Week 13 : Recalcitrant molecules

This is our last class of Microbial Ecology for this sem. We learnt about recalcitrant molecules which means materials that difficult to degrade and therefore using microbes to help with the process of degrading the recalcitrant compounds. There are many terms that we need to know and remember such as bioremediation, biomagnification, biostimulation, phytoremediation, mycoremediation and many others. I think I need to make a flashcard by using Quizlet to make it easier to understand, remember and not to confuse.

Lastly, I would like to thank to Dr. Wan Zuhainis for all the knowledge, advice, support and new experience during this semester. See you again in the next semester. 

Thank you Dr. Wan!  :)

Week 12 : Nitrogen Fixation

On Monday, we learn about nitrogen fixation. As usual, before class we must do the flipped classroom materials prepared by group 6. In this topic, I can learn about nitrogen fixation, importance of nitrogen and type of nitrogen fixation microbes involve.

Nitrogen cycle.

This week also we have done an awesome event with the students from SMK Warisan Puteri, Seremban. This "Life Without Microbes" event went very well and we manage to handle the event successfully. In this event, we held an exhibition about "Life Without Microbes". Then, we have some activities in the DKU which involve the students. Besides, we also have been interviewed by the students from Biochemistry and Biocell courses that also came to our event. But I do not really agree with the way and time they interview us because at that time we are all busy with the activities and students. In my opinion, they should interviews when the exhibition is ongoing so that the activities do not interfere with the interview. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Wan Zuhainis for the spirit and support given. Thank you Dr. Wan!  :)

Week 11

Topic : Food Spoilage 

On Monday, I learnt about food spoilage that is not the same as foodborne disease. This topic is very interesting as I can know the type of food spoilage microbes, how the microbes can cause the food spoilage and also the factors the can promote their growth. Group 1 has done the flipped classroom about this topic. So, before entering the class we need to do some quizzes and of course, to answer the questions we need to look for the materials provided by group 1. Click here to view the video and mindmap.

Topic : Waste Pollution and Waste Water Management

This topic was covered on Thursday. Group 5 had prepared the flipped classroom materials and they also present the slide in the class. Their presentation is quite interesting and I like the video as it explained very clearly about the  waste water management and also easy to understand. We also have to do some quizzes based on this topic before the class. 

As soon as we enter the class on Friday, we were asked to do the crossword puzzle based on topic waste water management. Some of the question are quite challenging but I manage to answer all the questions well. After crossword puzzle, we do quiz on Socrative based on the topic food spoilage. I really like these activities because I can know how much that I really know or understand about the topics. However, internet connection problem still cannot be avoided while these activities is conducted.

All right, that's all for now. 

Week 10

Topic : Human Microbiome

This week we finish the topic human microbiome. We learnt about pathogenesis in pathogen where it have five mechanism; entry, specific adherence, invasion, colonization and growth, and host damage. Pathogenic organisms must have mechanisms in place to evade attack by the immune system.  The promotion of disease is characterized by the ability of pathogenic organism to enter a host, inflict damage and destruction into the host cell. Diphtheria is a disease of the upper respiratory tract caused by a toxin secreted by Corynebacterium diptheriae.

We also do some revision for each topic that included in test 2. I think this test is quite hard for me as we need to relate what we learnt from each topic with other topic and there are so many terms to remember.

That's all for this week. :)