BMB848: Advanced Molecular Microbiology

The course is partially co-read with BMB847 and cannot be taken by students who are enrolled in BMB847.

This course has limited participation of maximum 24 students. In the event of too many applications, priority will be given based on time of registration.

• Have knowledge of the curriculum of courses BMB507 (Fundamental Microbiology), BMB543 (Biomedical Microbiology) and BMB533 (Molecular Biology and Protein Chemistry)
• Be accustomed to critically reading scientific research articles
  
• Be sufficiently fluent in English to write reports and give seminar presentations

The course builds on the knowledge acquired in BMB507 and BMB543 and gives an academic basis for successful execution of a MSc thesis project in molecular microbiology, or eventual further postgraduate study.

In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:

• Give knowledge of advanced molecular genetic techniques and concepts relevant to molecular microbiology or other scientific disciplines
  
• Give the competence to critically evaluate peer reviewed molecular microbiology research data
• Give the competence to synthesise the key findings from a scientific article or project and communicate them orally to others
  
• Give the competence to synthesise the key findings of multiple scientific articles and communicate them in writing
  

• describe the different strategies used by bacteria to accomplish cell division by symmetric or asymmetric binary fission
• describe the contributions of signalling mechanisms such as two-component systems, second-messenger concentrations, quorum sensing and small non-coding RNAs to bacterial developmental processes or stress responses
• describe how bacteriophages infect bacteria and how bacteria defend themselves against them
• understand how next-generation sequencing methods are used to investigate direct or indirect bacterial gene regulation or the contribution of genes to bacterial fitness
• critically evaluate published experimental data in the context of state-of-the-art knowledge in the field

• Molecular-level regulation of bacterial cell division stages, including chromosome replication, segregation and cell separation
• Bacterial developmental processes: sporulation, biofilm development and asymmetric division
• Bacterial stress responses, including DNA damage, starvation, and response to attack by other micro-organisms
• Interactions with bacteriophages: types of bacteriophage infection cycles, influence of prophages on bacterial phenotypes, defence mechanisms employed by bacteria against bacteriophages

• Intro phase: consists of 10 hours of lectures, to provide an introduction to the themes of the course and link from the undergraduate microbiology courses BMB507 and BMB543 to the more advanced content of the research articles in the pensum
• Training phase: consists of tutorials consisting of 40 hours of critical analysis and presentation of research articles. Each tutorial hour will involve presentation of one research article, followed by questions and discussion led by a group of students designated as the evaluation panel for that article. Designation of presenters and evaluation panels for the articles will be done at the beginning of the semester, once the final participant list for the course is established.

• Prepare for lectures by reading review articles
  
• Prepare for tutorials by reading research articles from the pensum
  
• Prepare and give Powerpoint (or similar) seminar presentations of research articles
• Read and prepare questions for articles that will be presented by other students, when assigned to evaluation panel for those articles
• Write the final report