Fungal pathogens (mycoses): Candida (candidiasis/candidemia), Aspergillus (aspergillosis), Cryptococcus (cryptococcosis), and Histoplasma (histoplasmosis)
- Antifungal diagnostics
- Antifungal therapeutics
- Protozoan pathogens: Entameoba histolytica (amoebiasis), Toxoplasma (toxoplasmosis), Trypanosomes (trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease), Leishmania (leishmaniasis), Plasmodium species (malaria)
- Antiparasite therapeutics
Learning Outcomes:
Successful students will be able to...
- Describe the molecules involved in innate immune cell recognition of microbial cells
- Describe common fungal molecules detected by innate immune cells
- Describe the strategies employed by fungal pathogens for survival in mammalian hosts
- Describe the molecules used by fungi to form biofilms
- Evaluate the molecular targets for current fungal diagnostic tests
- Evaluate the targets and efficacy of current antifungal compounds
- Describe how parasites escape clearance by the host immune system
- Describe the mechanisms by which parasites invade and persist in host cells
- Describe how parasite molecules determine which host cells are invaded
- Describe the mechanisms through which current anti-parasite treatments work and their limitations
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Rich
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4000 or Micro 4100
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective
Lecture Topics:
- Composting
- Landfill microbiology
- Bioremediation principles
- Biodegradation
- Pesticide microbiology
- Molecular tools for environmental microbiology
- Microbial phylogeny
- Microbial biomass
- Environmental monitoring
- Disease transmission in the environment and emergence of antibiotic resistance
- Horizontal gene transfer
- Wastewater microbiology
- Microbiology of drinking water, groundwater, and water wells
- Extreme environments
- Astrobiology: life on Mars?
- Microbes for sustainable bioenergy
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Yousef
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4000 or Micro 4100
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective
Additional Information: Cross-listed in Food Science (FDSCTE); Related to Micro 5546 (Food Microbiology Lab)
Lecture Topics:
- Introduction: basics of food microbiology
- Biology of foodborne microorganisms
- Microbiota of different foods
- Pathogenic foodborne microorganisms
- Control of microorganisms during food production and processing
- Intervention strategies
6000 level courses
Credit Hour(s): 2 Units
Instructor(s): Fredrick
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing
Lecture Topics:
- Research practices: Academic relationships, expectations and what you need to learn in graduate school
- Research ethics
- Preparation of manuscripts, grants and peer review processes
- Scientific meetings
- Careers in Science
- Landmark papers in molecular microbiology: Topics include: phylogenics, genomics, bacterial virulence, signaling, molecular machines (replication, transcription and translation), gene regulation, metabolism, membranes and microbes in the environment
Learning Outcomes:
Successful students will be able to...
- Read and analyze primary research literature in the field of microbiology, namely:
- Prepare an oral presentation based upon primary research literature.
- Deliver an oral presentation based upon primary research literature to an audience composed of their peers.
- Critically analyze presentations based upon the primary research literature in microbiology.
- Discuss and analyze topics related to the responsible conduct of research and research ethics
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Krzycki
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing
Lecture Topics:
- The diversity of microbes: phylogenetics, habitats, and metabolic diversity
- Experimental approaches: biochemical, genetic and global analysis (-omics) methods
- The microbial cell: cell structure, cell cycle and division, and growth rate control
- Sugar catabolism in Bacteria and Archaea, fermentations, anaplerotic reactions, and metabolic control mechanisms
- Bioenergetics, thermodynamics, electron transport systems and the diversity of respiratory systems
- Amino acid biosynthesis and nitrogen regulation
- Carbon fixation
- membrane biogenesis, lipid metabolism and protein secretion
- Developmental programs in microbial systems
7000 Level Courses
Credit Hour(s): 1 Unit
Instructor(s): Faculty from various graduate programs
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing
Additional Information: Cross-listed in OSBP, MCDB, Biophysics, and Molecular Genetics; Microbiology graduate students must enroll in the Microbiology section of this course; Course is graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Lecture Topics:
- Ethics (in research and academia)
- Training in presenting scientific work
- Various aspects important for a successful graduate experience
8000 Level Courses
Credit Hour(s): 2 Units
Instructor(s): Alfonzo
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing
Lecture Topics:
- The origin of the RNA world
- Ribozymes
- tRNA
- RNA editing and modification
- Small RNAs (siRNA and miRNAs)
- In vitro selection and RNA biotechnology
- Ribosomes and translation
- tmRNA and the story of the 21st and 22nd amino acids
- The origin of the genetic code
Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Sullivan, Dabdoub, Bolduc
Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing
Learning Objectives:
- Gain exposure to approaches for studying the function, structure and evolutionary history of genes observed in sequence datasets.
- Learn approaches for organizing sequence datasets into organismal units using marker genes (e.g., 16S) and shotgun metagenomics data.
- Learn ecological statistical approaches to discern community structure and ecological drivers from large-scale metagenomic datasets.
- Introduction to other sequence-based datasets including viral metagenomes, as well as metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, metabolomics, etc.
- Design, implement and interpret an informatics group project to further biological understanding of microbes.